Volucris Avis Dirae-Arum

Upsilon Acrux | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Label: Planaria
• ASIN: B0009J2JL0
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,567 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Oaxaca

2. Ballet Instructor/Dracula

3. It Takes a Nations of Unicorns (To Hold Us Back)

4. A Quart of Zolex

5. Night of the Goblin

6. Valence Electrons

7. When Satan Ruled the Ocean Jesus Made My Fish Tank Boil

8. The Court of Zolex

9. Your Geometric Hyena

10. 45 Rodents

11. The Seventh Gateway of Nimb Called Adarj

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The epitome of idealistically progressive music?, February 25, 2006

By 

Boris Kaplun "asmox" (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Volucris Avis Dirae-Arum (Audio CD)

If there was ever a band that could call themselves the modern day King Crimson, these guys are it. They're even rather blatant about it, with one album being titled "In the Acrux of the Upsilon King".

Until recently, that album was the only one I'd heard.. and unfortunately - while great - it was a bit lacking. So, the other day, I get "Volucris Avis Dirae-Arum" in the mail. Ohhh man. This is King Crimson, Ruins, Orthrelm, and John Zorn's wildest fantasies rolled into one pseudo-pretentious, deceptively unmelodious, rhythmically labyrinthine, technically astounding, and aesthetically pleasing package.

Old school moog keyboards are in use (often in very amusing ways), and there are two drummers (one on the left channel and one on the right) who never really make it obvious that there are two of them, and don't shove it in your face.. which makes for a very nice effect. There is very little distortion on the guitars, and it's actually sort of weird hearing acoustic performances of things that you might hear a tripped out tech band like Psyopus or Dysrhythmia play.. except the ideas present in UA's music are far deeper into the land of pure innovation and.. weirdness. It's all instrumental, as well.

The songwriting is entirely unconventional, consistently superb, intelligent, and largely alien even to the more experimental and outgoing prog bands around these days. In their own words - "maximalist".

They even do an awesome cover of 'Night of the Goblin' by Goblin, a really weird Italian prog band from the 70's.

Aside from that, I can't really find the words to describe this music. You could say it's filled with musical humor.. sometimes making fun of the over-the-topness and obscene pretentiousness of math rock, other times bringing forward an engaging display of progressive rock without ever lapsing into a wankfest. Intricate and intensely subtle melodies weave in and out of themselves, often putting on the false impression of a severe lack of melody. It's almost visual.. the instrumental interactions weaving tapestries of interrelated patterns that range from awe-inspiring to plain silly. It's an experience. The production is excellent, as well. All instruments have plenty of breathing room, and the sound is very warm overall.

There are two types of prog bands around today - those that are progressive by style, and those that are progressive by ideal. Upsilon Acrux is an ultimate example of the latter.. one of those bands that is criminally overlooked without any logical explanation. It absolutely kills me to see artists like this drift by into the unknown bin.

This is where modern innovation is at.

If you are a fan of King Crimson, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, or any other sort of neo-avantprogish free-jazz rock.. please check these guys out.