SECRET CHIEFS 3

Much like their other albums, you can expect an uncanny mixture of different genres and styles here. All of the tracks on this album are composed by different "sub-groups", which are marked by a specific style. For instance, the tracks "The 4 (The Great Ishraqi Sun)" and "The 3 (Afghan Song)" by the sub-group Ishraqiyun have a predominantly middle-eastern sound to them. My main beef with this album are the two tracks done by the Holy Vehm sub-group, which are a couple of absolutely dreadful death metal songs. Those two tracks alone are enough to throw off the balance of the whole album, and I always find myself skipping them completely. Sure, there's plenty of quirky moments throughout the album, but at least in all of the other cases the different styles actually manage to fit together; these two tracks just seem like they were accidentally put on the wrong album and for whatever reason they decided to keep them on there just to raise a few eyebrows. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with death metal, but I don't think it works on an album like this.

But hey, if you skip those two awful tracks, the rest of the album is golden! Well worth checking out. In fact, I demand you grab a copy today. Do it.

The album can be classified as avant-garde, but don't let that scare you off; this is not some meandering, nonsensical noodling. There's quite a bit of structure to this album, despite the wide-ranging stylistic influences. The individual songs vary greatly in style, but rather than feeling like a disjointed mess, it manages to pull everything together in a nice neat little package. A lot of the songs on this album segue into each other, which creates some interesting transitions between songs.

Standard progressive rock fans may be a tad bit turned off by this album at first listen due to the heavy use of unconventional rock instruments. Trey Spruance plays a wide variety of instruments on this album, and more often than not his guitar playing will be in the background or nonexistent. Still, if you're willing to be open minded (as all prog fans should be), you might find that this is, indeed, a highly interesting and creative album that's more than worth your time.

SECRET CHIEFS 3 is part of the massive growing multiverse of music from the members of carnival freak band MR. BUNGLE (of whom the most notable is Mike Patton of FANTOMAS and PEEPING TOM) in this case consisting of Trey Spruance primarily on guitar and Danny Heifetz on Drums and percussion. The music here is certainly not for the faint hearted, it's quite similar to MR BUNGLE except it's a lot more sparse and has a prevailing middle-eastern theme to it - but it's still just as out there as anything bungle ever did, gallivanting from one genre to the next without a care and often without warning.

The instrumentation is quite varied on this album as you could probably deduce from the amount of instruments listed in the band member credits but it's actually quite hard to pick them out, it's quite hard to pick out anything really and so the most kudos must certainly go to the production, it's very varied due to the amazing variation in styles and genres from ethnic percussion to disco.

It's actually quite hard to pick out highlight tracks as they are so eclectic and it's hard to tell where the start and end most of the time and because they are so varied in and within themselves. The satirical 'Killing of the Kings' is great with lyrics like "Rock and roll is a thing that needs to die", 'Emir of the bees' has a lot of highlights notably the middle eastern techno that was featured in songs like 'Desert search for techno Allah', 'White as they come' is a very strong ending with some fairly psychedelic disco (what?), poking fun at the musical tastes of middle aged white people.

First Grand Constitution and Bylaws is an acquired taste and certainly not for everyone but is none the less a great album, fans of the more eclectic MR BUNGLE and FANTOMAS will certainly enjoy.

Secret Chiefs 3 is yet another very good American avant-garde band (RIO and avant prog is the only prog sub-genre where America is top of the heap), a genre I have recently been getting very much into (both the European and American ends of things), and one I have very much enjoyed, largely due to the enormous wealth of excellent material found within it. This album (well, most of it, anyway) is no exception. It is an absolutely wonderful album, a hidden gem that cannot be ignored if you like avant- garde music (or, really, even if you don't). And yet, it still has its fair share of problems.

The biggest problem, is, as I pointed out is that it is a somewhat polarized album, meaning that it hits highs and lows separated by vast margins. The highs are very, very high, but the lows are equally low (if not more so), and thus the album is somewhat inconsistent. To be fair, this fourteen-song album has twelve highs and a mere two lows, but those two lows are rather conspicuous, and are enough to spoil most of the effect of the rest of the album. These lows are the two death metal songs, Exterminating Angel and Hypostasis of the Archons. While the rest of the album sees the Chiefs creating delightful moods and textures (even some amazing metallic moments in there, too), these two songs are busy "exterminating" the flow of the album, completely disrupting the textures created, which I don't appreciate. These songs take an otherwise perfectly flowing album (to test this, just listen to the album without the two aforementioned songs, and you'll find that it flows nearly perfectly, even across the breaks where those two songs would have been) and reduce to it to a somewhat patchy and disjointed album. Also, I'd like to point out that this isn't a personal vendetta against death metal songs. There are plenty of such songs that I greatly enjoy (the most notable example has to be Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's Of Natural History album, one of my favorite albums of any genre and highly influenced by death metal). What particularly bothers me here is that, no matter how good those two songs might have been, they would not have been able to get past the fact that death metal just doesn't fit in with the vision of the rest of this album. It's only made worse by the fact that they just aren't very good in the first place.

