IN GLORIOUS TIMES

The California avant deconstructionist cabaret funk band's third (and final?!) album. (No: A new album entitled "Of the Last Human Being" is slated for release on February 1, 2024.)

1. "The Companions" (10:04) total Danny Elfman cabaret. Could come directly from Nightmare Before Christmas 2. It's so powerful and entertaining! (18.5/20)

2. "Helpless Corpses Enactment" (5:57) a little heavier and darker than the previous song: it feels as if it wants to venture into Death Metal territory. A little too vocal-centric for my tastes. I like the second DEVY TOWNSEND-like motif a little better. (8.666667/10)

3. "Puppet Show" (4:15) sounds and feels like a bombastic metal JC Superstar with its choral vocal delivery, while the music in between vocal passages has more of a cabaret noir feel. The use of toy piano, dulcimer, and glockenspiel gives it that Danny Elfman feel again. (8.875/10)

4. "Formicary" (5:46) angular Andy Partridge-like guitar chord sequences promote an odd melody line that is performed by Carla Kihlstedt and Michael Mellender as if female and male conversationalists in a stage one act. Big, chunky bass beneath and circus-like drums really add to the odd KING CRIMSON-esque feel of this one--especially in the central instrumental passage. (9/10)

5. "Angle Of Repose" (7:53) slower, heavy, plodding music with Carla Kihlstedt performing the lead vocal in a fragile- sounding higher register voice. Very cool--and compelling. The musical bed overwhich she sings is very buoyant and supportive until things speed up and turn ominous in the third minute. The music then turns pure avant--yet Carla continues to sing (and contribute her violin). The fifth minute results in new motifs: kind of two, alternating, as Carla continues her narrative singing. Some klezmer influence showing itself in the sixth minute as Carla's vocal turns toward desperation. I think I'd value this one more if I heard the message of the lyrics. (13.33333/15)

6. "Ossuary" (4:35) opens with a bit of a bluegrass sound palette and feel. A funked-up jazz-rock fusion motif develops in the third minute before the growl vocals and aggressive KING CRIMSON chord progressions begin. As these speed up in the fourth minute one gets the feeling as if the build up of centrifugal force is going to throw one off the merry- go-round but then we are saved by a grounding, pounding, earth-digging pattern that plays out for the final 30 seconds. Interesting. (8.875/10)

7. "The Salt Crown" (8:40) opens with some industrial percussive noises that provide the background for Nils Frykdahl's Judas-like JC SUPERSTAR vocal performance. This is very theatric, very heart-wrenching in Nils' convincingly feigned act of pain and suffering. A THINKING PLAGUE-like musical shift occurs mid-fourth minute and Nils just adapts: his vocals becoming more aggressive with his anguished/angry scream-growls. While I was quite impressed and taken with the tender opening motif, not so with this more angry/aggressive one. Luckily, Nils and the band return to the opening motif in the seventh minute, going even further into the theatric depths of pain and despair. The significance of the recorded voices at the end are a bit of a mystery to me (as they are on several of the album's other songs). (17.75/20)

8. "The Only Dance" (4:20) Carla gets another turn in the lead vocal department with this music that sounds to me quite a bit like the autobigraphical/narrative storytelling of JACK O' THE CLOCK's Damon Waitkus. Even when the music ramps up to loud levels in the fourth minute, there remains some of the deep folk roots that Damon's music exudes. Nice but nothing to write home about. (8.75/10)

9. "The Greenless Wreath" (6:51) there is a familiarity to the style presented by this dirge-like wakes song: something about Nils' MAJOR PARKINSON-like vocal performance; something about the disturbing yet-oddly-cinematic music. Interesting with each and every listen. (13.25/15)

10. "The Widening Eye" (5:09) an instrumental displaying many of the band's odd and self-created instruments within its expanded string-and-percussion tempo-shifting weave. The instrumental palette being founded in picked stringed instruments and clean tuned- and untuned percussive instruments makes for an easier listen than some of their other more densely-populated material. I can easily envision Tony Levin, Bill Bruford, and Adrian Belew enjoying and wanting to join in on this one. (9/10)

11. "The Putrid Refrain" (2:55) what seems like the continuation of the previous song--palette and all--ends with another odd recorded (phone) message. (4.5/5)

Total time 66:25

The compositions and performances are all amazingly sophisticated and artistic, I'm just not as drawn into the music and performances to the degree the I was on the band's previous album, Of Natural History. I think it is Nils' propensity to move into aggressive, almost-growl vocals that sometimes puts me off. Otherwise, I find the ultra- Crimsonian musical constructs to be quite entertaining and refreshingly expansive of other avant/RIO band creations.

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent addition of boundary-expanding avant-RIO music for any and all of the most adventurous prog lovers' music collections.