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Markus Reuter

Truce 2

Review by Gary Hill

Touch-guitar-master Markus Reuter can always be counted on for powerful music that is unique and yet somehow strangely inviting. This new instrumental release is no exception. Fabio Trentini provides all the bass work on this, while Asaf Sirkis handles the drums. This is a fine addition to Reuter's catalog of musical expression.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2022  Volume 2. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2022.

Track by Track Review
The Rake
Coming in at once noisy and atmospheric, this builds outward with some pretty intense drumming underway. It fires out after a time into some killer heavy, almost Crimsonian jamming. That gives way to a short percussion interlude as the track shifts into a different direction. This gets pretty intense, but also very freeform. There is a jam later in the track - past the halfway mark - that is psychedelic, psychotic and so cool. Some pretty crazed jamming emerges further down the road.
Rounds of Love
As strong as the opener was, this ups the ante. Echoey, trippy sounds bring this into being. It begins to drive outward, bass sounds first, from there. This gets into some meaty textures that call to mind Thrak-era King Crimson. It's heavy, dark and ominous. It's also, driving, dynamic and shifting.
Barren
Another that starts rather tentatively and almost atmospheric, this paints a dark and mysterious picture during that early section of the piece. This works out into some seriously hard rocking an intense jamming. The bass sounds are really on fire, holding down the backdrop, too.
Melomania
This one also starts atmospheric and grows out gradually from there. At over ten-minutes long, it's the epic of the disc. It works through more powered up zones, but also gets into some seriously textural territory after the halfway mark. This is a unique and unusual piece. It's also a real winner with a lot of drama and dynamic range packed within its borders. There is some pretty intense bass playing when this powers out later. It gets pretty crazed before it's over.
Consolation
Mellower explorations early intensify into more driving zones further down the musical road. Modern King Crimson is valid as a reference point here, but this gets pretty exploratory and crazed in unusual ways, too.
River of Things
I dig the rubbery rhythm section on this track so much. The number is a real powerhouse with a lot of driving energy and intensity. It also manages some sense of mystery and real drama. There is some particularly crazed stuff further down this musical road.
One Cut Suffices
The rhythm section dances in the background as the other instrumentation paints some dramatic lines of sound over the top. This gradually builds in intensity and fire.
 
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