LUGGUMT

Second this power trio's studio release continued their sharp and quite noisy musical experiments, but this time with bigger accent on guitar sound.

Music there on this album is rock improves with great technical level of musicianship, but differently from their debut album in whole is much more bulky and unfocused. It's always a risk when the album is recorded with pure improvisatory content, what doesn't means that there are not enough great result examples all around though. One of the main risk is when musicians start playing music for themselves - they openly enjoy their musicianship, but forgotten listener soon becomes bored.

This album's music could be placed somewhere on the border - I really enjoy some moments and great energetic musicianship, but there are plenty of whole compositions where listener is not necessary - musicians playing deep and wide, enjoy what they are doing , but don't care too much if this music is really interesting for listener.

Not bad album, even good enough for band's fans, but far not the best entry for newcomers and could be seriously boring for listener without serious interest to minimalistic sharp rock improvs.

This Finnish-Norwegian trio (Raoul Björkenheim on guitar, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on bass & electronics and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums) offers edgy and fiery Avant-Prog seemingly emphasizing on the technical musical mastership, for example the dozen notes per second kind of sonic masturbation. This particular prog style has always been the one I get awfully tired of in a short time. But already listening to the 12½-minute opening track reveals a great level of originality and a vast spectre of nuances. For the electric guitar I occasionally get some associations to the legendary Norwegian, Terje Rypdal (which I however prefer of these two; Björkenheim's vocabulary is edgier and darker, often using distorted sounds). The next, shorter track takes a completely different path: filling the silence with very introspective and experimental sounds in a slow, meditative manner. It manages to be quite interesting if you have patience enough.

The third one stands clearly on the (free) jazz territory instead of rock; the double bass and guitar both play bubbling note-streams being equally in the spotlight, and the percussion favours hi-hat. The intensity, especially for drumwork and the tormented guitar, increases next. And after that a more meditative approach again. This album is interesting for that open-minded, never-know-where-they-go- next kind of personality. Recommended for jazzy Avant Prog diggers who appreciate also meditative nuances. Others may have it hard to get into this very non-melodic and improvisation-oriented music.