01	Magic Room						09:54
	02	Smoke Of Her Burning						04:14
	03	I Was Home And I Wept						03:57
	04	Scorpion						06:14
	05	These White Walls						03:24
	06	Bartholomew'S Kite						08:04
	07	Lugosi: 1931						06:19
	08	Wings Of Asphyxia						05:47
	09	Heaven'S Black Amnesia						10:27

Kopecky - Serpentine Kaleidoscope
Country of Origin: USA
Format: CD
Record Label: Cyclops
Catalogue #: Cycl091
Year of Release: 2000
Time: 58:20
Info: Kopecky

Tracklist:Magic Room (9:54), Smoke Of Her Burning (4:14), I Was Home And I Wept (3:57), Scorpion (6:14), These White Walls (3:24), Bartholomew's Kite (8:04), Lugosi: 1931 (6:19), Wings Of Asphyxia (5:47), Heaven's Black Amnesia (10:27)
Three brothers (yes, called Kopecky) from the USA, creating dark moody soundscapes. That's Kopecky in a nutshell.

The album in general is quite heavy, with prominent places for the three main instruments, guitar, bass and drums. Keyboards are used only very sparsely. The general impression is that of a hard to penetrate album. However, the compositions are all quite good, and the album needs multiple listenings before one really gets the hang of it. It is extremely hard for me to describe the album, since it is like nothing I have heard before. Sometimes, hints of Dream Theater pop up, but only like a small flash, it goes as quickly as it comes.

The first two tracks, of which especially the first, nearly 10 minute-long track, are highly recommendable for a closer listening, are fully instrumental. On the third track, the vocals are spoken, or should I say chanted, since the omnipresence of the sitar gives this a very Indian atmosphere.
The Minimal-Music experiments like the intro of Scorpion (which subsequently for the first time on the album comes closer to known prog-metal artists) or These White Walls (completely whispered vocals) are absolutely not my cup of tea and hardly anything new. The very prominent role of the bass guitar here, probably also makes it an interesting album for people heavily into that instrument. However, for instance the track Scorpion, due to the lack of vocals and lead guitar or keyboards, sounds more like an exercise in drum/bass interaction than like a well balance piece of music.

The pieces Bartholomew's Kite and Lugosi: 1931 feature some more well-known instrumental loops and come closer to prog as we know it. The addition of keyboards makes all the difference here, and the music is much easier digestible even though some complicated rhythms are featured. The opening of Lugosi: 1931 reminded me a bit of a Mostly Autumn track (the intro of Porcupine Rain to be exact). For the rest no ties whatsoever to that band!
Wings Of Asphyxia is an excerise in psychedelic rock, almost like the middle section of A Saucerful Of Secrets (before the organ sets in).
Heaven's Black Amnesia opens gorgeously, dark melody lines, almost The Cure like. Slowly the track gains momentum and gets heavier with the guitar becoming progressively more dominant over the bass. More and more the track pounds, but suddenly dies down...only to recover again. Good track, solid composition and well performed.

Like I said, a difficult album to judge. From a point of view of accessibility, they don't score very high, but music need not be accessible to be good. I actually feel I am not qualified to give a definite grade here. Some people will rave about this album, I'm sure, others will find it completely awful. I for myself will remain somewhat skeptical. Maybe go see them as they tour the USA as the backing band of Par Lindh !

Conclusion: 6.5 out of 10.

Remco Schoenmakers





Kopecky: Serpentine Kaleidoscope
Kopecky
Serpentine Kaleidoscope
Cyclops (091)
USA 2000

Joe Kopecky, guitar, vocals;
Paul Kopecky, drums, percussion;
William Kopecky, fretless bass, keyboards, sitar

