ELEPHANT9

Walk the Nile

(Rune Grammofon)

Norwegian power trio Elephant9 lays on the acid-laced, "wildly cavorting in fields of fusion" prog -- light on the kraut and pop, more in tune with the jazz -- on their second long-player, Walk the Nile.

The focus here is the Hammond organ, rising above the group’s furious improvisations and unpredictable tonal shifts. Keyboardist Stale Storlokken (Supersilent), drummer Torstein Lofthus (Shining), and bassist Nikolai Eilertsen (National Bank) rove through such varied jams as the manic, Melt Banana-eesh “Hardcore Orientale” and the more ruminative, slow-building “Habanera Rocket,” like it’s the most natural thing in their wild kingdom. Long may these Scandinavian powers roam.