YUGEN

While the Rock In Opposition movement in the 70s introduced a new way of turning the rock paradigm completely upside down with totally off-the-wall and over-the-top methods of musical deconstruction, the alienating effect of a splinter of avant-prog chamber rock as introduced by bands like Univers Zero and Henry Cow hasn't exactly trickled out into households across the world but rather created an invitation for an avant-prog playground where the musically addicted can strut their technical prowess and twist and contort their musical inhibitions into bizarre new musical creatures that create dense and mythical beasts that exist in their own universe. Italy's YUGEN got the avant-prog memo that shouts with glee "I AM WEIRD AND HEAR ME NOW!" This Milan based group of mischief seeking musicians fronted by guitarist Francesco Zago really went for it on their debut LABIRINTO D'ACQUA (Labyrinth of Water) and lives up to its enchanting title with intense musical gymnastics performed in a never-ending labyrinth of fluid dynamics. The results is one of the most adventurous little musical journeys that the prog universe has to offer!

Despite the weirdness in full display, YUGEN didn't arise out of a vacuum but took plenty of cues from the greats of the old school prog ilk. While firmly placed in the dissonant and square root of a negative number type of melodic development as experienced by avant-proggers Henry Cow on "Unrest," YUGEN also implement the full band spectrum workout of a full forced chamber rock band in the footsteps of Univers Zero and Art Zoyd. While the guitarist may be the main man of the group, guitars are not the primary focus but rather the main vibe is a healthy parade of convoluted piano, mellotron and moog dynamics accompanied by a thick heavy bass with an army of lesser utilized rock instrumentation such as mandolin, flute, vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, violin, cembalo, percussion, shakuhachi, theremin, bass clarinet, tubax (?), sax, bass flute, taragot, regular clarinet and oh yeah, drums! OMG. With a cast membership fo 14 musicians on display, the layered leapfrogging polyrhythms of opposing counterpoints is startling and thrilling simultaneously like watching a slasher flick while riding a multi-looping roller coaster during an electrical storm. This is music for the sonic junkies where every track provides the adequate adrenaline fueled fix.

While the music has the alienation of Art Zoyd on an adventurous day, the tracks actually vary quite a bit with ominous spaced out chamber music such as "Quando La Morte Mi Coise New Sonno" to extreme bombast with Zappa meets Area flavored jazz-flavored workouts in the form of "Catacresi5" all dressed up with a Keith Emerson type of early ELP bombast. While proving they have the chops to beat their chests with the best of the big boy technical wizards, it ultimately boils down to the complex sophistication of the compositions that somehow mystically bend classical and jazz polyrhythms and counterpoints into submission ultimately finding a happy medium. And if you haven't guessed, this is quite the adventurous undertaking. However, despite this massive flow of musical greatness, somehow it all unfolds quite organically however more like some super mystery fungus on another planet far away from Earth's gravitational influence. While avant-prog has been popular in the underground for quite some time now, nobody pulls it off with such grace and technical wizardry as does YUGEN, whose admitted sole purpose was to create musical complexity for its own sake.

While such a lofty claim seems more of a recipe for ego-inflated disaster than a prescription for a sonic ear massage, YUGEN succeeds in achieving an almost undeliverable acrobatic feat of speed and precision cranked out into free flowing yet comprehensively logical tracks that differ from another yet connect like a fine-tuned protocol using blockchain technology. The music is brilliant and dynamic and never allows the listener to be distracted by pointless noodling sessions that meander into infinity but on the contrary keeps the listener's interest peaked as the bizarre and sometimes abnormally odd rhythmic pulses jitter and zigzag like fireworks shooting off angularly in quantum-based vectors of space-time. YUGEN is truly a band that must be experienced to comprehend since no other band can match its feisty avant-prowess since they have not only mastered the ultimate art of fusion but the wizardry of haphazard virtuosic delivery as well. This is my kind of music for those days when only the most weird and complex will do.

