Bangladeafy

Album Title: 
The Briefcase
Release Date: 
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

What sounds like a silly bandname, is derived from a combination of this duo's drummer Atif Haq's Bangladeshi origins, and bassist/ pianist Johnny Germ (real name Jon Ehlers)'s sensio-neural hearing loss...and that makes the bandname a little less silly, now doesn't it?

Based in New York City, the duo first came together in October 2009, and developed a highly technical hybrid of Jazz Fusion and...Progressive Metal(?) which has had attendees at the band's shows transfixed, and casual listeners cracking their heads to attention in order to miss not the one note played. An, believe me, those are abound aplenty! Incredibly, the band self-released its mostly instrumental 10-track debut full-length album, entitled This Is Your Brain On Bugs in late May 2011. Whether that was by choice is a point uncertain to this writer, but certain is that label interest múst have been abundant by then!?

The full-length is now followed-up by this 6-track EP, half of which is instrumental. Where vocals come in, they follow the kinetic synergy of the music in scream mode. Here and there, you can hear keyboard-generated sounds added atop of the bass and drums, and they add an extra dimension to the already frantic intensities of the highly technical play by both musicians.

Strong statements? Just check it out for yourselves, if you dare! Both the full-length and the new EP (which still lasts a full 15 minutes) are posted at BandCamp, allowing you to listen to the complete musical output by this band! If you want a strong statement, here's one for size : one of the better, if not best, EP's I've heard this year...both challenging and gratifying! Yeah, a definite addition to my “Best Albums of 2013”-lists!

98/100