ARBEIT MACHT FREI

Beyond the scope of what you'd normally think of as prog rock. It's like AreA makes you believe they might be a pop group by their slogan (''International POPular Group'') only to send you into a crazy jazz fusion world akin to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but much more experimental.

The music is very hyperactive for the most part. Blistery fusion played at ridiculous speeds under the most indiscernable of time signatures is what ARBEIT MACHT FREI drives on. And AreA really makes this work well. The instrumental track ''240 Chilometri da Smirne'' is a bright testament to this featuring a rather odd (and slightly out of place) bass solo in the middle, but ending strong on an interesting chordal pattern.

The two opening tracks offer the best of what ARBEIT MACHT FREI has to offer, both songs being classic in their own right. The title track has an interesting rock riff about halfway through, but this is after an insanely pounding buildup which includes singer Demetrio Stratos playing steel drums for a bit. The opener has this high energy violin line, but the freeform breakdown in the middle is where the song is at.

The other three songs are good in their own right, but don't capture the magic the three songs I mentioned earlier. The performances to watch out for are singer Demetrio Stratos (possibly redefining the singer's role) and bassist Patrick Djivas. This album is more fusion than RPI, so be ready to be taken by surprise.