Z'S DIARY

IMANISSIMO are an Indonesian band who blend atmosphere and psychedelia with the heavy guitar driven passages that border on Prog-Metal. An interesting combination that suits me fine given that I like both styles of music. It's a concept album about one Captain Z who I imagine sails around in his ship. Maybe not a surprising concept given that Indonesia is surrounded by water and the sea is a part of their everyday life.

This is a long one at well over 70 minutes. "1st Movement Z's Dream" is spacey and a little haunting to start as spoken words and other sounds come in. Female vocals follow then the guitar leads with vocal melodies helping out. Heavy outbursts come and go then we get a guitar solo 3 1/2 minutes in. More heavy outbursts this time with spacey winds. A calm follows then more ripping guitar a minute later. Another calm as it continues to shift and change. Some killer bass before 9 minutes followed by an atmospheric calm 10 minutes in as it blends into "2nd Movement...Anomoly Of The Ocean". Spoken words and atmosphere along with vocal melodies and samples. Piano also joins in. It blends into "3rd Movement...The Adventures Of Captain Z" where atmosphere, spoken words and more continue. It kicks in fairly quickly. Riffs 2 minutes in. A calm before 4 1/2 minutes with piano and strummed guitar. Riffs are back 6 minutes in with vocal melodies. It settles back again. A spacey calm arrives before 10 1/2 minutes right to the end.

"Final Moment...Last Day To Live" is the final suite divided into seven tracks. "Dilemmatic Sunrise" opens it with church organ but that changes before a minute as we get this repetitive piece. Spoken words join in then drums 2 1/2 minutes in. It turns heavy before 4 1/2 minutes. Nice. It settles and blends into "Tales From The Ocean". This turns heavy quickly but contrasts continue. I love those last two track and the next one is great too. "In Between Times" is eventually led by heavy riffs and a heavy sound. The tempo picks up after 2 minutes and contrasts continue. A guitar solo 4 1/2 minutes in is brief. "Hopeless Soul" is laid back then chunky bass, drums and piano take over before 1 1/2 minutes. Nice. Guitar arrives a minute later and it will get heavy later with riffs. It blends into "Blast From The Past" where it starts out laid back with piano and a beat. Vocal melodies after 1 1/2 minutes join in. Cool section, very hypnotic. "The Dying Ship" opens with guitar that brings IRON MAIDEN to mind right away. Drums kick in as it turns heavy. The heaviness will come and go. "The Last Sunset" is the epic and classical sounding conclusion to our story.

An album that maybe won't appeal to everybody but it sure hits the spot with me.