IN SPITE OF HARRY'S TOENAIL

Gnidrolog are not what I consider a top echelon prog act in terms of star power; they're not as flashy as say ELP. But, the music produced here on IN SPITE OF HARRY'S TOENAIL is top echelon and one of the best ''overlooked'' albums I've ever heard.

Right from the get-go, Gnidrolog hits you in the face with this abrasive line on ''Long Live Man Dead'' showing that they mean business. It may sound like fuzz noise, but that soon gives way to a nice little melodic exercise led by a rare recorder thing. The piece goes through so many twists and turns in the first four minutes, then recedes to a quiet acoustic guitar piece until the first abrasive line sharply returns. This happens to be one of the most powerful pieces of music I've heard.

To describe the music is a difficult feat in and of itself. Songs can be cunningly quiet, beautiful and melodious in one instance, but wait a few minutes and it gets abrasive and sharp pretty quick, even to the point of dissonance. Take ''Time and Space''; it starts as a nice acoustic guitar/recorder track for a few minutes until the band just decides to do random chaos for the rest of the song. A few ballad tracks like ''Who Spoke'' and ''Peter'' are nice sombre tracks that break up the intensities of the longer songs, and the title thing is very much a bluesy jam.

The rhythm section is by and far the strength of the album. Nigel Pegrum has such an unorthodox playing style, it just has to be heard to be believed (and it's good). Peter Cowling has this thick, creaking bass sound that augments the music well. The bass also seems to play great passages that seem to go unnoticed. The vocals are probably the deciding factor as to how the listener might judge the band; certainly they're very much an acquired taste, but they have a sharp resonance to them when loud and a gentle pastiche when soft.

If you're looking for something new in prog rock, give this a try. It's very off kilter compared to even some eclectic bands like Gentle Giant, and certainly more rugged than say Genesis. But the music is very honest and original; there is nothing else like this in the prog rock circuit.