FRESH BLOOD

Not unlike their mates Boud Deun, Ozone Quartet is evolving into an uncommon quartet, with drums, guitar, violin and bass. The fact that the bass heared on this album is actually a Chapman Stick gives a hint on the more avant garde approach that Ozone Quartet wants to take. Nonetheless, while Boud Deun clearly leans toward jazz with its stylisticaly complex guitar playing, Ozone Quartet is obviously still more concerned by rock, and it rocks hard to say the least ! So, listening to "Fresh Blood" brings back to mind bandnames like Cynic (hopefully without its boring heavy metal singing), the Sean Malone's project, Gordian Knot, or Laundry, the fabulous project of ex-Primus drummer, Tim Alexander. And it's a bit of everything mentionned here that you can find on Ozone Quartet's debut ; an ambitious instrumental rock piece of work, focused on the art of contrasts, textures and ambiances. Well, they do not succeed at creating a world of their own, with the obvious influences and heavy load shadow of acts like King Crimson, ending with an album wich is pleasant to listen to but without any strong personnality. But it will surely find receptive ears amongst those who appreciate spanish Dificil Equilibrio or french Philharmonie, even if the latest are mostly acoustic.