Tracklist:
1. Magic Room - 9:54
2. Smoke of Her Burning - 4:14
3. I Was Home and I Wept - 3:57
4. Scorpion - 6:14
5. These White Walls - 3:24
6. Bartholomew's Kite - 8:04
7. Lugosi: 1931 - 6:19
8. Wings of Asphyxia - 5:47
9. Heaven's Black Amnesia - 10:27

total time 58:23

Jack Hesse:
Kopecky had established their basic sound with the release of their first, self-titled album. Serpentine Kaleidoscope, their sophomore effort, shows them developing their darker metal side. Even looking at the album art before hearing a note of music, I get an idea that things aren't going to be as sunny this time around. As the guitar comes growling in, my suspicions are confirmed. The riffs are crispy and crunchy, the drums pounding, the cymbals sizzling, the bass mocking, and they keyboards condemning.
The compositions have stretched out a lot since the first album. Riffs come and go as quickly as I can digest them, constantly shifting, sometimes subtly, sometimes jerkily, but it flows well, and it always makes sense in context. Embedded in all the tricky riffage there's an exotic sense of melody that Kopecky does so well. The longer tracks have an epic feel, taking the listener on various musical journeys into the darker side of the imagination. There are a couple of noise experiments (the delightfully schizophrenic "These White Walls" chanting, and the crushingly apocalyptic "Wings of Asphyxia") which annoyed me at first, but have grown on me after listening to this more. It's all part of the big picture - as nightmarishly twisted as the album's title implies.

Gary Varney:
Kopecky's second outing essentially continues the formula presented on their eponymous debut. It is significantly heavier and darker than its predecessor, and many will lament the diminished presence of the sitar, which only makes a single appearance. I was a little uneasy at first because the opener, "Magic Room," struck me as a bit disjointed. But any apprehensions I harbored were promptly obliterated by the fiery second cut, "Smoke of Her Burning". My favorite, it features snaking in-your-face fretless bass and Joe's characteristic staccato yet fluid guitar riffage. As usual the band stays with a heavy groove long enough for you to taste it, then whirls off capriciously.
An unexpected piece, "These White Walls" is kind of a joke. In response to the inability of many Wisconsin clubgoers to deal with an all-instrumental band, Kopecky produced this a cappella orgy of psychotic and demonic voices chanting or screaming "these white walls" in various rhythms. Not what your average clubgoer had in mind! The result is a frightening picture of insanity - but one that you have to be in the right mood to listen to.
Perhaps establishing a tradition beginning with their first album, this CD presents another great moody poem set to music. The spacy, sitar-drenched sounds supporting "I Was Home and I Wept" is like an unsettling version of the Beatles' "Within You Without You".
The powerful "Wings of Asphyxia" breaks up the similarity of some of the remaining tracks, evoking a strong aural image of a god hammering on the dome of the sky, generating huge explosions of violent sound. Each explosion is followed by the glassy twinkling of shards of the sky falling to the earth. There's never any real "melody", and it closes in a cacophonous blaze as the end of the world nears.
For the newcomer I recommend the remarkable debut first. But if you end up hooked by the unique Kopecky sound, you're guaranteed to love Serpentine as well. And see them live if possible; their tightness is so breathtaking you'd think these guys were brothers.

Brandon Wu:
I hate saying stuff like this, but Serpentine Kaleidoscope is essentially a more mature version of Kopecky. The compositions have gotten much more interesting, the tone has gotten darker, and the band has tentatively begun exploring more unconventional forms. I think this album is more unified than the rather fragmented-feeling debut; all the pieces here share a common mood, and they're almost uniformly interesting. I particularly like the bone-crushing "Smoke of Her Burning" and the grand "Bartholomew's Kite", which juxtaposes sweeping symphonic statements with clean, precise guitar picking.
The most exciting piece on the album in terms of the band's potential, though, is "Wings of Asphyxia", which sounds like a metal band attempting to channel Univers Zero, or maybe a more strident 70's King Crimson improv. Oh, the piece itself isn't really all that interesting, but it's great to see Kopecky trying different things, and I think if they stay on this sort of course - playing around with atmospheric pieces that eschew conventional rhythm and melody for the most part - they could really be on to something cool. Here's hoping.
This is a far better album than its predecessor, I think. And although Kopecky's formula will definitely start wearing thin if they continue using it for another full album, they've churned out a pretty good slab of dark heavy prog in Serpentine Kaleidoscope.




Kopecky - Serpentine Kaleidoscope

Released: 2000
Label: Cyclops
Cat. No.: CYCL 091
Total Time: 57:00


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, January 2001
Kopecky are a trio of brothers out of Wisconsin that play a very heavy and very dark brand of instrumental prog rock. Guitars grind and chug (Joe Kopecky), percussion pounds (Paul Kopecky), and there's bass (William Kopecky) that is often felt more than it's heard. Well, the album isn't entirely instrumental, as "I Was Home And I Wept" is a sitar led vocal track, a psychedelic trip into the imaginations of the mind.

