SHELL

Don't ask me how I came across Naikaku; I think I was bored one day on PA looking for new bands to discover, and this particular group seemed to catch my eye. I never expected to obtain an album from them as they aren't that well known of a group even in a prog context. But it ended up in my library somehow, and I couldn't be more thankful.

Naikaku seems to avoid a big pitfall that I think many modern prog bands end up in. I have been critical of bands like The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard for trying to cover too many different prog sounds on one album with stylistic jumps sounding awkward. Naikaku appears to have just one sound they wanted to execute, and it's executed very well. But to describe the sound is a nightmare in and of itself; what is it exactly, is it metal, is it prog, is it hard rock? Who knows. And I don't care, as long as it sounds good and honest.

No vocals here, so just feel the flute lines float over your head. Then, get ready for the guitars and bass to just hit you right in the gut immediately after. The riffs usually are allowed enough of a grace period to develop (possibly except ''Crisis'' which seems to be the only song that suffers from sudden jumps) which means that changes in riff don't sound awkward. Most of the instrumentation is heavy in typical rock band instruments with flute commonly piercing into the foreground. There exists keyboards sporadically (notably in the title track, which sounds too suspect of King Crimson) and a few trumpet lines, but that's as about exotic as it gets.

This is high on my recommendation list if you don't mind heavy music. The lines are complex written in all sorts of unusual metres that progsters just drool themselves over. I certainly feel SHELL is one of the best prog rock albums in recent years.