Estradasphere — Quadropus

Originally planned for a september 2002 release, well over a year later, Estradasphere finally released their 3rd opus: Quadropus. With the drummer-‘problem’ still unsolved the now quartet got help from former drummer Dave Murray and Theo Mordey.

Quadropus is well worth the wait. This album ‘rawks’ to put it in internetspeak. The album’s opener is the now well-known Greek song Mekapses Yitonisa, now perfectly recorded and a different arrangement than the version on the Silent Elk... EP. Dubway is an accapella song with no instruments used, just voice and human beatbox. Impressive, although not yet enough to knock Rahzel off his throne ;) . In the following track King Krab Battle the band get help from a huge horn section. This thing sounds BIG. And as if it wasn’t enought the heavy guitars coming in later make King Krab Battle a monster. Made up from Godfather-ish melodies and blaxploitation-like funk this seems a magnum opus for sax-player and composer John Whooley. The next song, Speck is completely the opposite: a celestial ballad with a beautiful stringarrangement by Secret Chief and labelboss Trey Spruance. Hardball is some sort of ‘Balkoitation’ piece which reminds of the first album most, especially Hunger Strike including the violinsolo in the middle. After playing the Ethopian funk hit Muziqawi Silt the delicious Ethiopian scale must’ve inspired to write Car Ride In Idealistic Ethiopia (part 1) utilizing the same idiom, but building a more epic spy-track out of it with some Indian strings thrown in. Definitely one of my favourite tracks on this album. The biggest surprise, as in ‘unexplored territory’, is the following straigh rock ‘n’ roll lovesong Crystal Blue. Plain old harmless fun on that one. Only to end up in the sonic hell called Jungle Warfare. John Merryman of Cephalic Carnage-fame plays drums on this one, which could be a hint of what style of music this track is. Brutal, but with groove and a gritty production by Trey Spruance with electronic noises reminiscent of Faxed Head.

Nobody would expect Estradasphere to score a smash hit with their eclectic mix but this next song, Bodyslam, should be it. A nu-metal song! With an ol’-metal guitarsolo! To unite young and old and it’s pure WWF-material. Forget about Limp Bizkit and the likes! Be sure to check out the video included on the enhanced cd. The album finishes romantically with At Least We’d Have Today, another great Brian Wilson tribute by Tim Smolens.

I think this album has the most punchy (and best) production of the three. The music is so diverse that I can’t really compare as it’s like comparing apples and oranges. This is just another great album that had quite a few spins the last few days. Now pleeeeeeeze, come to Europe for live-shows!