But, after that long rant which may well have completely turned you off the album, I'd like to redeem it. Because, those twelve highs are truly quite high, and you won't want to miss it. Secret Chiefs 3 blend a variety of influences and styles, from avant-garde to metal (instrumental, unlike the death metal tracks, and much more fitting to the theme of the album) to symphonic to ethnic to a little bit of just about everything else, and the Chiefs make it all work to perfection. There is a sweeping grandeur to some tracks, an ominous nature to others, but more importantly, they are all great songs individually, and they all fit on the album. It's impossible to pick a favorite, because I find myself enjoying nearly equally the almost post-rock of The End Times and the ethnic The 4 (Great Ishraqi Sun); I find the crazy avant-garde nature of On the Wings of the Haoma just as endearing as the movie soundtrack-esque Book T: Exodus. It's all very good, done in an intelligent manner, the result is an amazing album. The band members display a stunning grasp of the technique of using music to create moods and textures, but never lapse towards boredom. There is always energy in some form or another, and that is one of the greatest things I can say about any album.

Nevertheless, I can't treat the two death metal tracks as non-existent for the sake of this review, because they are most conspicuously present. What I can do (and what I strongly urge all of you to do after your initial listen), thankfully, is treat them as non-existent when I listen to the album. What I mean is that I can skip over them without (as I said earlier) disrupting the flow of the album (and, again as I said earlier, the flow improves). If you like avant-garde, this album is essential. If don't, or if you simply don't know the genre, this album is an easy way in, showing just how effective avant-garde music can be without overwhelming you. So, despite being polarized, this is a win-win album, unless you simply don't like music (though, with music like this around, I can't imagine why you wouldn't). Recommended.

Author's Note: I recently come to enjoy the death metal tracks, and so I am updating the rating to four stars. 05/07/07

1. The End Times: This is a very beautiful entrance to the album. A very nostalgic riff is repeated ''x'' times, with differents instruments and arrangements. Everything here flows like in a brook. 8/10

2. The 4 (Great Ishraqi Sun): A strange Indian song with great musicals arrangements and excellent druming. 7/10

3. The Indestructible Drop: Small psychedelick interlude with interestings effects at the end. No too bad but it don't brings a lot to the album. 5/10

4. Exterminating Angel: A very dark and cacophonous death metal song. Lyrics may be beautiful but we can only distinguish some growlings... Some poeple may find this interesting but I'm not very fan of these kinds of music... 3/10

5. The Owl in Daylight: Begins like the end of track 3, this one is one of the gems on the album. The song changes many times of directions and of mood. The beginning is very psychedelic and strange. It changes incredibly naturally to a kind of cool balad with beautifuls synthetizer's effects and kinds of jazzy trompets at one moment. Then it turns to a very deep and sad moment with loud electric guitar and it finishes on a last psychedelic move. Wondeful piece of music. 10/10

6. The Exile: Another gem. It makes me think a little bit at a movie soundtrack. Beautiful acoustic guitar, banjo, and a wonderful orchestral arrangement. It's so deep! With it's preceding and followings tracks, the highest point of the album. 9.5/10

7. On the Wings of the Haoma: Another great song here. Very psychedelic and original. I found that this song is based on perscusions witch are truly incredibles and originals. It's very dark, but tell me why, it might sounds funny sometime. In short, a must to listen for every fans of ''Mr. Bungle'' or ''Sleepytime Gorilla Museum'' (like Spanky mentioned it). 9/10

8. Book T: Exodus: WOW! THIS is music. Really I don't know what to say about it. It's just too beautiful. Another ocherstral song with a lot of electric guitars, percusions and specials effects. JUST TOO GOOD! 10/10

9. Hypostasis of the Archons: Another cacophonous song... I don't know... I don't feel it... 3/10

10. The Electrotheonic Grail Dove: Strange interlude with psychedelic sounds and a fun bass line. 6/10

11. The 3 : Another good Indian song. Very intelligents riffs and good drumings. It gives me an adventurous and dark feeling. Great! 7/10

12. DJ Revisionist: Another song who change a lot of directions. Walkings between psychedelics sounds and Indians moods. This one make me realize how the album is well mixed. It's very fun to listen on a stereo or with Headphones. 7.5/10

13. Anthropomorphosis: Boxleitner: Well this is also brilliant! Excellent song switching from goods guitars riffs to very strange and beautifuls movements of keyboards. This song is also one of my favorites. 8.5/10

14. Welcome to the Theatron Animatronique: The only thing I can say is that this is a wonderful closure. Wonderfuls keyboard riffs, and a last orchestral performance replaying pieces of the first track. It goes then to a wonderful and original voices chorus accompanied by keyboards. Everything here is so perfect! I love it. PS. The last 15 seconds of the albums are pure wonders ;-). 10/10

Finnaly, Book of Horizon IS for me, a masterpiece. It's only weekpoint are the death metal songs. But maybe i'll enjoy them later, I don't know... Anyway for this, I give only 4 stars... But believe me it worth the cost! It's wonderful! And it's an other world! BUY THIS!

FORMS Ishraqiyun Traditionalists Holy Vehm The Electromagnetic Azoth UR

Each of which as either 2 or 3 songs on the album. Also, they each have a different feel to them. While Ishraqiyun is heavily influeced by Arabic and Persian tunings, The Holy Vehm is a completely new kind of metal. I would go so far as to say it is almost as dark and heavy as you can get right about now.

The difference in sound does not mean this album sounds like a huge mess though. Rather, the album has the best flow to it that I have heard on any album to date. Even the jumbled The Electromagnetic Azoth pieces, On the Wings of the Haoma and DJ Revisionist, fit the album very well even though they the most random sounding of the other pieces.

This is an album for people who are willing to lend an ear to something new and to different ways of writing music. I don't believe it is something that a casual prog listener would really have much interest in, but fan of Mr. Bungle, Meshuggah and even Sleepytime Gorilla Museum will be right at home with this album.