Short Reviews [Bondage Fruit - 1999 - "IV"]

I haven't heard this band until now, though I am acquainted with their biography and know that in the beginning of their activity they had a female vocalist in the line-up. Guitarist Kido Natsuki is the band's absolute leader and he composed all of the material on the completely instrumental album "IV". Musically, it represents a unique blend of RIO, Classic Art-Rock and Avant-garde, though it's all wrapped up in guitar heavy riffs and improvisations or rather quasi improvisations. The last two stylistic ingredients are Prog-Metal and Jazz-Fusion, - so the music of Bondage Fruit is really a kind of phenomenon on the progressive scene. What's the main thing, however, is that the music is extremely interesting, but at the same time so complex and intricate that only the most adventurous and profound Prog-lovers will be able to comprehend it - after several attentive listens. I'm close to considering Bondage Fruit a band of the Fifth Element of Progressive, as it is almost impossible, in my view, to squeeze their innovative and practically indescribable music into the frame of any of the four 'classic' progressive genres, the elements of which are employed here.

Vitaly Menshikov: Jan 2, 2002