Dzyan

This album was the result of Dzyan Mach 1, convened solely as a studio project and not lasting beyond the production of this LP. The record is a conglomerate with many different styles from Zappa-esque jazz to King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator-styled prog rock, with bits of tape effects and some wild conga drums added in. From the minimalist synth drones that open "Emptiness" to the bouncy jazz rhythm of "Fohat's Work," to the monster bass riff and soaring guitar of the closer, "Back to Earth," the album offers a hodgepodge of unusual songs in unusual time signatures. The vocals at times, and even more so the lyrics, are drenched too deep in prog pretension, but at least there are some long instrumental passages to get lost in. The album is a flawed experiment, interesting in its own right, though not fully realized like the two albums that followed. The fact that this Dzyan sounded like an entirely different band is because it almost was.