AMYGDALA

Equally avant-prog as much as dabbling in the French sounds of Magma's zeuhl, AMYGDALA is one of many Japanese bands that became smitten with the Francophile bug and added a bit of Japanese weirdness to the mix. While most bands that dive into the pool of French zeuhl sounds find themselves more in line with the world of Christian Vander's clan of Kobaian freakery, AMYGDALA looks more to the Belgian scene especially the avant-prog eccentricities of early Univers Zero from the "1919" album to the more electronically infused "Heatwave."

This Tokyo based band appeared mysteriously and dropped a couple albums in the first decade of the 2000s and then quietly disappeared. AMYGDALA originally only consisted of the two members Yoshiyuki Nakajima (piano, organ, keyboards, bass guitar, vocals) and Yoshihiro Yamaji (guitar, vocals) who crafted an entire band sound on the eponymously titled debut album that came out in 2004. While drummer Daniel Jeand'heaur would join the team on the band's second album "Complex Combat" in 2008, on this debut all percussive sounds are synthesized on a drum machine but despite that so uncool notion existing the world of prog actually ended in satisfactory results although there are moments when it's more evident the presence of a real drummer would've proven more dynamic.

The very term AMYGDALA refers to the almond-shaped masses of gray matter that are part of the limbic system which is where the emotions of fear and aggression are generated in the brain and indeed the sounds of AMYGDALA may produce the results of fight or flight as it's dark, dense and chock filled with crazy time signature changes. The comparisons to Univers Zero, Present and Jacques Thollot are well founded however if any band from the French scene deserves the most credit in influencing AMYGDALA's sound it would have to be Shub-Niggurath especially the demo and debut "Les Morts Vont Vite." The darkened soundscapes throb with adrenalized creepy tones and timbres.

This is one of those heavy feisty electric guitar oriented avant-prog albums with incessant King Crimson inspired discordant riffing courtesy of Yoshihiro Yamaji accompanied by the oft outlandish keyboard virtuosity of Yoshiyuki Nakajima who alternates between piano, organ and a multitude of synthesized sounds that emulate the bassoon, harmonium, vibraphone, xylophone and mellotron sounds. He also plays the bass however that seems lost in the mix of this one due to the bad mixing and production job which along with the rather disappointing artificial drum performances is one of the weak points to this album.

Like Univers Zero's earliest offerings, this one evokes those jellyfish propulsion techniques with oscillating trilling sounds overlapping a pulsating flow of the musical procession that allows various sound effects to sputter in and out of the sequence. While i wouldn't call the zeuhl aspects the dominate feature here, the steady martial rhythms drive that the bass line generates is certainly in that camp. Nakajima is the sole composer of these primarily vocal-free instrumentals so there is a nice uniformity to the album's run although i would have to call AMYGDALA a clone band when all is said and done given that this could easily pass as some inferior Univers Zero album of the past that simply got scrapped and salvaged for parts.

Overall AMYGDALA's debut is a compelling listen if you dig those early sounds of UZ, Present, Shub-Niggurath then you will certainly find this appealing but the fact that these guys haven't really given it the Japanese touch that had become all the rage by the 2000s coupled with the many instruments that were simply manufactured on synthesizers keeps this from being a top tier zeuhl album despite the amazing compositional fortitude that went into its creation. A pleasant slice of zeuhlish avant-prog emerging from Japan but woefully missing any creative infusion that Japan always dishes out in abundance especially in the more demanding complex arenas of experimental rock from Europe. A good yet non-essential addition to any zeuhl addicts arsenal.