C.O.D. PERFORMANCE

After a long hibernation (roughly a decade), Present rises from its ashes with this strange format, consisting of only Roger Trigaux and his son Reginald, both on guitar, vocals and percussion. Released in 93 with a sombre artwork, reminiscent of the original UZ's Heresie artwork, this album contains only three tracks, all of them filled with awesome guitar works for a total of almost 50 minutes, and was recorded just a stone's throw from the French boder.

The opening side offers two shorter tracks, with the opening Love Scorn being the most accessible of the three, but the album in general is not quite as sinister as the previous 80's works of Trigaux sr. The first part of Alone (lasting 14-mins+) is a slow crescendo climbing from guitar arpeggios to searing electric guitar solos. The flipside holds the almost-25 mins second part of Alone, featuring some of the craziest vocals of Present's studio discography, plus some awesome guitars ranging from the quiet almost bucolic (everything being relative with Present) to the furious and rabid histrionics of the father-son team and a short wink to a Beatles tune, right before the album's final notes.

COD Performance is a bit of a side-bracket in Present's discography, being closer to the 80's stuff than the newer series of albums, but it's no less worthy of the RIO/avant fan than it would be for guitar absolutists.