4.5 but rounded UP^

After a six year long wait the avant-prog collective YUGEN led by the professor of complexity Francesco Zago, at long last release their anticipated followup to "Iridule" with all those avant-prog gymnastics that have become expected of them. Despite having formed all the way back in 2004 in Milan, Italy, they have been quite conservative and are now only on their fourth album. DEATH BY WATER does an excellent job at not only delivering all that complex progressive rock meets chamber rock yumminess but cements their position as one of the most celebrated outfits in the esoteric realms of what has become known as brutal prog, which is the type of progressive rock that is absolutely unapologetic and relentless in its pursuit to create the most convoluted and bizarre roads to the promised land. If Occam's razor is the principle of reaching a goal by the paths of least resistance, then YUGEN has stubbornly taken the road that bifurcates and twists and turns through unforeseen complications only to arrive at the same conclusion, but a more interesting journey indeed. While this sort of avant-prog can test even the most hardcore prog rock lovers, YUGEN is one of those rare acts that has found the perfect way to balance their intense and demanding musical visions with an underlying swing and avant-groove that keeps the whole thing from collapsing. Therefore this is not complexity for complexity's sake but rather controlled chaos with tension so thick that you could suffocate an entire urban center.

YUGEN waste no time cutting to the chase. Upon the very first millisecond of the opener "Cinically Correct" the sonic frenzy slaps you in the face with each instrument existing in their own universe and somehow coordinating their whereabouts in the musical spectrum as to arrive in bizarre syncopation so interspersed in frenetic time sigs that you will be going WHOAH! There's music where there should be silence and silence where there should be music! And all in strange time sigs that change at super challenging speeds in perfect unison. Pianos, guitars, woodwinds and brass all dance around as if a voodoo ritual that had been crashed by zombies with chainsaws and all the rules had suddenly collapsed in a heap of fight or flight response. My impressions are immediately that this indeed channels the spirit of Zappa but takes it further and enters Mr Bungle territory only in a more disciplined way. I hear all kinds of references to the avant-jazz snippets from the first Mr Bungle album where jazzy chaos swirls around like an imploding gas line and the guitar and glockenspiels reminds me a lot of "Platypus" from the Disco Volante album. Also reminding me of the very same album is the crazy scatted female vocals that pop in randomly when least expected. Perhaps it even reminds me a bit of the first Steve Vai album "Flexible" and YUGEN makes me think that this is what Vai would have sounded like had he continued his virtuosic development more into the realms of avant-prog a la Zappa rather than down the metal shredder path as the virtuosity is stunning.

While much of the album is instrumental and where the magic lies for the most part with one cartoonish musical frolicking session after another with a rotisserie of no less than 17 musicians leapfrogging over each other while playing Twister, there are a few vocal surprises on here as well. While the instrument parts range from chaotically frenetic ("Cinically Correct" being the most explosive), others have more of a spacey and post-rock type of feel such as the title track. The three vocal tracks starkly contrast with the frenetic instrumental pieces and are all quite different from one another. "As It Was" doesn't sound anything like the rest of the album as it takes on a more Maudlin Of The Well type of spacey post-rock and reminds me very much of Toby Driver's projects but not quite reaching his level of otherworldliness. "Der Schnee" is the best of the vocal tracks and delivers a very Nico meets Björk type of feel. Nico in the spacey surreal music department but sounds like an operatic version of Björk as the singer can venture into post-punk mode and then leap to high diva notes that could shatter glass. The final closer "A House" is a surprisingly uneventful folk song that only lasts over a minute but seems totally out of place.

