*. Kenso .* (SHM-CD Japan Remaster 2012)

Album: Sparta (1989)(SHM-CD Remaster 2012)
Genre: Prog Rock (Jazz Rock Fusion/Symphonic Prog)  /  Japan

CD 4 - Kenso Complete Box (2012)

This album like it's predecessor and Kenso II are for me the three best albums of the eighties! Sparta takes the symphonic structures further than ever before. Still the fusion-rhythms are there and powerful fusion-prog songs do exist on this album. The Stone Of Golden Hair Villa and Miskatonic for example. This album proved once and for all that Kenso could play mellow and purely symphonic prog without relying on fusion-rhythms. Something that Brand X failed on 1979 Product. What makes this album so special? It's a pure piece of Montesquieaian sharing with fusion, symphonic prog and japanese music. You can float in mellow and beatiful landscapes and just seconds later swing around your room due to the grooviness of Kensos rhythm. What makes this album different from Kenso III is the fact that the drummer Yamamoto and bass-player Matsumoto only played on the two first tracks. The rest of the tracks where played by Masayuki Muraishi (who would stay on the band until 2002 only to be replaced by Keisuke Komori) and Shunji Saegusa who has stayed with Kenso since. Review by "BrainStillLife" (Prog Archives).

RATING:  8.25 / 10   **Great**  FANTASTIC SOUND QUALITY

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