LIFE - KARNATAKA COLLEGE OF PERCUSSION

A good part of the Embryo catalogue has no business on this site simply because those albums are simply out of the scope of the progArchives. Such is the case with this album, as we are fully into indian music with slight jazz touches but nowhere close to fusion music as is convened onto our site. Neither will I recommend this album to someone investigating classical Indian Music (I am no authority on that subject but do appreciate some of that trance music) , because this failed to captivate any of my attention. I think that it should be considered as an exception in Embryo's dicography and is not representative of their moremeaningful works.

I had great interest in discovering this record by the great german band EMBRYO, but after a few listenings, I realized it was not one of their masterpieces at all, not even with the addition of Charlie Mariano in the Line-up. What we can listen here is very far from the usual fusion the band plays, and we have mainly an oriental percussive record. Interesting? Well, depending on your expectations on the record and this kind of music in itself. If you enjoy eastern traditional music, this record will probabbly appeal to you. If you look for aggressive and elaborated jazz rock, better start with other records of the band. 2 stars

This record has a surprisingly low average rating, most probably because hardly anyone understands it. The Karnataka College of Percussion is an Indian school where you can be taught the Indian art of drumming. It is a highly sophisticated art, and it is all the more difficult to play live. Embryo prove that they have learned their lessons well, and Charlie Mariano was trained in Indian music too, so he definitely is an asset. It is, however, NOT an album of traditional Indian music, played by a jazz rock band plus extension, it is a collaboration and definitely a fusion of Western and Indian music. One of the tracks on the album even is in 6/8, a meter Indian musicians don't play in at all. Since I am a drummer and can appreciate the complicated patterns played here I will give the album five stars.