ELECTRIC ASTURIAS: TRINITY

Japanese project Asturias has had an unpredictable history, initially forming around multi-instrumentalist and composer Yoh Ohyama in the late Eighties, with a reworked line-up appearing about fifteen years ago. Since that comeback in 2003, the predominantly instrumental group jumps between `Acoustic' and `Electric' Asturias discs, and like other bands from the same country - Ain Soph and Ptf instantly come to mind - the band/s combine a symphonic grandiosity with the dynamic fire of jazz/fusion, and their latest work under the `Electric' banner, 2019's `Trinity' offers violin and piano constantly met with electric guitar and keyboard colour, all delivered with a cracking energy, nuanced emotion and supreme technical musical precision.

Opener `Closed World' sets much of a template for the disc, unleashing Tei Sena's constantly ravishing violin, Yoshihiro Kawagoe's whirring keyboards and Satoshi Hirata's red-hot guitar races, all torn through at great speed with a dazzling urgency. Taking its title from Emily Brontë's influential novel, `Wuthering Heights' taps into that Mike Oldfield-like sweeping fancy and instrumental diversity that has long been a constant Asturias influence. `Skelter' was originally written for a fight scene in a video game, and appropriately the piece holds plenty of duelling guitar, violin and keyboard soloing passages throughout its victorious up-tempo momentum.

`Crow', inspired by a late period painting from Vincent van Gogh, slows things down for a sombre reflection on `a talented but unrewarded life', and the observation that van Gogh himself felt he was `like a bird in a cage' of his own personal demons contributes to the melancholic yet defiant piano, bass and violin musings so prominent throughout the piece. `Rogus' also hails from a late Eighties video game, and it's a prog-rock workout of icy synths, Yoh's coursing thick bass and Kiyotaka Tanabe's rumbling drums powering behind crisp electric guitar themes and sprightly piano.

No prog-related album should be without a multi-part epic, and the three-part `Gorgon' suite that closes the disc is an ambitious, twenty one-plus minute interpretation of three mythical female creatures with snakes for hair of ancient Greek literature! Opening chamber-prog passage `Medusa' offers a gloriously gothic atmosphere built around imposing church organ and spectral synths that are ultimately ripped apart with searing violin strains and snapping drumming. Fans of Zeuhl originators Magma will love one of the most violent and frantic Asturias pieces to date, `Stheno's mud-thick grumbling 'n' grubby Jannick Top-like bass oppressiveness, skittering percussion and devilish piano mania suitably sound-tracking the most independent and ferocious of the three gorgons! The tale of third sister `Euryale', known for her bellowing cries, is carefully set to highly emotional music with its sorrowful yet achingly beautiful violin strains and thoughtful guitar ruminations that rise to freeing heights for a refined and uplifting farewell.

`Trinity's cultured approach to often adapting classic literature and art means it always remains evocative and sophisticated, and the album remains endlessly melodic at all times without ever sacrificing technicality and ambitiousness. Trinity' is dramatic and intelligent instrumental music at its very finest, and is not only the third stunning Electric Asturias work to date, but already one of the standout progressive music releases of 2019.

Five stars.

Note - Electric Asturias are currently performing on the 2019 Cruise to the Edge tour, and attendees would be highly recommended to skip looking in on some of the `bigger names' if it means a chance to witness this first-rate band in action - a group who will quite literally blow most of the other bands out of the water! ;)

My first question is: How, and I'm serious, HOW can someone rate this album a one star effort?!! It's not even a matter of taste, one cannot help but recognize and, hopefully, acknowledge the mastery on display here.

My follow-up second question is: How many one star raters here can compose and play at this level of proficiency??

