The Apparatus

 Monday, 10 December 2007 More symphonic prog from Italy comes in the form of this monstrosity. MR's only released album in the 'golden age' of prog centers lyrically on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's narrative/philosophem 'Also Sprach Zarathustra.' The first half of the record has five beautifully interwoven, mostly instrumental tracks that don't skimp on delivering everything a prog fan could want. The way that the keyboards first come in after the vocalist's intense delivery has about as much impact as being trampled by an elephant.

What makes MR's sound different than all the myriad Italian prog acts is their use of the keyboards. This is the most severe and devastating keyboard playing heard in prog since King Crimson started up. Pit Corradi's Hammond and Mellotron, prog mainstays, are the loudest voices here...even louder than vocalist Stefano 'Lupo' Galifi. Galifi's vocal approach is intensely operatic and has so much emotion and depth. It's worth this record for voice fans to see exactly what popular music vocalists are missing nowadays: balls.

These men really make Zarathustra's story into something bigger than it could be. Side note: if you haven't read the book, please do so, because the record will make a little more sense thematically. On top of that, it's a great read. The already challenging source material is given extra respect when passages are sung in Italian. The three other tracks are nothing short of stunning, of course, and fortunately (unfortunately?) are not as melancholy and militant as the first side. Playing is, like many of the genre's ilk, extremely reminiscent of ELP and Genesis, two of prog's grandfathers. We get a lot of keyboards, hills and valleys in tone and intensity, but it's not sentimental like Genesis or quietly smug like ELP. It's dark, evil and powerful; this album is almost the antithesis of prog rock.

The band re-formed in 2000, like a small handful of Italian prog acts, and came out with the LP 'Exit,' but I haven't been able to find that one to see if it does justice to the legacy this record earned itself. Borderline proto-metal, 'Zarathustra' is definitely the heaviest offering Italian prog has to show. It may be a little pricey to get ahold of, but the payoff is well worth the search.

 Sunday, 09 December 2007 The second Spastic Ink album is in the can and it's a beast. Ron Jarzombek, a name that every metal fan should know, has created an album of surprising depth and clarity. You know you're in for some hardcore tech when a modem dial tone is played with a guitar during the first track, "Aquanet." Then, it is creatively segued into eight-plus minutes of frenzied cartoon progressive technical metal. The clean vocal talents of WatchTower front man Jason McMaster are quite expressive and impressive. He kind of does a sing-song talk. The bass playing by Pete Perez is a fret board-scaling work of art that rivals Spiral Architect's own Norberg, and Bobby Jarzombek's drumming has the precise and tight nature of a drum machine, with all the right accents coming into place.

This album shows striking diversity in music. "Words For Nerds" is about four different musical themes built around the voices of the characters at the beginning of each part... and they're all hilarious. If there's one thing that I notice in Jarzombek's writing style, it's a sense of humor and fun. Most technical acts take themselves way too seriously, but this doesn't give me that impression. This album isn't all Looney Tunes. "Melissa's Friend," "In Memory Of..." and "Just A Little Bit" are serious-sounding but no less enjoyable. The epic on the album is the twelve minute "A Chaotic Realization Of Nothing Yet Misunderstood" and it's a treat to behold. Ambient, synthesized parts are beautifully interwoven with all speeds of guitar work, and it builds to a pretty impressive conclusion, not unlike classical music's flourishes.

There are also guest appearances on this album. Jens (Stratovarius) Johansson contributes synth solos on track one and six. Sean (Cynic, Gordian Knot) Malone plays bass on track seven. Doug (WatchTower) Keyser is the bassist on five and eight. Marty (Megadeth) Friedman contributes a guest solo on track eight. Funny thing is, this is probably the closest thing that the public is going to get to a new WatchTower record for a while. It doesn't quite match the thrash approach of a WatchTower recording, but the essential style is there and it sounds modern enough to work out well.

If anyone has any doubts to Jarzombek's skill, listen to "The Cereal Mouse" closely. Then, go to Jarzombek's site and look at the video section to find the clip for "The Cereal Mouse." View and enjoy. This is a lush musical experience that lends itself to be both enjoyed and studied. Bring on the next one!

 Sunday, 09 December 2007 After WatchTower was put on hiatus in 1989, Texan guitarist Ron Jarzombek decided to group a couple of his close musician friends, including his brother, to record a fascinating progressive metal album. No vocals are present in this CD, allowing instrumentation to come through with clarity. The group's name comes from the visual interpretation of the music's notes on a sheet. You can pretty much guess what the music will sound like.

"To Counter And Groove In E Minor" was my first exposure to this instrumental band and guitarist Ron Jarzombek. There is a thick groove present with unbelievably melodic and complicated bridges in this track. It's long and rewarding and doesn't feel any less important than the other 'straight' songs on this album. If anything, it's an opportunity to stretch and feel out another genre of music. I've never heard of tech funk; perhaps Jarzombek could do this for his next project.

There is so much music in this CD to digest at one time. If there is one word to describe Spastic Ink, it's frenzied. It's all logistical guitar theory meets cartoon music meets progressive metal. It's not just Jarzombek stealing the show, either. Bassist Pete Perez and drummer Bobby Jarzombek lend a very careful ear to support and expand the overall musical vision.

