ANDROID DOMINA

Apart from an excellent compilation "Le Meilleur du Rock Progressif Japonais" I haven't much heard prog from Japan. Sadly there's very little of it in Finnish libraries. If the mentioned compilation was a happy surprise by having only a little of that kind of bombastic keyboard- attack heavy prog which is perhaps the stereotype, then this album was exactly my worst expectations come to flesh.

The tracks (instrumental except for a short section in the opener) are all quite similar: over- dramatic and awfully thick of synths & organs. I can bare with a little amount of it but listening to the whole album is nearly a torture that makes me feel angry. The distasteful cover suits well to the music. Titles reveal some more: 'All Hallow's Eve', 'Horla Rising' (I don't know what else Horla is but it's the title of a Guy de Maupassant story dealing with horror & madness) and 'Succubus' (demonic female spirit). Yes, the mood of this album is nightmarish, perverse and doomed.

Of course these women can play like hell, but if just about everything else sucks, just forget it. I'll give two stars however, because I did include two tracks into my CD and so it isn't completely unlistenable.