OPEN

These guys really are the heirs de facto to King Crimson: Markus Reuter must have some of Robert Fripp's DNA moving through his systems, Pat Mastolotto (Markus' twin brother) obviously graduated from (and is now, perhaps, on the faculty of) the Bill Bruford École de Percussion et Batterie, and the Tony Levin clone looks and plays just like the real Tony Levin did back in the 1980s!

I couldn't agree more with my esteemed colleague KEV ROWLAND when he said only recently, "In an ideal world, Stick Men would be heralded as one of our greatest prog bands, but for some strange reason they appear to never quite gain the acclaim they surely deserve even though all those involved are renowned for being at the very top of their field." By some odd and inexplicable stroke of misfortune, STICK MEN should be hallowed among the all-time greats. But they're not. (Great topic for discussion.)

On this album, their third (though the one previous to these one, Absalom, was but a 30-minute EP), the band really kick up the Crimson. Whereas the debut album contained about half material that was quite melodic and outside the Crimson realm, this one shows Tony, Pat, and Markus Reuter (all alumnae of Robert Fripp's lair of FIrst Division craftsmanship) fully picking up the torch that Robert put down. While I like the atmospheric dreamscapes of the longer "Alabaster" and post-industrial "Cyber Shards," it's really the more rhythmic driving songs like the three separated segments / variations of the title song: "Plunge," "Plow," and "Truncheon." Both styles are definitely Crimsonian; I just like the more dynamic weaves of the latter--especially because we get to hear more of the magic of Pat's full-out drumsmanship.

Fully a four-star music. I think I still like the debut better, but I do love to hear/see the King Crimson tradition carried forward--especially by musicians who really know what they're doing--and these guys DEFINITELY know what they're doing.