GRAND OPENING AND CLOSING

To an old-school Progger like myself the mayhem of SGM resembles a Death Metal update of GENTLE GIANT, complete with tricky time signatures and eclectic instrumentation (some of it homemade, or so I'm told). The difference is mostly in the (much) louder volume, some occasional dodecaphony, and a lead singer who in his calmer moments sounds like Gothmog the Orc general ordering his troops into Gondor.

I'll admit I respond more to the quieter passages (yes, there are some here: parts of "Ambugaton"; most of "Ablutions"), but that's just my age and Symphonic Rock upbringing. The Zen-like album-closer "Sunflower" offers a surprising model of sonic restraint, and the ten-plus minute title track presents an eerie lullaby for brain-scarred insomniacs, at least until Nils Frykdahl starts into his William Peter Blatty act (imagine Linda Blair in full pea-soup mode, wielding a microphone instead of a crucifix).

It's a difficult album to recommend, especially on a website where fully half of the top ten rated albums are currently by GENESIS and PINK FLOYD. The more refined side of my Proghead self is having a little difficulty awarding it more than three respectable stars, but my Avant Rock doppelgänger wants to unleash the opening onslaught of "Sleep is Bad" at a volume loud enough to disturb the neighbors the next time they fire up the snowblower at four in the morning. Bad? You'll find out sleep is damn near impossible, with noise like this...

Regardless of taste, we should all be grateful bands like SGM exist, if only to challenge a generation of listeners growing up in a world of stale cookie-cutter entertainment. So here it is, kids: your own stick of musical TNT, to help blow a hole in those cultural doldrums.

[ A quick postscript. My secondhand copy of the album has an overloaded, distorted sound which may or may not reflect the output of a pristine CD, but it's certainly appropriate. This is truly Rock in Opposition, sometimes to your actual sanity. ]