LACRYMOSA

Lacrymosa biography
In the little world of avant/chamber bands, one must definitely not forget Lacrymosa from Japan. Lacrymosa started out as a project formed by bassist/violinist Chihiro Saito in Tokyo during the early 80's with several different musicians in the band before forming a solid line-up of 13 (!) musicians, including himself, in 1983. With such a lineup, the use of instruments is of course quite varied, including sax, violin, clarinet, guitar, crumhorn, etc. Shorly after their formation, the band started working on their debut album, simply entitled "Lacrymosa" (later known as "Bugbear" on the CD re-issue in 1993) and got released in 1984. On this album, they provided a challenging and dynamic fusion of contemporary classical music and avant progressive rock, not unlike Univers Zero from Belguim or Art Zoyd from France, with strong elements of both beauty and terror. Their second album, "Joy of a Wrecked Ship" from 1994, was similar, but with even more dynamic and powerful compositions and a slightly altered line-up. Overall, a very exciting and interesting band, definitely worth checking out if you like Art Zoyd, Univers Zero, Zypressen or avantgarde classical music in general. Both of their releases are strongly recommended!

Discography:

Lacrymosa (aka Bugbear) (Studio album, 1984)
Lacrymosa (Single, 1985)
Joy of a Wrecked Ship (Studio album, 1994)

=== bio written by Bj-1 (Björnar Lunde ===