1. "Closed World" (7:13) opens with some aggressive classical piano arpeggi before full rock band joins in with violin repeating the same opening sequence of arpeggi. The melodic pattern is engaging enough to keep the listener pinned while other instruments take turns soloing with variations on the main theme or, with stops and starts, going into other movements. The weaves of the three lead instruments gets clever with harmonized threads and chords. Very pleasant, clean, interesting, and engaging song start to finish with, of course, very high caliber skills in the composition and musicianship departments. (13.5/15)

2. "Wuthering Heights" (5:54) bouncy, peppy, though a little straightforward with melodies that become a little tiresome no matter how many different ways they play them. sounds like a song from GENESIS And Then There Were Three... without the lyrics, of course. (8.25/10)

3. "Skelter"(4:38) opens with a reversed piano chord á la YES 1972 before the band comes crashing through like a train out of a tunnel travelling at top speed. Great melodies from Tei Sena and support play--especially from the piano of Yoshihiro Kawagoe. The soloing skills of guitarist Satoshi Hirata are great though his lines aren't quite as melodic or emotional as Sena's. (Is it just the nature of the instrument? I think not.) (9.25/10)

4. "Crow" (8:08) sounding part classical, part jazz, and part country from the very start, this one could be a song from Edgar Meyer's Goat Rodeo or Jean-Luc Ponty's less electric albums. The weave begun at 1:29 is awesome but the rhythmic emphasis in the section beginning at 1:46 is amazing! Such skill! Such beauty! All this and the real meat of the song doesn't begin to reveal itself until 3:18 and 3:49! Great bass sound. Great whole-band weave. And then there's the awesome tension build in the second half of the sixth minute before the gentle tease and full dénouement for the seventh minute. Could've gone higher, but, still, I am happy with the gentle, gorgeous ending. Probably the best song on the album! (14.25/15)

5. "Rogus" (8:46) strings and tango-jazzy piano open this one before full band join in and electric guitar establishes the lead melody with violin playing second fiddle. The two trade variations on the melodic theme established first by the guitar over the first couple minutes as bass, piano, and drums float like waves in support. A quiet section exposes the piano for another tango-like movement as chunky bass solos in time with drums. Nice! I love the piano play! Dirty guitar enters to solo. Quite skilled and jazzy if still not as emotional as the violin or piano. There are a lot of similarities to this guitar sound and play to MIREK GIL and STEVE HACKETT. It gets better and more under your skin as the song progresses. Great song! Just love that tango-piano foundation! (18/20)

- Suite Of "Gorgon" : 6. I - Medusa (5:11) slow chord shifting church organ opens this one before bells join in. Ominous and awesome! Then about a minute in the full band jumps in with its own classical Phantom of the Opera-like theme music. Very Italian in it's dramatic set up. (Except for the organ opening, this could be either LA COSCIENZA DI ZENO or INGRANAGGI DELLA VALLE here). (8.9/10)

7. II - Sthenno (7:30) opening with heavily distorted bass, delicate cymbal play, and then violin before piano introduces the real pace and form at 0:50. The song is very chunky, very thick like WOBBLER and angular like ÄNGLAGÅRD. The dirty violin solo in the fourth minute is very wild and frenetic. The KOTEBEL-like music that follows ushers in the return of the heavily distorted bass as the violin seems to dance around it. Then, at 4:45 there is an emptying as the bass is allowed to repeat the opening section. Great complex and tightly performed symphonic prog song. (13.25/15)

8. III - Euryale (8:51) opens with some deliciously supported violin play--amazingly gorgeous melodies. The music switches to a little more chop in the second minute--including in the violin and guitar melody play. It's good, just quite as powerful as the opening section. Very nice technically-demanding weave in the fourth minute. The violin puts on a show in the fifth minute while the band beneath gets heavier and switches to minor chords for a little bit. I take it that the violin is representing Perseus and the electric guitar the gorgon. Quite a struggle! Won, of course, by the violin--which leads to a final section in which the powerful and plaintive melody of the opening section are repeated and reinforced. (18/20)

Total time 56:11

Five stars; a minor masterpiece of beautiful, technically skilled jazz fusion/progressive rock music.