The song titles have some dorky but hilarious double meanings like "See, And It's Sharp!" "Suspended On All Fours" and "Eighths Is Enough" that give the listener a hint of the musical theory of the song. For example, "See, And It's Sharp!" is only two notes. Guess which two make up the song. The funny thing is that Spastic Ink does more with two notes than other bands do with entire scales. It's all about timing and execution, both of which Spastic Ink get right. The centerpiece for me would be "A Wild Hare." Where had I heard this song before? It is from Disney's 'Bambi.' Jarzombek transcribed the music from Bambi to guitar, truncated some of the themes and made it around Thumper's antics. At over eight minutes, Jarzombek himself has commented that this was the most difficult thing he's ever done. Other tracks are decent, but don't have the staying power of the other aforementioned tracks. It's all really good, but it's not punchy enough.

A downside to this remarkable debut is the recording quality. It does sound pretty fuzzy and under-produced. Considering that the CD is totally DIY, the quality and super basic artwork aren't that big a deal. It would have made the compositions stand out a bit more. Minor complaints aside, fans of instrumental metal would do well to pick this CD up. Jarzombek is one of the industry's most talented individuals.

 Sunday, 09 December 2007 If anyone says that 8 bit Nintendo music isn't progressive clearly hasn't listened to The Advantage. This California four piece has a goal: to cover every NES song ever. They're off to a magnificent start with their second album. This time around they've added more Konami tunes. Konami, famous for the 'Contra' series, 'Castlevania,' 'Metal Gear' and other very excellent, highly revered games, is repped very much as well as Capcom and Technos (developers of the 'Double Dragon' series).

Something this band adds to the original songs is a drummer. Namely, Hella's founding guitarist Spencer Seim. Not only is he skilled behind the kit, he knows when to show off and when to play along with bassist Carson McWhirter (new to Hella's lineup). Those talented NES composers had to work with two or three channels, tops. There was no room for a percussive element until now. This makes the already spastic, harmonized, highly varied music even better.

The songs range from fanciful and pretty ("Willow-Village," "Goonies II-Wiseman," "Wizards & Warriors" medley) to galloping, Iron Maiden-esque epics ("Batman-Stage 1," "Guardian Legend-Corridor 1," any Castlevania and Megaman theme) to dissonant, ever changing progressive mini-epics that are too smart to be labeled video game music ("Metroid-Kraid's Lair," "Contra-Story & Boss Music"). If you listen to these tracks, you'll notice just how detailed they are. There are a lot of notes hit in a short amount of time...and it all sounds good to the ear. These songs were not meant to have an ending, per se, so most of these tracks are mercifully short after the main theme is played a time or two. This keeps replayability high.

While other acts cover NES music, such as The Minibosses, The Advantage does it with a bigger emphasis on emulating the original pieces, and giving it an indie rock feel, rather than cranking up the rock-o-meter to give this stuff a meatier sound. Both bands are doing something admirable and necessary, however, and that is exposing people to video game music relics that possess far more originality and tempo changes than pretty much ALL video game music produced in the past fifteen years. It's not just good video game music; it's good music, period.

 Sunday, 09 December 2007 I couldn't imagine two more suiting bands to be put on a split. These two bands personify instrumental technical music perfectly. Behold... the Arctopus is heavy, doom-influenced progressive metal. Orthrelm is angular, repetitive and dissonant black metal-esque experimentation. Both bands are fully rooted in their own sound and each contributes one track to this too-short release.

Behold's song, "Paincave," is a decidedly different approach. This is the band's most experimental track, by far. The song has a lot of space, and doesn't overwhelm and destroy like their previously-released EP called 'Nano-Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning.' There are lots of sour chords and melodies, often many seconds apart from each other. At over five minutes, this song is over before it really began. There are hints of typical B... TA virtuosity, but "Paincave" is more about space and atmosphere. This song does sound like the band, but in a different way. They seem to be trying out doom and sludge even more and use this tiny album to do so. Unfortunately, this is one of my least favorite B... TA songs, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad song on its own. An interesting note is the fact that this song seems to have been re-arranged, to much greater success, for the track "Transient Exuberance" on their album 'Skullgrid.' Listen and compare.

Orthrelm has given perhaps their best track in recent memory with "Pithot1." This 3:34-minute masterpiece is so incredibly obscure and fascinating. There are so many changes and parts, and the guitar and drums are constantly swirling around each other. The guitars are on a very high register and Mick Barr hits an insane amount of notes and the drumming by Josh Blair is precise and schizophrenic. A jazz fusion lesson gone horribly wrong, if you will. Picture early Hella on an extreme amount of acid. It's hard to really put a finger on what makes Orthrelm work. You either like it or you don't. It's not for everyone, as it is extremely dissonant, but people that enjoy music that sounds different may end up very much enjoying this. Personally, I have grown to appreciate Mick Barr's style, and he works best in smaller doses.

This split does have a down side besides its length: The artwork is rather weak. I enjoy the colors, but the style doesn't have the depth of any release of Orthrelm or Behold. I would recommend purchasing this on vinyl, as the CD version is very much overpriced. Enthusiasts of either band should be encouraged to pick this up, because it advertises each band's talents in a pretty positive way.