Time has wrought a few changes on
KTU. Their live debut found them anarchic and very avant-garde, but they seem to have morphed into a prog rock band. Granted they're a very good, intelligent, complex one, not unlike
King Crimson -- whose
Trey Gunn plays Warr guitar in
KTU -- but everything is very ordered.
Kimmo Pohjonen's accordion sounds mostly like an organ instead of all manner of crazy things, while
Pat Mastelotto seems largely confined to the drum kit, although loops and beats do subtly crop up here and there. There's room for soloing, but it seems more constrained than on the last outing. The melodies have plenty of twists and turns, and there's a good amount of heavy, dark riffology. The quality of the musicianship is as good as anyone would anticipate, but it's not the raw, careening ride that might have been expected from their debut, and that's a shame. Where they once seemed like the jokers, now they're part of the pack. ~ Chris Nickson