BONDAGE FRUIT II

The first track "Mobile" is like "Zeuhl 101" if you know what I mean. The great ryhthm and vocal melodies are what Zeuhl is all about. The female vocal melodies a minute in remind me of Mauricia Platon from ZAO's debut. Vibraphone arrives, and comes back later on as well. The guitar and violin join in and they are really kicking it now. The vocals 3 1/2 minutes in are so good, as the guitar grinds away and the drums pound relentlessly. This song and the final track are my favourites. "Daichi No Ko" is an uptempo song with female vocals.There is a bit of a Space Rock sound to this one, but it's the drums and vocals that are more upfront than the space vibe. The guitar solo after 3 minutes is well done. This is great driving music. Check out the drum intro on "Caucus Race" ! Vocal melodies come in only to stop and be replaced by the vibraphone briefly. Violin arrives and some aggressive guitar. The song then calms right down as all you hear are violin and bass sounds kind of playing around. The song never does get back to the original, energy filled melody.

"Cottleston Pie" feels like everything is being held back and restrained, as vocals,violin and drums lead the way. "Gel-Celloid" is uptempo with female vocal melodies, vibraphone, guitar and drums. A guitar solo follows. "Kodomo No Guntoi" opens with the drums pounding as the guitar grinds away. The vocals are tasteful in this song that seems restrained to me as well. It gets a little dissonant after 5 minutes and experimental as well. Some crazy spoken words 7 minutes in. "Terminal Man" as I mentioned earlier is one of my two favourites. This is the longest track at over 15 minutes. Vocal melodies, violin, vibraphone, bass and drums all have a part. The guitar is incredible 3 1/2 minutes in as the bass throbs. It just goes on and on. Nice. We then get a calm of guitar notes and violin sounds as drums come and go. This final section is so atmospheric ! Amazing passage ! It all ends 13 1/2 minutes in as the song starts to accellerate with a full sound including vocal melodies.

It's tough to pick which of their first two I like better. They do some different things on this one with great results