Japan's Zeni Geva are relentless, forceful and ultra- intelligent - their steamrolling assault of progressive jazz-noise rock hymns inbred with touches of ancient traditional Japanese passages is not just "metal"- it consists too much of everything to be one thing. Engineer Steve Albini [Tape Op #87], whose band Shellac (friends, supporters and musical kindred spirits to Zeni Geva), captures their terrifyingly intense energy as well as the delicate and precise textures of noise that ricochet off the studio walls. However, the illusion that the recording makes is that it sounds as if they are performing inside an ancient temple. Both the left and right side of the sound spectrum are entirely guarded by an instrument that leaves the listener no choice but to be in the center, where they will be pummeled by a series of hallucinogenic spirals and massive blocks of sound, divided by breaks of oblong time signatures, ritualistic repetitions and cinematic grooves. 10, 000 Light Years is a genuine psychedelic experience that will dilate the ear canal in order to fully penetrate the mind's cerebral vortex. Your ears might get bruised in the process, but you will benefit from experiencing new and undocumented sensations firsthand.

(www.neurotrecordings.com)

Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.

Or Learn More