Altered States

If pure musicianship is the guiding criterion, Altered States are arguably one of the greatest guitar/bass/drums trios in the history of rock, which may strike some as an overstatement but the evidence is there for anyone willing to seek out the band's Japanese label releases. The trio's music draws from a wide range of influences including progressive rock, jazz-rock, psychedelia, metal, noise rock, electronica, funk, ambient, and even country music. It should also be stated that Altered States are often purely an improvisational group, although they are also known for tightly arranged music on albums such as 1995's landmark Mosaic (featuring many guest artists) and and 1997's 6, as well as scored interludes within extended pieces (e.g, the third untitled track on 1996's 4) that take the listener by surprise; King Crimson from the Starless and Bible Black era catapulted 20 years into the future and with two decades of musical advancement might be one way to perceive what the band is capable of accomplishing. Vocals are a quite rare occurrence and can take the form of crazy gibberish (Makigami Koichi on Mosaic) or agitated shouts over the top of high-voltage instrumental jamming (4), so if your tastes run to conventional singing and pop song structures, you are out of luck with Altered States, and would likely conclude that the group has no place within a rock pantheon dominated by the likes of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And yet when it comes to technical chops, skilled use of digital-era effects, telepathic interplay, masterful use of wide dynamic ranges and interludes of space, and the building of tension and release of fearsomely explosive energy, Altered States have few peers. If they had a few hit singles to their credit, perhaps the world might view...