CHRONOCOPIA

This Norwegian quartet has gone way under the radar! Chronobunny are a fairly new band and seem to enjoy the DIY method of arranging and recording their material. ''Chronocopia'' is a less-than-40 minutes rough-around-the-edges, purely instrumental heavy/eclectic prog album.

The beauty of this album lies in its simplicity (an oxymoron I will explain later): no polished production, no multi-layered arrangements, few (if any) overdubs. Four chaps full of energy delivering five excellent compositions based on thoughtful improvisation. Odd-time signatures, sudden breaks, guitar blasts and saxophone outbursts blend with extended mellow jazzy themes (Muskedunder reminds me of a more jazzy acoustic Opeth!). There is certainly resemblance to fellow Norwegians Motorpsycho, Jaga Jazzist or Seven Impale; here the focus is on melodic improvisations that lead to heavy prog outbursts rather than building on eclectic song structures as the above bands.

Not that the heavy-Zappa tunes are missing (see opening of ''Chronocopia'' and ''Maeth'') but Chronobunny take it less seriously and experiment freely rather than stick to overly complex arrangements. The result is a free-flowing, ''sorgenfrei'' recording, similar perhaps to another gone-unnoticed album, ''Germinal'' by Minerva. Hope we hear more from these quality bunnies!