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4/3 de Trio — Faiblesse
(Musea FGBG4275.AR, 1999, CD)

by David Bischoff, Published 2000-10-01

Faiblesse Cover art

With the new King Crimson album, Construkction of Light, entering the New Millennium with an atomic bang, pretty much blowing King Crimson wannabes out of the water and retaking the Land of Intense Hard Prog-Rock, the Minor Decievers must be on the run. Fortunately, wise Crimsoids have snatched a bit of the glory and taken it elsewhere. Case in point: 4/3 de Trio's Faiblesse, from Musea. "Faiblesse," the song, starts out advantageously in Crimson territory but then wisely angles out, incorporating some jammy rock and some good old fashioned French. "Os" not only heads into prog-metal territory, but oddly veers into something like grunge with a nice clean sound and some old-time psych feeling. By the time you're warping into "Queen Wilson" you pretty much realize that whatever the hell these guys choose to play, they can do it real good. Snappy, powerful, this prog is mainly good old fashioned rock with a progressive intelligence and expertise. It's odd finding a French group rocking this hard – then suddenly pulling out some Mellotrons and getting spacey. The name seems appropriate, somehow, in that this sounds like a power trio of lead, bass, and drums, with keyboards taking the backseat, but ultimately making a big difference. There's one song here that, God help us, sounds a lot like Pearl Jam, and I hate Pearl Jam. God help me, it fits well into this fine group's odd look at rock and prog – and I actually liked it. Then, suddenly, you're in the heart of the 70s listening to a fine traditional prog number like "Ma Devise." Oh yes. There's lyrics here, but like the keyboards they are more or less background. Melodic yet rocking, swinging yet discordant, this is a pretty good album from Musea – a label I've grown to trust.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 20, 1999 releases

Related artist(s): 4/3 de Trio

 

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