Overall YUGEN have released yet another top notch assemblage of complex art rock that only THEY could unleash with the precision timed complexity that weaves the web of progressiveness that purple proggy dreams are made of! The instrumental pieces on this one are magnificent and vary greatly with some providing staccato attacks, some over the top metal leaning distortionfests and others simply using melancholy and atmospheric manipulation to create startling emotional contrasts. If not for the vocal tracks i would find this to be a masterpiece of extreme experimental music but unfortunately two of the vocal tracks just don't work for me. As stated "As It Was" brings Toby Driver's project too much to mind and the closer just sounds like a rather mediocre indie folk song with nothing much to add. I can understand the intent of adding these as i'm sure they are meant to pacify the riled listener after such brutal prog attacks on the senses and i'm not even against the idea of such. I simply find that YUGEN doesn't come close to pulling off these avant-ballads in an original way like they have with their choppier outstanding instrumental assaults. Still though, despite these quips, this is one of my absolute favorite prog releases of 2016. For the most part, uncompromising prog that still manages to keep an inner groove that keeps it all intact. Bravissimo!

4.5 rounded down

Magnificent! There, I wrote It. That's the only word that capture what is hidden inside one of the best recordings in 2016, and boy, this was a good year for prog. Whenever i hear RIO/Avant Prog I run because most of the time the music is just plain boring and repetitive but, here is just plain beautiful and original rich in sounds, textures and colour and the vocals are one of the fine points here. There is no filler material here, every single one of the songs just feel necessary so if I have to choose a favorite one It would be hard but, if You must know I find the haunting "Der Schnee" a masterpiece. One of the must to purchase this year.

Yugen is an Italian R.I.O/Avant-garde chamber prog collective formed back in 2004 who cite Henry Cow, Univers Zero, Frank Zappa and Thinking Plague among others as initial influences, with a large ensemble of players present on their latest recording `Death by Water', arriving four years after their intense and defining live instrumental recording `Mirrors' in 2012. The current line-up boasts the participation of musicians and singers from a diverse range of (mostly experimental) Italian projects such as Nichelodeon, Not a Good Sign, Ske, Homunculus Res and Gran Turismo Veloce, even French group Loomings and Greek band Ciccada, and it not only contains all the maddening, splintering musical spasms that race about in endless directions of their past works, but a few welcome thoughtful and moody unhurried ruminations to break up the frantic energy.

From the opening seconds, Yugen founder, composer and guitarist Francesco Zago (a complete universe away from the I.Q/Genesis-modelled Night Watch band that he initially played in long ago, although the album is hardly guitar-dominated) and his musical friends tear into the schizophrenic `Clinically Correct', a grinding and playfully malevolent noisy f*ck-snap explosion that sounds like a bomb going off, but it's also deliciously and completely delirious! It's a storm of violent guitar splinters, pounding drums, manic vibraphone, unravelling synth spirals, Zeuhl-ish bass grumbles, creeping sax, twitching female vocal ticks and skittering programming, with every musician offering demented little fills throughout this addictive free- form mental disintegration! The nightmarish and gleefully wicked `As-Matter-Of-Death' somehow lurches into fleeting dirty grooves amongst deranged operatic trills, shadowy gothic piano doom, crashing percussion stabs, wild drum tantrums and a lengthy dark-ambient drone in the second half that all together sounds like the Devil's symphony, but the aggressive senses- shredding female vocal convulsions of `Der Schnee' are likely to engage and enrage in equal measure!

There's also several little interlude pieces that run from 1-2 minutes - `Undermurmur' is a breakdown of infernal tinkling piano, pumping horns and runaway synth ripples, the brief but snarling `Ten Years After' comes the closest to a heavy metal blast, `Studio #9' is loopy and psychedelic jazzy playfulness, sure enough `Drum N' Stick' is a Chapman stick and drum musing over droning soundscapes, and `A House' is a fragile reflective acoustic ballad to close the disc in a gently melancholic manner.

Yet for all the musical multiple-personalities leaping about, it's the pieces that are more focused and slowly build a careful atmosphere that deliver some of the most striking moments, such as `As It Was', a pristine piano and plaintive vocal reflection with a searing Mellotron rise. But perhaps best of all is the sumptuous title track, grand and deeply emotional with Post Rock echoes, a melancholic instrumental of tense acoustic chiming and reaching early Pink Floyd weeping guitar strains over haunting piano and subtle percussion that grows and falls back and forth with restrained power.

