BLACK ONI

The sounds and ideas that flow forth in Guapo's Black Oni are shocking, breathtaking, and innovative, often sounding like a sonic King Crimson assault mixed with instrumental Magma works. The result is often distorted organs and harmonium, a bit of guitar in the maelstrom, and a cohesively and amazingly creative rhythm section that seem to play the trickiest bits and pieces, offing revolving in over-bearingly tricky meters and rhythms. The previous effort from this band, Five Suns, is another stunning piece of music that really shined with its diversity of sound. This album takes that diversity and turns it upside down, making it one of the darkest albums musically I've come across in awhile.

The 5 part instrumental suite goes through a significant amount of changes, from quiet interludes to juggarnaut wastelands of sonic bombardment on the ears. It isn't always easy to listen to, but the rhythms and melodies are solid and keep the listener involved even in the most mathematically technical sections. Matt Thompson plays powerful, grungy bass over the technical precision of Dave Smith's drums, which are all augmented by the keyboard/guitar stylings of Daniel O'Sullivan, who is the key point in the Crimson/Zeuhl/Univers Zero sound.

Overall, this is an excellent display of what music can be if given a bit of time for creativity and experimentation. The only real downside of the album is that it is a bit short, although there is enough musical density to make a knowledgable musical scholar wince. But despite that short length (only around 44 minutes), there is enough here that should satisfy any avant-garde fan for a long time to come. Avant-Garde doesn't get much better than this, it gets full marks and a very high recommendation from me. 5/5.