TAIJI (CONFRONTATION)

ACCEPT is the creative vehicle of Japanese composer and instrumentalist Hisao, who made his debut as a recording artist with "Silver Moon" in 2007. Following a second album in 2009, "Taiji (Confrontation)" is the third full length album by this project, and was released on Accept's own Prime Numbers label in the spring of 2012.

Accept's "Taiji is an album that by and large merits a description as unique. Introspective, distanced and somewhat detached music that utilizes sounds, effects, cinematically oriented themes and passages that showcase an inspiration from symphonic progressive rock into a whole that does belong somewhere within the art rock universe. The emphasis on moods and atmospheres makes me suspect that fans of artists like Vangelis and Kitaro might be something of a key audience, at least those among them who also find music of a more challenging variety to be of interest.

First, my thanks go out to Windhawk, for sending me a spare promo he had of this album. After listening, I had to ask him if this album was a departure from their sound on the previous albums, as there was very little of what I would call neo-prog on this album.

Second, this group, judging from this album alone is in dire need of a producer. Vocals are mixed far too low, and often have too much reverb on them, making them sound as if they were in a different room from where the microphones were placed. Guitars and synth patches (I presume thay are synth patches) are inconsistent. Some are far too loud, drowning out the other instruments, and some, especially what appears to be fine guitar solos, are almost completely buried.

But the mix aside, the album intrigues me. Rather than neo-prog, most of this disk is made up of more avant-garde music, with guitar and electronic noises interweaving with some orchestral sounding music. The best comparison I could make would be maybe if Henry Cow had teamed up King Crimson (circa early 2000s, doing their live improvs). I find it very exciting. If only I could hear the words.

There are a few less experimental pieces. Yellow Storm sound like a mix of David Gilmour's Pink Floyd and alt rock, and Deep In The Flow and Blessing Of The Lesser Gods are more traditional neo, sounding like Genesis and Styx, respectively. And again, the vocals are buried.

With a better mix, I could easily give this 4 stars, but the aggravating mix drops it to 3.