CHROMIUM

Canadian instrumental trio from Quebec. Unfortunately I had not had a chance to listen to their first album yet, but this one (a second and last so far) is excitingly good. All three musicians are highly skilled instrumentalists, but technical skills of their leader and bass- guitarist Donald Fleurant are just superb. He plays 4, 6, 7 and 12 string basses, and does it on such high technical level, that it's just unbelievable. The album consists of 12 instrumental pieces, including one by J.S. Bach adapted for 7 string bass by Fleurant. It's difficult to describe their music in terms of sub-genre this guys belong to, as they are mixing different genres quite well, but I would call it Progressive rock with symphonic elements and touches of fusion. Certain moments can remind about Djam Karet, sometimes their sound reminds of Bozzio-Levin-Stevens or Kopecky, but all in all their style is quite unique. It is a great album to listen to, and the only thing which prevents me from giving it full 5 stars score is that the compositions, being short, are IMO slightly underdevelopped, and not giving the impression of an album as of one whole entity, but rather of a random selection of various bits and pieces of musical ideas, no matter how rich and fresh they are. Neverthless this album is very interesting and enjoyable, and can be undoubtfully considered as an excellent addition to any prog music collection (well, certainly to mine!)