AMOC

Unusually good progressive jazzrock experiment gone terribly right, Denmark ensemble Coma's Amoc kicks some ass and made this grizzled veteran smile more than once, showing a band quite well versed in their understanding of rock and how it can interlope with almost any other form of music, even the unwilling ones. A creepy whistle intros 'Savværket', Jakob Mygind's sax leads a shaky mix as the band finds a pace, Viggo Steincke Bertelsen's fiery guitar pulling out a groovy vamp and some serious riffage that heats up nicely merging into 'Pigerne fra Himmelbjerget', funky 'Pulp', and cerebral 'Heavy Winter'.

'En saftig brosten' was (even in 1980) retro space-age fusion; 'Orientexpressen' tastily bobs & weaves and kicks out the rhythm; 'Love and Madness' is romantic pap; But the title cut is a prog/fusion honker reminding of John McLaughlin's dirtier days. Not entirely realized or completely finished, Amoc had more potential than it yielded but, even without the bells and whistles and pyrotechnics of an Al DiMeola, is still a rousing set of quality Hard JR/F.

This record really surprised me. It has hints of RIO, 80's jazz, French prog and harder Crimson-esque rock. Normally, when I come across rare/obscure records that don't have a clear point of view...they are disappointing and poorly recorded. Amoc has broken the cycle!

Recording Quality: I purchased the record on Vinyl...it sounds really, really good. The drums pop in the best way.

Key Songs: Orientexpressen - A song full of synchronized sax/guitar runs and some gorgeous sax soloing. Lots of interesting twists and turns. Reminds me of Masal in the loud parts and almost goes into late 80's Slint-style indie rock in the quiet parts. A stunner.

Pulp - Very guitar driven song with a mix of warm soloing and discordant, hard breakdowns. Much like the rest of record, it's all over the place. But it sounds good and the players are always on point.

Sounds Like: Later Soft Machine, Shades of King Crimson and a French Henry Cow

Summary: A very scattered record packed with great playing and surprising moments. Deserves more ears!