Avatar
Seppuku
Lotus
Harbinger
Mouth
Year of the Horse
Primary / Aftermath
Dragon Chases Fly
A Drought of Fear
KOBE vs. 4th Sign of the Apocalypse: An Opening

Percussionist Kevin Dunn is Kobe, also the man behind Middle Pillar and former drummer for weird Goth act, Loretta’s Doll during the nineties, delivers his first solo release with the itinerary of the tattoo bundled in industrial residue. Similar of intensity of percussion to Sephiroth’s "Cathedron", Kobe delivers more martial anxiety than dense slaughter whose mien will sate the thirst of industrialists aplenty.

Dunn has strong predilection for Nippon and as a percussionist it is no surprise he is enamoured with Taiko drumming and in great part that traditionalised tribalism inflects all tracks to some degree. The listener’s orientation is immediately propelled in ululating motion as staccato beats bristled in electronic impurities forge ahead in ‘Avatar’. The percussion is strident at times, each strike resonates not the lambent glow of timpani but the martial ambience of tightly tuned tom and snare. ‘Seppuku’ fluctuates between law and chaos with rhythmic crescendos soaring out of guttering feedbacks of noise; meter and the absence of meter clash a war worthy of a Moorcock multiverse. Showing diversity other than noise and percussion, tracks like ‘Lotus’ and ‘A Drought of Fear’ share proximity with their taut electronics rhythms the purlieu of a nighclub – or noiseclub. Ambient soundscapes underline a majority of the tracks, often with subtle incorporation of slumbering melody; dirigible tribalism where Dunn’s decades of military and percussive training show off dynamism as he manoeuvres scenes immemorial lineated with the agitation of the digital. While there is fare share of thunderous effigies that stalk grim landscapes, alien time signatures and the elaborate rhythmic syncopation in ‘Year of the Horse’ lurch to the skittering of clockworks to further define the plethora of stylistic treatments of each successive track. The tenth track is a collaboration with 4th Sign of the Apocalypse, a groaning stratum of delusory substance tempered with chandeliers of percussive noise.

"Economy of Movement" is released in a clear jewelcase, with black and white photography of churning water creating a chiaroscuro of froth and depth, save the peaceful full colour pond with lily pad inside the booklet.

NYR