KROKOFANT II

KROKOFANT are a young trio out of Norway consisting of drums, sax and guitar. This is album number two for the boys who play a heavy, avant style of Jazz that is both improvized and structured. The debut simply blew me away with how insane it could be at times. I actually gave it a spin earlier this week to compare the two albums and found the debut to be much more extreme with more guitar. Now normally I'd prefer the more tamer sound of "II" but man the debut had me actually laughing out loud at times with how "out there" it got. I mean the guitar, sax and drums all go beyond where most bands would fear to tread, if they could even play the kind of complex music that this band offers.

"C.O.T.A." hits the ground running with honking sax and drums. Soon a sax melody arrives that I'm not that into. Contrasts continue until just before 3 1/2 minutes when it calms right down with drums only then some bluesy guitar arrives that soon changes to a complex style as the drums pound away. The sax is back before 6 1/2 minutes replacing the guitar to the end.

"Sail Ahead" is another uptempo number with sax and drums leading the way. It settles just before 2 minutes then the sax turns dissonant after 3 1/2 minutes. Sax only a minute later but not for long as the drums come rumbling in. "Nieu" opens with the guitar and sax ripping it up. A very interesting sound here as it is very avant sounding. The sax becomes melodic after 1 1/2 minutes as the guitar is replaced by the drums. Some crazy sax before 5 1/2 minutes.

"The Ship" is led by sax and drums to begin with and the sax gets pretty creative at times. A calm before 5 minutes with drums only then the guitar starts to solo. Just a shred-fest after 6 minutes then the sax is back late. "Snake Dog" is my favourite song on here. I just like that intro with guitar and drums that is repeated throughout. It's contrasted with a section that includes dissonant sax and those passages dominate. Guitar, sax and drums all let their hair down after 4 minutes. What a display! Themes are repeated.

"Watchtower" is uptempo with sax and drums to start. It settles after a minute as the guitar replaces the sax. And the guitar is just bonkers here as he lights up the soundscape until the sax returns after 4 minutes.

I feel the same way about their debut as I do KAYO DOT's "Choirs Of The Eye". I'm just not worthy to hear such complexity and "out there" music and no it's not all good(haha). But this sophomore album while tamer is still very avant and difficult but I'm just not nearly as impressed. So 3 stars it is.