The Seventh Seal ~ Japan

The Seventh Seal (1997)

So it pretty much starts here for Makoto Kawabata, mastermind behind the Acid Mothers Temple franchise (though technically Kawabata was in Toho Sara and Musica Transonic prior to this). To be honest, I wish I was a big fan of his work, as he is involved with scores of albums - all in a style that I happen to love. Except he has no sense of restraint. Everything goes through the wringer so that there isn't one drop left for the imagination. Guitar feedback overload for 40 minutes makes one nauseous after while. It's like those bad SNL skits, where the first 30 seconds are funny and the next 5 minutes are painful. Good thing Kawabata didn't jam with Terry Brooks in the mid 70s. Ay-chee-wah-wah. Of course, it would be a false statement for me to say I've heard all of the albums he's been involved with. Only a small fraction truthfully, and there are a couple of albums by AMT that are pretty decent. And as a guest musician, his hit rate is even better (most recently with the French group Aquaserge). Essentially he's a good guitarist when parameters are set.

All of this to say that his stint here with Seventh Seal was most promising indeed. His chance encounter with Gary Ramon (Sun Dial, Quad, owner of Acme Records) must have proven to be highly enlightening for Kawabata (in both sound and label activity). The side long opening 'Spiritual Springs' Slavering with Circling' does in fact sound somewhat like Quad, with wordless female vocals, which also recalls Floating Flower (yet another one of Kawabata's early era groups). The guitar soloing does get a bit excessive though. Side two features a fetching psychedelic ethnic Japanese track before launching into the closer, our first indication that Kawabata didn't have much use for an editor. Still, an overall delightful psychedelic effort.

Former ownership: 1997 Acme (LP)

1997 (first listen); 11/9/18