For musical comparisons, Kopecky are a bit like Djam Karet at times, only much heavier, most notably in "Smoke Of Her Burning" which is sinewy and slinky, and for a brief moment sounds as if it is going to break out into AC/DC's "Back In Black." Joe's playing here is fluid ... well, honestly, that can be said also of the percussion and bass as well, as the track struts a bit through its four minute length. It seems longer than that, but not like it's too long - there's so much going on that they've compacted it into for minutes seems to defy the law of physics. They also sound a bit like Liquid Tension Experiment in that William's fretless bass uses the same tone colors as that of Tony Levin (though perhaps its an unavoidable characteristic of the instrument). But it is also true that like the now defunct LTE, Kopecky play intricately arranged prog rock, that sometimes has the force and energy of Dream Theater, though it is only wise to compare the two in an abstract sense. I have to say, though, I find the sound of the fretless very cool, both in general and here, though especially here, and especially on "Scorpion."

Actually, everything about this album is cool, as they paint some very interesting, dark textures. There are two tracks that standout. The first is one of the eeriest tracks on the album, "These White Walls," which is the other, uh, vocal track. Where "I Was Home..." was a (perhaps) drug induced hallucination, "These White Walls" suck you into the mind of someone who is losing (or has lost) their mind. It's almost all a cappella except I think there's a keyboard driven drone in the background. Voices whisper the repeated refrain in such a way that they become the walls. Other voices repeat it at a lower pitch - the mind. Of course, guests Chris Djuricic and Kelly Cook provide some of the other voices, including the voice of the demented individual (according to the credits, it's Cook). It's strange, but what came to mind to me was the Charlotte Perkins Gilman short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," where the protagonist thinks there is someone living inside her wallpaper. That's simplifying it too much of course as it was a complex work.

The other track is "Wings Of Asphyxia" which is atmospheric as hell - literally, as this as dark as the pits of hell. The first thing we hear are what sound like distant owls or some, other winged creature, hooting in the night, telling us that something is a stir (or that they are astir). A crash (drums), some crystalline, glass-like shards of sound (keys that I can describe no other way, but you've heard the same effect in horror films). Something is coming and you're prepared, firing into the misty darkness of the wood (electrified percussion, that sounds both like lightning and laser fire). Tension is high (a feeling accented by the brief bursts of guitar)...you fire again and again and again, each time more frantically, your finger stuck on the trigger until the charge is spent. You're alone in this darkness, and then, suddenly, not so alone. You're frozen, paralyzed...caught in asphyxia, while the hellhounds (or some other beasts) have come to tear you to shreds. There is some bit of keyboard or percussion - I can't which, as they and the guitar all happen at the same time - but it sounds like a snarling, vicious beast (a Doberman perhaps) that has clamped on and will not let go. And does not let go...walking away, once you've died, with your bleeding flesh clamped tightly in its mouth.

Like the horror movie we can't turn away from because, as much as we don't want to be frightened, we're thrilled by the feeling of being frightened, so, too, you can't turn away from this album. It is it's very darkness that attracts us, forces us to listen to it over and over again because we're certain that whatever we hear the first time, there's bound to be something else that lies beneath and curiosity won't keep us away. Of course, this couldn't be pulled off by any subpar band - the chops and skills have to be in place for it to work. Kopecky have got the goods a plenty.

The holidays may have come and gone, but it's not to late to still buy yourself a present. Include Serpentine Kaleidoscope on your list.

More about Serpentine Kaleidoscope:

Track Listing: Magic Room (9:54) / Smoke Of Her Burning (4:14) / I Was Home And I Wept (3:57) / Scorpion (6:14) / These White Walls (3:24) / Bartholomew's Kite (8:04) / Lugosi : 1931 (6:19) / Wings Of Asphyxia (5:47) / Heaven's Black Amnesia (10:27)

Musicians:
Paul Kopecky - drums and percussion
William Kopecky - fretless bass, keyboards, sitar
Joe Kopecky - guitar and vocals

Contact:

Website: www.kopecky.8m.com
Note: will open new browser window

Email: kopecky@wi.net

Discography

Kopecky (1999)
Serpentine Kaleidoscope (2000)
Orion (2001)