" />

The practiced musicians of Combat Astronomy have valiantly attempted to further bridge the gap between free jazz and extreme progressive metal with "Flak Planet", a smoothly flowing 8 track album of 30 minutes, describable as a sinewy, concise and confident statement executed with flawless musicianship.

The album's first track "The Stone Tape" kicks into a heavy rhythm immediately, and the group's rhythmic oddness is instantly apparent, as are their influences.  16 beat cycles are subdivided into odd fragments, "revolving polymeters".  The band fixates on unpredictable, asymmetrical variations of punishing staccato rhythms and groovey kick drum syncopations, heavily embellished heavily with ghost notes.  The thick, subsonic distorted bass guitar is in impossibly tight, almost mechanical sync with kick drum.

If you haven't guessed yet, it's a stylistic dead ringer for Meshuggah, so similar it must be a direct homage.  The catch is that instead of surrounding the rhythm section with impenetrable guitar texture and barked lyrics, Combat Astronomy opts for a nebulous conglomeration of horns which compliments the riffage in short wisps of quasi-improvised phrases.  The result is that their music breathes a lot more than Meshuggah's, something they could have exploited more than they do.

Combat Astronomy's music is surely easier to follow than Meshuggah's, as well.  Riffs and rhythms actually repeat verbatim pretty often, and overall they have more of an ambient/hypnotic quality to their music.  They frequently stay on a single riff or idea for 3-4 minutes, and employ some more rapid fire changes and accents near the end of a track for dramatic effect.

The title track "Flak Planet" is just an awesome song.  There's a minute of anticipatory droning from the horns, and then a perfect grunt from the one of the horns (sounds like a bass clarinet), almost like a didgeridoo, that lurches the track into its main riff.  It's an imposing gesture, and the band keeps the excitement high as uneasy horn chorales contribute cinematic and very modern tone clusters

The third piece "Zona" is definitely the weak point, beginning with some really obnoxious piano chords, played as if the score said 'bang random dissonant chords on piano as loudly and frantically as possible'.  After this, we're thankfully treated to some more riffing and grooving along the lines of the previous two songs, but then the same chords re-enter 4 different times or so, throwing the track off each time!  I understand the idea of introducing controlled amounts of chaos into a piece, but these occur in the music at a point where there is already a heavy rhythm established, and not much space left for such devices.  It disrupts some perfectly wonderful off-time grooving, and the music becomes little more than cluttered and irritating. 

The 4th song, entitled "Infinity Decay", is a beautiful surprise, and just the kind of change of pace I needed after the annoyance of "Zona".  This is an ambient drift showing the spiritual side of the band, confirming that the complex mysticism of many of the most important free jazz musicians is alive and well in this band.  I'm not sure if this rippling sonic surface was conjured from their instruments or not, but it has a remarkable transparency and depth of texture, and at six minutes lasts just long enough.

In the last 4 tracks, Combat Astronomy really hit their stride and built a lot of momentum with the "Inverted Universe" suite.  The piece opens with straight quarter notes at a devastating low pitch, an ominous gesture that contrasts yet strangely foreshadows the mindbending mathematical variation to come.  The band kicks into a riff for a couple minutes, and then the horns amass in perfect luminescent harmony for what I'd call the main theme near the end of the first movement, a contemplative and multi-faceted melody despite its brevity.

The riffs that dominate the tracks following are some of the band's best, and whatever complaints I have about other sections of the disk from my mind as I hear them.  Combat Astronomy engages in monotony more than ever here, but it comes off as quite conceptual, and reaches an impressive level of intensity by the third movement, which employs eerie electronic effects and paints an oppressive and unexpected darkness around the listener.  Much of the momentum can be attributed to the way the band makes each transition from movement to movement perfectly seamless.

I am happy to say this album has some slick, ear-pleasing production!  The bass tone is massive, percussive and crystal clear, like the bassist had just put on a new set of expensive strings.  Placed in the aforementioned tight sync with the drums, which have a thunderous low end, this album possesses serious weight, and should easily induce headbanging and bodily movement.  the horns have a clean, resonant sound as well, though they've pushed too far down in the mix, IMO, something that makes them sound like an afterthought.

Overall, I would like to see the band let the horns into the foreground a bit more, and really work them into the structure and flow of the compositions, as they use heavy riffing from the bass as somewhat of a crutch.  Combat Astronomy are on their way to having their own distinct sound, but right now their blend of influences is still a bit awkward and over-derivative, as their Meshuggah worship could not be more obvious.  This album has some great songs, but I certainly have to decrease my rating for "Zona". 

A lot of people would enjoy this album, and so I do recommend it, especially to fans of jazz who are interested in metal but can't stand the screaming, but I feel I must say mention influences are undoubtedly superior, and that when truly done well, this kind of music has a lot more individuality and flair.  If you never have, go listen to some Meshuggah.