A STORY OF MYSTERIOUS FOREST

After some years of hard struggling in the Japanese music market, Ain Soph eventually managed to make their recoding debut in 1980... and what a debut! Their prog style is based on a delicate, ellegant balance between the jazz area (the fusionesque drive of Return to Forever and Pastorius-era Weather Report, the melodic candor of Canterbury) and the symphonic stuff (74-77 Camel, 76-78 Genesis, WYWH-era Pink Floyd), resulting in a colourful combination of well crafted compositions and top-notch musicianship. The addition of Asian lines and textures allows the band to create an idiosyncratic ambience for their prog style, despite the clear presence of the aforementioned influences. 'Crossfire' is a real crossfire of guitar and synth duelling thorugh their alternate amazing solos, on the solid foundation laid by the rythm section: something like 'Los Endos'-meets-'Romantic Warrior'. The level of proficiency doesn't decay for a second along the whole album. Despite the title's destructive implications, 'Natural Selection' reminds me of Gilgamesh's delicate exquisiteness, with a definite exotic Far East flavour that helps things seem warm and peaceful; things get more intense in the following number, 'Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith', in which Ain Soph exercise their own version of the jazz-fusion prototypical sound - including some Flamenco-like lines on acoustic guitar, just like Di Meola. The absolute gem in the album is the namesake suite, which allows the band to explore futher into their symph prog leaning: the succession of varied melodic lines on the wings of a well structured sequence of diverse rhythm patterns and ambiences makes this track a masterpiece in itself. I feel unable to make myself clear about the captivating beauty of this piece. I'll only mention some of its most brilliant fractions: the Camel-esque eerie intesity of c and i; the magical melancholy of d; the playful Latin-jazz tinged colours of g; the visions of an early morning forest depicted on a and j. All in all, this suite is something to enjoy properly as a whole, making it so easy for the listener to keep his full attention for almost 20 minutes. The two interludes are musical portions on acoustic guitar, that provide some introspective touches in the middle of a repertoire full of splendid showstoppers. A masterpiece!!

(I dedicate this review to my good friend Daniel Padilla)