elephant9 - Greatest show on earth, 2018, 🇳🇴
The partnership with Reine Fiske, which had lasted for two studio albums, has come to an end. The line-up has once again contracted to the solid base trio that persists unchanged since the debut "Dodovoodoo" released in 2018. The good news is that we absolutely must not regret this choice because the new musical balance achieved is up to the previous results, even if it must be more oriented towards the keyboard side. Ståle Storløkken has chosen particularly acid and rough registers for the occasion, capable of filling the ear, muffling it and stunning it. The paraphernalia at his disposal is obviously vintage, with precedence given to the Hammond organ but with generous doses of Rhodes, Mellotron and Minimoog and with the help of the Eminent 310 and, if necessary, the classic piano. The keyboards, sometimes even very overlapping, range widely in every direction, moving on a polyrhythmic carpet that is woven and unmade with great plasticity by the drummer Torstein Lofthus and bassist Nikolai Hængsle. The keyboards always manage to weave very guitar arrangements that will not make you realize the lack of this instrument. The overall duration of the work is limited and does not reach 36 minutes. There are 6 tracks, all of fairly homogeneous playing time and centered around 6 minutes each. These symmetries allow for a very balanced work in which virtuosity, instinct and the ability to create pictorial sound scenarios are integrated into musical ensembles of great impact. It is acidulous and high-impact music, jazz oriented, as usual, torn by deep psychedelic scratches and always pleasantly difficult, both in the most introspective moments and in the most aggressive and dynamic ones. It is impossible to resist such an album, in which noise, groove, power and melody are mixed in a talented way and served with the liveliness of a live performance. @elephant9theband#elephant9#elephant9band#prog#progrock#progressiverockmusic#progressiverock#progressiverockcommunity#progrockforever#progrockmusic#progrockcommunity#albumreview#albumreviews#progreviews#musicreview#musicreviews#jazzprog#jazz#progband