ISHRAQIYUN: PERICHORESIS

As has been revealed since 2004's Book of Horizons, Secret Chiefs 3 is actually a collective of several different bands, all playing in different styles, with Trey Spruance as the common link between them all. After the Traditionalists (Goblin-esque Italian horror prog) got to do their own solo album, it was only a matter of time before other acts in the collective got to do their own pieces as well, and that's what this is.

Ishraqiyun is therefore a band which on the one hand is likely new to you, but which if you've listened to Secret Chiefs 3's earlier work you've probably encountered: they're the subunit who does that really intricate Middle Eastern folk music that's been sent through the electronic wringer a few times. The big question, of course, is whether an entire album of such material can stand up - and by and larch, Perichoresis does, offering a technically complex ride through a unique sonic landscape.