Karakorum - Beteigeuze

Tonzonen Records (TON027)

It always warms my heart to find young guys playing early 70s styled progressive rock and when they do it well I'm in love. This German-based quintet called Karakorum can handle it! Looking at the great cover art by Dale Simpson you might expect something really psychedelic and trippy, but the three parts of Beteigeuze are much closer to the original prog giants like Gentle Giant, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes etc. I think this has much more UK than kraut flavours. Of course there are some mind-blowing elements in there as well.

All the five guys are singing and they are much better than your average prog youngsters these days. The instrumentation includes guitars, bass, drums, organ, electric piano & synth etc. so nothing new there but that's enough to make an old-school prog album. I'm not going to go through all the three parts here minute by minute. Let's just say that there are lots of different stuff in there: emotional, pretty, heavy, progressive, demanding, trippy, experimental and funny. Yes, even funny, and on purpose. These guys are great musicians and have open, adventurous minds so almost anything can and will happen. If you prefer short, simple pop songs or hypnotic, repetative beats this is not for you but if you are a fan of '69-'74 era classic progessive rock I recommend you check this debut album out. The cool looking orange-black marbled vinyl is limited to 500 copies and comes in very nice open gatefold including an inlay. Also available on CD.

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