MASQUES

An excellent jazz rock album here from Brand X, and in my very humble opinion, some of their finest work. The album has a much more worldy/ latin feel to it than their other albums, and I think they pull it off excellently. The opening track "The Poke" has you listening immediately with it's great blend of Jazz breaks and progressive keyboard sounds, carried on the back of an intelligently reserved drum beat, giving it a fell similar to that of "Dance On A Volcano" from Genesis' "A Trick Of The Tail" album. The other song that stands out on me on this album is the delicate (almost Chick Corea like) Black Moon, which is a great find for any fan of Latin jazz, not to mention the powerful world drum beat on "Earth Dance". I would say the only weak track on this album is the 12 minute long "Deadly Nightshade", which for me really seems to drag. Otherwise, this is a very good all round album with a few cracking tracks in there, a must have for any fan of Brand X or the jazz/rock genre.