The musically discordant, impeccably-performed experimentation of `Death by Water' will ensure it's another divisive release as always for Yugen. If your preferred idea of Italian progressive music only extends to the melodic RPI groups that perform in a theatrical and symphonic manner such as Le Orme, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and P.F.M, then it might be wise to avoid this disc. But if your brain is wired in a way that responds to the challenging, genre-shattering music of groups from that country like Area, Stormy Six and the works of Claudio Milano, `Death by Water' is waiting to destroy and test your understanding of the term `progressive music', and it's an essential purchase for the R.I.O/Avant crowd and lovers of demanding and ambitious music.

Four stars.

Yugen's return in 2016 is very welcome given the extended gap from their outstanding masterpiece Iridule from 2010. I had worries that Francesco Zago's baby was on permanent hiatus given the large number of side projects he has been working on over the intervening years, Zauss, Not A Good Sign, & Spaltklang. As with previous efforts this is not an album for the faint hearted. Some of the music is extremely angular & dissonant with turn on a dime acrobatics while focusing on instrument interplay rather than individual melodies. There are also many more relaxed serene tracks that more heavily rely on Paolo Botta's keyboards. The balance between this dark heavy angular music and the more traditional Italian keyboard lead beauty can be quit jarring but that is part of the dynamic energy of the album. Extremely good

Yugen assemble a small avant-prog army to unleash Death By Water, a journey that takes the listener through pulsating rhythms echoing from the borderlands of Zeuhl, unexpected moments of ambient placidity, and the occasional gentle folk guitar moment and visits yet further diverse territories in between. A particular treat is Der Schnee, on which Dalila Kayros' vocal performance puts the listener in mind of such voice-as-instrument works as can be found in the output of the Cocteau Twins or Bjork, and couples this with some of the most beautiful instrumental playing the album has to offer.

Avant-prog groups can sometimes get too caught up in the technicality and experimentalism of what they are doing, forgetting along the way to invest their compositions with emotional resonance. This isn't the case here, where Yugen offer an emotional journey just as intricate as their technical execution.

Francesco Zago's avant baby puts together another amazing collection of experimental/exploratory songs-- their first studio album since 2010's wonderful masterpiece, Iridule. Percussionists and a percussion-mindset seem to rule the day with YUGEN work, and Death by Water is no exception. The ubiquitous JACOPO COSTA (NOT A GOOD SIGN, THE LOOMINGS) and Giuseppe A. OLIVINI practically steal the show--though the wind section, piano of Marcus FASOLI (NICHELODEON, NOT A GOOD SIGN, EMPTY DAYS), and rhythm section of Stefano FERRIAN on 8-strings guitar & Chapman stick, Francesco Zago on electric & acoustic guitars, Alessandro CASSANI on electric bass and Matteo LORITO on double bass are the glue that hold it all together.

1. "Cinically Correct" (7:48) This song, from its opening notes, makes me laugh. It is pure Yugen as only Yugen does it. Each musician contributes their individual lines as if to a conversation, a heated debate, a street brawl. Even the 'heavier' stuff that begins at 1:13 serve to move the development of the song along quite nicely. A relatively calm and predictable electric piano based section of about 90 seconds occurs in the third and fourth minutes, but then Dalila KAYROS begins to spit out rapid fire some odd vocal ejaculations (in Japanese?) Wow! That was unexpected! At 5:04 Dalila and Paolo "Ske" BOTTA team up to create a freaky space melody using voice and synthesizer, respectively! Awesome. More! The 'alien' conversation that occurs soon after is so funny--coupled with Dalila's machine gun spray of Japanese-sounding syllables. This is amazing! So creative! I don't know how these guys could/would ever replicate this in concert--it's seems so free form and diverse! They throw every thing at you but the kitchen sink! The final minute or two fall under the sway of the heavier rhythm section while all of the incidentalists throw in their epithets over, under, and in between the flow of the rhythmists. (9/10)

