To quote Rush’s six string extraordinaire Alex Lifeson during the band’s live renditions of ‘La Villa Strantiago’… “Jazz is weird”. I am inclined to agree too, not because the music just doesn’t appeal to me, but to put it bluntly, I don’t have a fucking clue what it is all about. I get it’s about playing by your own rules, finding every possible obscure chord, mode, scale or whatever theoretical thing you can unearth and giving it some airplay and it’s about expression and flair and the like.. But it’s just weird, case in point, Shining (the one with the sax player) – needlessly complicated, hard to follow and a bit bollocks… And this comes from a Dream Theater fan, a band who are known for near enough all the jazz like qualities I mentioned there but without them being Jazz.
So how do Counter-World Experience fare? Well, the trio, formed in Hanover, Germany in 2001 are on their sixth studio album, ‘Pulsar’ and this one had been neglected a little on the lists recently, so when I read the presser a bit closer and saw some of the guest musicians for this release and the big man at Ave Noctum saying they sound similar to Cynic, I thought it was worth a shot. After all, Steve Di Giorgio featuring on it has to mean there’s at least one enjoyable moment right?
With 11 tracks spanning 47 minutes and four guest musicians on four tracks of those 11, it could be a lot worse if this ends up out of my comfort zone musically. Thankfully, despite it being predominantly jazz structured, it has a fairly metallic quality to it in terms of the actual sound and delivery of the tracks so it initially bodes well. Opening track “Pulsar” opens up with some rapid-fire guitar licks, backed up by some symphonic samples, giving a rather extravagant feel to it and as the tracks go on, the back and forth between the guitar and samples/synths is a captivating dynamic as they both rise and fall in opposition yet seamlessly trade the focus from one to another without missing a beat. Rhythmically spot on with some fantastic drums and a really rich bassline carries the song and the chops of the guitarist are not to be scoffed at as he makes fantastic melodies as well as technical artworks of his solo’s.
From here, the album is pretty much like this. Big massive polyrhythmic distorted grooves where they are allowed provide the major metallic edge with a progressive feel, like Meshuggah in some respects, but able to play past the first four frets on their guitar and bass when a riff is concerned and Dream Theater but with less Petrucci ‘God-mode’-ing and more melody to it. Trumpet player, Christian Meyers adds a touch of classic Jazz feel on “Bellatrix”, giving some rich and exotic sounds over the thunderous chugging riffs whilst ex-Obscura guitar wizard Fountainhead, notable for his skills on the fretless variety of guitar brings some real intrigue and virtuosity to “Helios”, coaxing some sounds of his instrument which will make people sit there in awe wondering just how a guitar can be used like that.
“Elektra” has a real metallic edge to it, highlighting where the Cynic comparison possibly came from. The heavy riffs, cutting leads and seamless switching from heavy to melodic clean in the same bar shines out. The fusion-laced death metal approach works well and it makes for interesting listening in the background if you’re not a massive fan of instrumental music as such, but for me, I’m waiting to hear those harsh vocal roars or gentle and spaced out cleans which Cynic often brought along with their convoluted and sublime music. “Alpha Serpentis” features death metal icon Steve Di Giorgio on bass and well, the man needs no introduction. His skill is well known to all and it’s interesting to hear him playing in a style which strangely suits him. His fretless bass sounds wonderful backing up the intricate and complex riffs, swelling and booming where needed and darting across the track when the occasion is called for. It makes a refreshing change to actually hear him allowed to do what he wants without competing with the rest of the band. Perhaps a genre switch may be on the cards?
The final guest appearance on the album is ex-Necrophagist drum wizard Hannes Grossmann on the penultimate track “Cygnus” and again, this is a man who needs no introduction. Being allowed to play outside of the constraints of death metal works well for Grossmann who is most familiar to us all for the blistering 200bpm plus rhythms Necrophagist have been known to hit, and to hear a more ‘musical’ side to him instead of technique orientated is rather refreshing.
Overall, it’s a solid slice of musicianship and a testament to just how compositionally epic Jazz inspired music is, requiring almost guru-like knowledge of music and technical chops to match it… But it just doesn’t resonate with me the way I felt it would given some of the similarities to Cynic and other virtuoso like acts which have a lot of complicated approaches to music. It does make for some intriguing background music, with the occasional moment which really catches your attention, like the almost death metal rhythm and riffing sections in closing track “Sirius”, but moments like them are spread fairly thin across the album so by the time you are aware of them, they are gone. Still… it is impressive, I will give it that.
(6/10 Fraggle)
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