KORAI ÖRÖM (1997)

For this, Korai Öröm's third album, their sound has matured into an immediately more hard hitting affair that grabs you by the throat and says "listen to me". The ethnic influences are still there, but much less obvious as the band head away from ethnic-fusion towards the techno beats of later years, essentially setting the template for all their later work. The effects of adopting a 'sequencer and sampler' approach are readily discernable in some very unnatural sounds and overly formalised patterns, with a tendency to work inside an 8-bar box, a common failing of cut-and-paste sequencing. Which also contributes to the album's greatest failing - it is subject to too much undeveloped repetition with too little action.

Whilst this is by no means a bad album, it is one where the band is making a transition to a new way of working, but haven't yet perfected the process. Clearly, they have learnt a greater control of dynamics and musical colour using a more modern palette, but at the expense of some of the aspects that made their first two albums so interesting. Perhaps it could be said there are more 'stand out' moments [probably, but not necessarily, implying 'outstanding'] than before, but the converse is also true - while track 2 is a searing psyched-up space jam with screeching lead guitar and flute worthy of Hawkwind at their best, 1 & 3 are somewhat underwhelming.

The pounding rhythms and psyched guitars of Moroccan flavoured Track 6 produces the best slice of energetic space-rock on the album, but the 18 minute closer is the most classically psych track. This is essentially an extended jam, moving seemlessly [and somewhat slowly] through various phases from an initial tribal chant, ethereal flutes, eastern voices and spacey guitars, all underpinned by a continuous busy snare pattern that has long passed the irritating phase well before the track ends! A good album that hovers between two stools: not as 'ethnic' and organic as before; not as accomplished as they would become. Good, but not essential.

I like Hungarian prog for its quality musicianship - you can like the music or not, but almost on every album of Hungarian artists you will find well played music. This release is not exception - all musicians are very competent, music is well played and well recorded.

Stylistically this album could be compared with some Ozric Tentacles releases, just much more relaxed in sound. Long spacey jamming with melodic components, some Eastern melodies, folklore elements and jazzy rhythms. Would you like it or not depends mostly on you interest to such kind of music - I believe Ozric Tentacles or Hawkwind fans should find this album really attractive, for others long jamming and quite monotonic and repetitive rhythms and bulky album's structure possibly will sound a bit boring.

Anyway - really competent spacey prog album.