2. "Undermurmur" (1:31) is a jazzy excursion in which playful piano, double bass and drum interact before horn hits and synth whizzes are added to the mix. Fun. A song that could be developed further. (9/10)

3. "Death by Water" (5:06) is an awesome jazz fusion exhibition--like a PAUL WERTICO-led PAT METHENY GROUP song. I don't which drummer is working this song, Michele Salgarello or Carmelo Miceli, but they do an incredible job with the cymbal play. (10/10)

4. "Ten Years After" (1:12) (8/10) is a brief foray into djenty-heavy metal territory that gradually fades into:

5. "As It Was" (4:58) one of the two showcase pieces for the always precious Fancesco ZAGO-Elaine Di FALCO collaborations. I do think, however, that Elaine's voice is mixed just a little too loudly into the mix on this song. Her sonorous meanderings are a little too dominant, making it sound as if she is above or separate from the band and music. I'd like to hear this song in which her vocal line is mixed in, embedded within, the beautiful, intricately rendered, musical weave. It's still a great song--with an odd vocal melody that stays with you for days. It just . . . could be better! (9/10)

6. "Studio 9" (2:36) is an odd little jazzy piece that sounds like a warmup exercise for a big band lineup from a 1960s jazz combo--or a Broadway pit orchestra warming up at the end of intermission. Fun and funny, loose and impromptu. (9/10)

7. "As a Matter of Breath" (9:27) uses the more familiar YUGEN style of experimental jazz "un-forms." Though the drummer keeps a fairly steady rock backbeat for the rest of the instrumental dancers to tip-toe and riff and play over, the song is never what you would call 'danceable' as in social club dancing. These are for professionals! Piano--both grand and toy--have a grand time playing with time and interjection as does synthesizer, while horns play some of the more straightforward riffs--repeatedly. After a choir 'hit' at 5:26, the song takes a turn into a more eerie ambient or soundtrack of the macabre section. At times feeling as if the A Trick of the Tail GENESIS lineup were ready to burst out into the finale of "Los Endos," this song plays out with tremendous pent-up energy, waiting to burst forth, but then, instead, peters out and fades. Weird. But brilliant! (9/10)

8. "Drum'n'stick" (2:12) is little drum and Chapman stick duet with all kinds of ghostly spacey sounds parading around in the wings. Really quite cool! (9/10)

9. "Der Schnee" (6:05) is the album's real oddity in that vocalist Dalila KAYROS intersperses the music with all kinds of abrasive and aggressive vocalizations much like a combination of BJÖRK, NINA HAGEN and fellow AltrOck stablemate FACTOR BURZACO's lead singer, Carolina RESTUCCIA. The song opens with an eerie space synth weave over which lower register brass play long notes. Dalila begins throwing her voice around in the second minute. The final 90 seconds are quite ambient, even peaceful--in a 2001: A Space Odyssey-kind of way. Interesting--to say the least! (8/10)

10. "A House" (1:25) opens with acoustic guitars being picked in folk song style as Elaine Di FALCO sings front and center and ethereal male and female vocalists whisp and willow in the wings. Quite beautiful! This is one I'd love to hear go on for five or six minutes: the vocal arrangements alone are beautiful and interesting in a Josquin des Pres kind of way. (10/10)

The most curious thing about Yugen productions, to me, is that they are truly the brain-child of visionary FRANCESCO ZAGO, and Francesco is primarily a guitarist, and yet we rarely get to see/hear the guitar showcased! Is that selflessness or is it more attributable to the reality that Francesco is truly more of a conductor than an instrumentalist? Still, there is no doubt that when Francesco and his Yugen-mates get together to create music, they are fearless. On Death by Water the listener is treated to artistic expression of the highest order: modern in that dissonant, discordant way, yes, but still highly engaging and interesting. I find it mesmerizing.

Five stars; a masterpiece of progressive rock music.

