AS REAL AS THINKING

A wonderful piece of fusion, Machine Mass's first LP covers a lot of ground and does so with skill and raw energy. This is a record that really draws you in with its myriad of styles and moods played with all the feeling and force of a tech death band. The styles range from fast paced smooth jazz, to something off a noir soundtrack, to guitar solos and supports worthy of Mahavishnu Orchestra, to something as beautifully and epically melancholy and bitter as the opener to "Maggot Brain". Like any self respecting jazz album it is all improv of the highest order, the expression of a band high on spirit and emotion. Said emotion, as drummer Tony Bianco notes, was coming from the place of his wife fighting an illness and succumbing, and the band conveys all their shared sadness and anger and newfound peace and happiness through the best jazz in years. One word to describe this masterful recording: Power. A wonderful and highly recommended listen.