MALEDETTI

Area return with another album which, much like Caution Radiation Area, slips in moments of pure sonic experimentation in with the band's usual volcanic jazz fusion. Unfortunately, the album does not feel to me to be quite on a par with the band's best works - tracks such as Evaporazione or the classical parody Il Massacro di Brandeburgo Numero Tre in Sol Maggiore feel like filler, their fusion chops don't really seem to have advanced much since their debut (bar Hugh Bullen's super-funky basswork), and the avant-garde portions of the album might be worthwhile experiments, but to my ears they don't really work. A solid enough pick for the fusion numbers, but the noise experiments have not aged at all well.