Marimba? Check. Harp? Check. Mandolin, tubax, thermin, mellotron, glockenspiel, prepared piano, contrabass, clarinet, hammond, etc? Check. Oh yeah, there's guitars, bass, drums, and a bit of vocals in there too?I mean, Iridule is a rock album, right? Right? but it's a rock album very unlike most. Italy's Yugen definitely does not shy away from being at the cutting edge of progressive rock with their third album which maintains their signature avant-prog approach and RIO aesthetic. Complex meters with jolting time changes, frantic evolution of instrumentation, and an ultra deviant sense of melody and tonality, Iridule does just about everything it can to break the rock music norm, going far beyond where most "progressive" acts would even dare.

I do not hesitate to say that Yugen has perfected their craft with this third release. With little use of distorted guitars, Yugen brilliantly pulls off moments that are dark and heavy enough to more than satisfy the most extreme metal fan's crave for brutality. However, Iridule does not short-change the listener when it comes to beautifully crafted subdued passages; large portions of each song are dedicated to the fabulous weaving of uncanny textures that never allow you to just sit back and passively listen. At other times Iridule can be quite the psychotic mix of 20th century atonality violently blended with jazz fusion and funk.

What impresses me so much about this album is that somehow, in all of its avant-rock glory, Iridule comes off as a strangely approachable album. I attribute this to three key aspects of their music that ensures that the active listener sees the big picture, and thus does not drown in the more "experimental" elements: Iridule is an album laced with tangible texture, strong themes, and discovery. Their constant use of a/polytonal percussion by means of marimba, glockenspiel, prepared piano, and harpsichord creates a dense fabric of texture that transcends your auditory senses. Its effects are often dark, haunting, or dreamlike, as they transform, evolve, and flow in ultra smooth ways that make sense despite the absence of tonal clarity. There exists the sensation of touching this music as its sound waves seem to physically envelop you.

Yugen makes great use of recognizable motifs in most every song on this album. After a couple of listens you come to realize that Iridule has its conventions that make the listener a part of an intricate conversation between instruments, melodies, and rhythms. Yugen tends to take a melody or rhythm and play with it throughout the entire song; it may be a short sequence of note values or a chromatic run, but you will definitely hear it bouncing around and being twisted and torn apart by the plethora of instruments that each song presents. Finally, there is an exciting aspect of discovery in Yugen's music. Although it is initially a bit confusing, I was surprised by how quickly I found myself recognizing distinctive elements of their music. It is chaotic, yet somehow predictable once you begin to get in on their secrets. I often find myself playing the game of trying to seek out and recognize conventions and motifs in each song; Iridule has great replay value; it empowers the listener to discover new things about the music with each listen.

The lyrics for the album, taken from Vladimir Nabokov's postmodern novel Pale Fire, provide insight into the heart of the album. Nabokov's synesthesia somehow serves as an overlying structure for this work of art presented in a medium that is auditory by nature (music), but somehow appeals more to the sense of touch than anything else. Yugen's choice to use Nabokov's words, "We are most artistically caged," at the end of the first vocal interlude, carries a glaring sense of irony. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to this fine album that Yugen offers us. Iridule successfully manages to transcend genre boundaries; it is somehow a jazz album without being jazz, a metal album without being metal, a prog album without being prog, and even a 20th century classical album without being classical (or released in the 20th century, for that matter). Iridule, while being a hard album to place, is a fantastic musical journey and an essential album for all those who still enjoy sitting down and listening actively to music. Highly recommended!

