ISOTOPE

Isotope is the first (mostly) live album released by the group Korekyojin(n). I say mostly, because the first track on the album, Hash, is a studio track from the recording sessions for the album Arabesque. I don't know why it wasn't included on that album, possibly time constraints, but whatever the reason we have it here now. It's a very dense opener, that much is sure. The rest of the album is from two concerts in 2004, one in June and one in October.

Everyone in this group is a top notch musician, that much is sure. The rhythmic interplay especially is impressive - often, Nasuno and Kido will be playing conflicting rhythmic patterns, but over time they meld into one and basically blow your socks off. This band plays what sounds like heavy prog with a nice, healthy dose of the avant-garde for good measure. One thing's for sure, you will never mistake these guys for a "normal" heavy prog group like Rush (chosen as an example as both are awesome power trios with amazing instrumentalists) - I guess that's why they're in RIO/Avant instead. The group's music is, for the most part, entirely instrumental. If I recall correctly, this entire album is instrumental, in fact.

The interpretations of the tracks from the group's first two albums here are fairly faithful to the originals (at least those from the s/t debut, I haven't been able to find Arabesque yet). The main differences I've noticed are the effects/tones used by the guitar and bass. Sometimes they can be quite different than on the originals. The material on this album which is included on the next album, Jackson, is pretty great as well. I don't notice many major differences between the compositions here and those on the album proper, but some tracks do have some minor updates for that which make them just a bit better in my opinion.

Overall, this is a pretty great album from this incredible trio, and listening to it always makes me want to figure out a way to see them live - it's definitely an awesome experience, based on the material here and on their CD/DVD package Swan Dive. The group has released consistently good albums, and this one is no exception. Easily four stars from me, but a better starting point would be Jackson, in my opinion.