A STORY OF MYSTERIOUS FOREST

A four-star album easily. Imagine, that in 1980, when the crisis of progressive rock and fusion started to be apparent, a brilliant and imaginative album comes out in Japan! Any European country would have been thankful for such output at that time! Listening to this album, you can clearly recognize what guys liked listening to: Brand X and Return to Forever, among others. Ferocious moments owe a lot to Brand X, while more quiet and solemn moments such as on the last long track, bear traces of late Chick Corea on Return to Forever as well as even Collegium Musicum solemn wintery feeling (Konvergencie from 1970).

Keyboards dominate the album and are incredibly versatile. In one of the tracks, the keyboard sound changes from contemporary fusion to traditional bop within a second. Guitar is less prominent on this release, but has its electric and acoustic moments.

The first track is one of the best ones - a furious Brand X (76-77) inspired number that will rise your pressure and temperature. "Natural Selection" is another highlight with a semi-exotic and classic fusion track witha great Fender Rhodes piano soloing. The fourth track is reminiscent of Return of Forever and plenty of improvisation here by both keyboards and electric guitar. Unfortunately, the long title track is not cohesive and sounds unfocused at times. The impressive Christmas sounding symphonic organ beginning bursts into a drum workout with keyboard layers but after the first 5 minutes, the compositions loses its momentum and seem to be a disparate sequence of ideas that are not interconnected. In the end, the motives from the first 5 minutes creep in again.

If it wasn't for the last track, I would happily grant this album 5 stars, but it is a very solid 4-star rating in the end. One of the better fusion records of the 1980.