From Milano, Italy, Yugen was an idea of former The Night Watch'es guitarist Francesco Zago and drummer Diego Donadio.After a first demo in 2005 Donadio would leave his place to Mattia Signo and a huge-line up was constructed for the band's official debut: Paolo ''Ske'' Bota, who had played also with French TV, on various keyboards, Markus Stauss on sax and Stephan Brunner on bass, both from Avant-Fusion act Spaltklang, Giuseppe Olivini on cemballo, percussion and theremin, Elia Mariani on violin, Tommaso Leddi, who had been a huge force in the 70's with Avant-Folk act Stormy Six, on mandolin and flute, Avant-Rock veteran Dave Kerman on drums, member of 5uu's, Ahvak and U Totem, Peter Schmid on bass clarinet/bass flute, Massimo Mazza on marimba, glockenspiel and vibraphone, Maurizio Fasoli on piano, bandmate of Zago in Nichelodeon, and Marco Sorge on clarinet.All arrangements of the debut ''Labirinto d'acqua'' were credited to Zago, an album recorded between June 2005 and January 2006, released in 2006 on AltRock Productions.

''Labirinto d'acqua'' is a fresh, extremely rich and deeply fascinating effort of combining R.I.O., Jazz and Classic Prog into an attractive amalgam, characterized by an exclusive, instrumental sound full of quirky moves, abstract orientations and tricky interplays.It's a bit like HOWEVER or FRENCH TV with emphasis on complex twists and turns, powerful breaks and inventive interactions between the musicians, trying to link the ground between chamber orchestrations, Fusion craziness, symphonic keyboards and loose Jazz.It is one of these albums that reveals such a musical depth so numerous listenings are required to pinpoint even its last detail.The music is often bombastic, schizophenic and powerful with tons of changing tempos, interrupted occasionally by cinematic soundscapes and orchestral textures.Lots of Classic and Italian Prog references are evident throughout the album, a bit of MAXOPHONE and GENTLE GIANT vibes can be traced in many pieces.The majority though follows a Progressive/Fusion style with retro R.I.O. stylings, updated to the modern era due to the heavy use of synthesizers and the measured appearances of harder, electric guitars and adapting Mellotrons and organs from the vintage times in a highly complex mood.The dense and crazy instrumental parts remind me also of Americans BIRDS AND BUILDINGS, challenging, intricate and furious stuff with complelling musicianship, while the sporadic clarinet and violin scratches unleash a nice, folky taste in separate occasions.

Great debut by an experience leader such as Francesco Zago, who developed himself over the years to a composer of extremely adventurous music.Strongly recommended to all fans of R.I.O., Avant Prog or ultra-complex Progressive Rock...3.5 stars.

I first became aware of this band when they helped out one of my fave Italian band PdP for their A_Live album of the same year, but the least I must say is that you shouldn't expect the same soundscapes, even if there are some passages that are somewhat sonically close. When I first heard this album I was quite impressed and even included it in the top 10 of 2010, as I did with Frogg Café's Bateless Edge. But the least I can sa y is that Irridule has sort of grown irritating after extensive listening, and that almost a year after, I'm now ready to put these albums away for a while. This feeling is reinforced especially after witnessing the band's RIO-fest concert, where their concert failed to impress me much. Indeed, just like on their album, the band tends to complicate their music for the sake of complexity, but it appears somewhat unjustified to these ears.

Indeed, tracks like Decchime, Scuttle (despite a melodic middle section), Ganascia or Serial Killer have been done dozens of time by previous groups (U Totem comes to mind, but they're not the only ones), and Yugen doesn't manage to bring anything new. Maybe I've grown tired of this kind of advanced and sometimes obtuse music, one which doesn't seem to care an iota for the listener. Don't get me wrong, if you've read me in different reviews elsewhere on this site, you'll know I'm generally a fan of this kind of music. So maybe it is related to the fact that this kind of album comes 35 years after Stormy Six, Area or Art Bears, but I don't see in which way Irridule irrigates the fertility of the musical grounds uncovered by their forerunners. Indeed, it's rather hard to make the difference or distinguish where the track begins and end, because the lack of structure. You're always looking at the display of your deck to know where you're standing on the album. Of course the album is balanced with more accessible tracks, like the excellent closing Cloudscape (do I detect a bit of PdP's influence?) or the second section of Overmurmur. Some ten years ago, I might have claimed Irridule as a minor masterpiece (had it been released back then), but nowadays, I find it almost expandable.