Suspended Memories - Forgotten Gods
It's awfully nice to hear a live hand drummer playing againstSteve Roach's trademark sheets of synthesizer drone; though Mexican instrumentalistJorge Reyessometimes layers clay-pot and frame drum on top of drum-machine figures, his syncopated touch--rolls, flams, paradiddles--adds the organic quality Roach's percussion tracks have often needed. Guitarist Suso Saiz blends in well with the general ambiance, contributing lightly distorted textures and lines that occasionally cry out for more body and warmth. Settling on a shamanic, paganesque theme for the project was a no-brainer--lots of Roach projects evoke the peyotian mysteries--but it seems particularly apt for a trio who first performed in a volcanic cave in the Canary Islands.--James Rotondi