HIUKKAVAARA SESSION

Having first gotten acquainted with Onségen Ensemble's second EP "HottoïzzoH", I was already an admirer of this Finnish band's style, a zheul-meets-stoner rock-meets-KC-meets heavy space-rock proposal. I find Hiukkavaara Session nos as brilliant as its successor, but definitely, this 2005 release (also downloadable from their website as the other one) bears an amazing result whn it comes to revigorating the avantgarde side of prog rock. 'Vaïno' gest started with a pronounced exercise on muscular rocking vibrations as if it were a hybrid of Happy Family and early Anekdoten (although OE doesn't get to match the former's level of emotional disturbance). Here you can even find some moments in which the band flirts with rock-pop ambiences, which are the passages in which the guest female singer makes her intervetnion. The interlude between the penultimate and last sung sections turns into a very interesting jam full of accumulated tension, and the most surprising thing about it is that it's not as much contrast as complementation what the aforesid jam brings to the composition's delivery. A very good track this is, but the best of the two has to be 'Kuuhanka'. Starting and ending with a psychedelic rock motif built on an almost-funky structure, the central motif is your typical modern zheul: pulsational, loud, wild yet controlled. A special mention has to go to the bass player, who manages to make his instrument assume a leading role in many places. The guitarist keeps himseld quite busy, creating a middle field between Adrian Belew and Nicklas Berg; meanwhile, the rhythm section sustains the varying moods perfectly. At some point, some sarcastic tenor chanting emerges, something similar to Ruins (regarding the humor, not the madness). This item only contains 2 tracks, but it's really worth downloading and keeping in a special place in your prog collection as the excellent piece of avant-prog that it is. Onségen Ensemble rules, as simple as that!