FRAKTAL.ONE

This EP must be something special for the AKT members because dedicated to one of the bands which influences them a lot apparently. Two wellknown King Crimson songs are reworked and played live as the band declares. With Vroom we have a successful and interesting interpretation - much longer as the original. I don't know if it's an intention or misspelled - the song title is listed with only two 'o' on their website. AKT substitutes the short orchestral begin with a longer dark electronic intro which accentuates their own style. Later the main heavy rocking and riffing theme is coming of course and Marco Brucale plays the guitar very Fripp alike following the original.

Starless - another KC showpiece - is appearing totally instrumental. Even though one main theme is to recognize the song structure differs. The relaxed mellotron underlaid parts which are wrapping the original are cut off here as well as the jazzy touch caused by the brass contributions. On the other hand - nobody wants to listen to a faithful copy - thé band worked out a really good variation also provided with a furious interlude like the original.

Nothing spectacular new one might say - but maybe only as long as Ile du Sud is ignored. This new AKT song just shines like a masterpiece of prog music and hopefully is a goody and preview of the upcoming new album. It has a very nice flow with psychedelic guitar, piano, electronic gimmicks and an alien sounding voice recitating the lyrics. A very gripping one and this proves that the band is continuing to develop its own thing making art rock with electronic samples and defining something very fresh and new.

'frAKTal.one' looks like a tribute EP to King Crimson but is also fitted out with an unique AKT flavour and decorated with an excellent new song - wow - this Italian band is recommended in any case. Gets a high rating from me ...

It is always a pleasure to discover new bands with a fresh sound, and if it is an Italian band, well for me is an extra point, it's a guarantee of a worth listening.

And yes, as you can imagine AKT is a band that comes from La bella Italia and was created at the end of the 90s if i'm not wrong, they are here labelled as Eclectic Prog rather than the ISP/RPI one due it's original sound and variety of textures and musical colours, so their music is not the typical Rock Progressivo Italiano one. Their music of this band in general as i said in the first pharagraph offers a fresh sound, but this time they wanted to create an EP i don't know if it's a kind of tribute, to one of their main influences, King Crimson.

This EP offers the AKT version of Vroom and Starless, and a new band's composition called Ile du Sud, so the Crimson part on this album is evident. Featuring those 3 songs and a total time of almost 30 minutes, this 3-member band has caugh my attention and not only for this EP, but for it's album Dentrokirtos which i hope to review soon. By the way, before i forget it, you can listen/download this EP from their official website, i suggest to do it and have half an hour of great music.

So the first track is Vroom, overall we can notice the Crimson sound on it, but what is good is that at the same time the band put their own style on it and the result is very nice, at the beginning of the song they did some obscures atmospheres with the keys and samples and then the guitars/drums/bass ala Crimson enters, through the song there are some electronic moments that show their personal mark on the song.

Second track is their new song Ile du Sud that opens with a long, dark and atmospheric intro, and little by little the song is progressing until the 2nd minute where some vocals enters, i first thought that it was a girl singing, but after reading Uwe's review where he describes it as alien sounding voice i think i was wrong. Then, the music is progressing and approaching something, the song is entering into a passage where sounds as if you were in an uncertain moment, and you have to think and clean out your ideas, after a few minutes the guitars take the leadership of the song and make a small crescendo, very cool part, the last minutes are practically the same as the first ones, we will hear some piano and samples over there and again the vocals.

Finishing this EP, is Starless, which happens to be my favourite King Crimson song, so nothing will ever beat that, however it is nice to hear the personal version of other bands, this time with AKT, i am very pleased. First of all, this version is completelly instrumental, and it kicks off very different than the original song, it has some kind of jazzy percussion and the soft guitars ala Fripp over there, there is no mellotron of course. A couple of minutes later, we will listen the bass lines that actually are the same ones Wetton did, that is when we will notice that this is Starless, not really in the beginning. Then the song structure is practically the same as the original which by no means is a copy, because it has some personal sounds and particular variations that make the song an AKT one. For instance, before the part of the Sax (in the original one) they put some samples and voices over there, and when that sax part is substituted by a guitar solo, a nice cover after all.

This is a very nice EP, that any of you can listen for free and am sure will enjoy, my final grade will be 3 stars, because it is very good but actually non-essential, it's something to listen not that often, but of course a nice listening.

Enjoy it!