ARABESQUE

It doesn't get much better than this. We've got Yoshida(KOENJIHYAKKEI, RUINS) on drums, Kido(BONDAGE FRUIT) on lead guitar, and Nasuno(ALTERED STATES, GROUND ZERO) on bass.To say this is a power trio is a big understatement. All I had to know was that Kido and Yoshida were in a band together and I had to check it out right away. If anything, my expectations were surpassed. I was thinking this would be more avant-garde than it is, and I was surprised at how often I was reminded of latter day KING CRIMSON. I love that it's not a lot of distortion and noise, rather you can hear the instruments clearly and they have space to be individuals, yet the interplay is outstanding. I'm looking to get their debut after hearing this one.

The title track "Arabesque" is the one that reminds me of KING CRIMSON the most. It's a dark and heavy mid-paced tune with some angular guitar melodies. Check out the haunting guitar sounds 4 minutes in. Ripping guitar a minute later. "Betwixt" features fast paced guitar melodies as bass and drums do their thing. There are some tempo shifts in this one. 4 1/2 minutes in the guitar changes, firing off some scorching solos as the bass and drums get heavier. "Rambling" is a short song of intricate acoustic guitar melodies along with drums and bass that can be described the same way. "Quicksilver" is an uptempo track with so much going on. Amazing interplay.These guys are like professional gunslingers. The guitar screams out before 2 minutes. Check out the bass ! It calms down before 3 minutes as it gets a little experimental including some incredible angular guitar solos. Fripp would be proud. It becomes uptempo again to the end it. "Counterpoint" is a killer track. Check out the chunky bass as the guitar rips it up big time. Amazing playing on this one.

"Presage" is a breath of fresh air really as the acoustic guitar is played beautifully with percussion along for the ride. "Doldrums" has some catchy guitar lines including some angular ones. The drumming is relentless. It calms down 3 minutes in to a beautiful sound of light drums, bass and tasteful guitar. It starts to build 4 1/2 minutes in.I love the atmospheric guitar that follows. Lot's of noise to end it. "Exodus" continues with lots of noise just like the previous song ended. Organized chaos is the result. This is my least favourite tune on here. "Sluice" is a short cool tune with strummed acoustic guitar and odd metered drumming. "Freestone" is a song I like a lot. The guitar really lights this one up. There is almost a fusion flavour to this one as the guitar blazes it's own path. "Gibraltar" is a powerful song with lots of bottom end. The guitar is kind of funky. "Tantrum" is the shortest song on here. Percussion, bass and intricate guitar create the collage of sounds.

4 solid stars.