ARABESQUE

Although 5 years passed between Korekyojin's debut recording and their sophomore release, it sounds as though just a few short months and some intense gigging seperated them. This is both a strength and a weakness; this time around the arrangements allow the individual musicians a little more breathing space, and the ethnic percussion is better integrated into the sound, but there's nothing here that quite matches Poet and Peasant from their first album.

The album kicks off as it means to go on, with two pieces boasting skull crunchingly heavy riffs that take brief excursions into jazz and funk while never losing sight of the hard rock that underpins most of this album. Kido Natsuki covers an insane number of bases on guitar and has several Jimmy Page moments, sounding uncannily Zeppelin-esque on Betwixt, while Mitsuro Nasuno sounds like the lovechild of Chris Squire and Bootsy Collins. Yoshida Tatsuya, as ever, sounds like he's got Carl Palmer and John Bonham's drum kits welded together and a couple of extra limbs so that he can hit everything simultaneously (in fact he plays a pretty standard 5 or 6 piece kit with a single bass drum). The acoustic interludes that broke up the first album are present and correct and sound more fully realised this time around - Presage could have escaped from Led Zeppelin 3, an album which was obviously something of a touchstone for these sessions. It's a wholly instrumental affair again, which will make it more palatable to those who find the unique vocal stylings of Ruins and Koenjihyakkei off putting.

The 3 musicians sound like they're having a hell of a time rocking out and negotiating Yoshida's labyrinthine scores, and there are riffs and runs on here that will stay lodged in your head for months, but as on their previous outing there's the occasional feeling that it's a display of technique for its own sake. Fans of Thrakkattak style King Crimson and brutal prog in general will find plenty to enjoy on here, but newcomers may be better advised to start with the debut or the live album Isotope.

It doesn't get much better than this. We've got Yoshida(KOENJIHYAKKEI, RUINS) on drums, Kido(BONDAGE FRUIT) on lead guitar, and Nasuno(ALTERED STATES, GROUND ZERO) on bass.To say this is a power trio is a big understatement. All I had to know was that Kido and Yoshida were in a band together and I had to check it out right away. If anything, my expectations were surpassed. I was thinking this would be more avant-garde than it is, and I was surprised at how often I was reminded of latter day KING CRIMSON. I love that it's not a lot of distortion and noise, rather you can hear the instruments clearly and they have space to be individuals, yet the interplay is outstanding. I'm looking to get their debut after hearing this one.

The title track "Arabesque" is the one that reminds me of KING CRIMSON the most. It's a dark and heavy mid-paced tune with some angular guitar melodies. Check out the haunting guitar sounds 4 minutes in. Ripping guitar a minute later. "Betwixt" features fast paced guitar melodies as bass and drums do their thing. There are some tempo shifts in this one. 4 1/2 minutes in the guitar changes, firing off some scorching solos as the bass and drums get heavier. "Rambling" is a short song of intricate acoustic guitar melodies along with drums and bass that can be described the same way. "Quicksilver" is an uptempo track with so much going on. Amazing interplay.These guys are like professional gunslingers. The guitar screams out before 2 minutes. Check out the bass ! It calms down before 3 minutes as it gets a little experimental including some incredible angular guitar solos. Fripp would be proud. It becomes uptempo again to the end it. "Counterpoint" is a killer track. Check out the chunky bass as the guitar rips it up big time. Amazing playing on this one.

"Presage" is a breath of fresh air really as the acoustic guitar is played beautifully with percussion along for the ride. "Doldrums" has some catchy guitar lines including some angular ones. The drumming is relentless. It calms down 3 minutes in to a beautiful sound of light drums, bass and tasteful guitar. It starts to build 4 1/2 minutes in.I love the atmospheric guitar that follows. Lot's of noise to end it. "Exodus" continues with lots of noise just like the previous song ended. Organized chaos is the result. This is my least favourite tune on here. "Sluice" is a short cool tune with strummed acoustic guitar and odd metered drumming. "Freestone" is a song I like a lot. The guitar really lights this one up. There is almost a fusion flavour to this one as the guitar blazes it's own path. "Gibraltar" is a powerful song with lots of bottom end. The guitar is kind of funky. "Tantrum" is the shortest song on here. Percussion, bass and intricate guitar create the collage of sounds.

4 solid stars.