Flower Travellin' Band
Satori

LA RECENSIONE

"Stand quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself" (ancient ZEN saying).

The 70s and beyond, the grass grew by itself. And everyone smoked it a bit. Certainly, maybe it wouldn't have inspired us common mortals to such an extent as to write a song like this one. It wouldn't have made us think that a simple cough ] could become one of the most famous beginnings in the history of heavy rock.

Among the "normal" people of that wonderful period, there were also folks who luckily stayed addicted only (or almost) to their idols. Spirit of emulation? Maybe so. But with a good dose of talent mixed with madness. If at that time you asked Shinki Chen (leader of the Japanese band: "Speed, Glue & Shinki"), who Jimi Hendrix really was, he would answer you with absolute certainty: "Me!". If by chance you had encountered the amiable long-haired Joe Yamanaka, singer of the "Flower Travellin' Band", you would have had before you a kind of Ozzy Osbourne with slanted eyes, but decidedly more polite.

Black Sabbath as a common thread, "Black Sabbath in an oriental key" bursting from all sides: here you have "Satori", the second studio album of the most important heavy rock band of the Land of the Rising Sun in the early 70s. Ancestral screams, slow and spectral rhythms: the funeral march can begin.

The "part 1" ] of an album divided into five chapters, is the most disturbing and intrinsically close to the sound of their European Masters. The essential characteristic of the entire work is the excessive use of the guitar like a sitar (Indian string instrument), which in certain passages almost seems to transform into a hypnotic and psychedelic lament, which paired with the pressing advance of the percussion, gives the sensation of falling into a temporary state of trance: the "part 2" that the Tokyo band offers is the purest expression of Oriental musical culture. Intrigued? Then I stop here, not before mentioning a frenetic blues interlude present in the central part; certainly the piece with the most groove, surely the most fun.

Have you ever heard a cover of "Black Sabbath" better than this? If the answer is: "mmm... perhaps not!", don't hesitate, try listening to the band that has been most faithful to the cult of the god-IOMMI.

Sayonara!