js “Bleed” is the second album from the trio of Reuter, Motzer and Grohowski. Their first album, “Shapeshifter”, was a very intense and discordant affair recorded live, and it consisted of first take free improvisations. For this second album, the band opted for a studio setting, and although they continued with the free improvisational approach, they also took some time in the studio to edit and shape the music, while also adding some keyboards here and there to flesh things out. The end result is a more musical sounding album, but still with much of the intensity of their live outing. Once again, Markus Reuter and Tim Motzer handle the guitars and electronic gizmos, while Kenny Grohowski handles the drums. All three members add touches of Fender Rhodes, Hammond and Mellotron to the final product. This is very powerful music, and although they also have moments of calm and sensitivity, there is always this lurking feeling that all hell can break loose at any moment. Some music that these guys could be compared to could include Terje Rypdal, Sonny Sharrock, King Crimson, and Miles’ “Dark Magus” album. Every member of this trio has strong chops and the guitar pyrotechnics in particular are impressive.

Although this music is freely improvised, they do a good job of avoiding boring sameness and expected clichés. The opening title track features a heavy drone while Markus spins off a very ‘Frippertronics’ type solo. On “Caustum” they open with delicate finger picking guitar before Markus eventually adds a metallic solo. “Oracle Chamber” sports the closest thing to a familiar repeating rock riff and “Impenetrable” has the band in total free jazz mode. On “Monolith”, the band sounds like a dead ringer for mid 70s King Crimson, particularly the middle section of Crimson’s famous “Starless” song. Album closer, Externalities …” has the band floating away in an unsettling urban ambiance. If free form industrial fusion laden with screaming guitar solos is your sort of thing, it does not get much better than this.