Comprised of bassist Dan Briggs (Between the Buried and Me), tenor sax/flute player Walter Fancourt, and drummer Matt Lynch, Trioscapes formed in 2011 and released their debut album Separate Realities in 2012. Here we are 2 years later and their latest slab of free form, metallic jazz, Digital Dream Sequence, might seem like a strange choice for Metal Blade Records, but it's an exciting, aggressive collection of instrumental songs that pays homage to some of the great fusion acts of the '70s like the Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Brecker Brothers, Return to Forever, and Miles Davis, but still retains some of the potent progressive metal energy that Briggs is known for from his main band BtBaM. The title cut kicks things off in spacey, jazzy fashion, an atmospheric yet bouncy tune that segues into the bombast of "Stab Wounds", a stunning, electric jazz-fusion-prog workout with plenty of funk & metal thrown in for good measure, Briggs taking up the slack by not having any guitar in the band with torrents of hot lines that snake around Fancourt's violent sax outbursts and plenty of rumbling drums courtesy of Lynch. "From the Earth to the Moon" fluctuates from breezy jazz to crushing, metallic fusion, as gentle flute calms the raging storm of angry bass riffs and acrobatic drums. If you love chaotic, energetic, and complex jazz, wait till you get a load of "Hysteria", a rumbling, boiling miasma of bombastic bass lines and dizzying sax leads, and the 15-minute closer has more than a casual reference to King Crimson with its intricate, repetitive rhythms and ominous riffs. Fancourt's sax explosions are lethal here, as he spews his venom all over some really complex work from Briggs & Lynch.
Digital Dream Sequence is damn impressive from top to bottom, and the absence of guitar or keyboards is not really felt one bit thanks to many layers of sounds being implemented by all three players. Jazz fusion fans need to make sure they don't miss this exciting release.
Track Listing
1) Digital Dream Sequence
2) Stab Wounds
3) From the Earth to the Moon
4) Hysteria
5) The Jungle
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