The Rite Of Trio: Getting All The Evil Of The Piston Collar!

There is nothing to do but to dive in and experience the full force of The Rite of Trio head-on and fearlessly.

With Getting All The Evil Of The Piston Collar!, guitarist Andre Bastos Silva, bassist Filipe Louro and drummer Pedro Melo Alves draw energy from the dark side and aim to conquer and subdue the world from their perch in Portugal.

If you can imagine the merging of death metal with high jazz musicianship, and an attack of a trio with as much power as Nathan Parker Smith's big band on Not Dark Yet, then you might have an inkling of the musical journey awaiting.

Then again, this album, which does its very best to squash anyone daring to listen, ends with the track "Symbols," with words and inspiration from the poem by Rainer Maria Rilke's poem of the same name, sung by the extraordinary voice of Beatriz Nunes.

The album got selected to be on the "Best Portuguese Jazz Album for 2015" and the group deeply deserves any and accolades coming its way. These fellows are deadly serious in what they are doing and what they want to say, despite the projection of extreme irony, irreverence and a lack of caring what you think (of course in the nicest way....).

There is no way to reconcile words like

From infinite longings finite deeds rise
As fountains spring toward far-off glowing skies,
But rushing swiftly upward weakly bend
And trembling from their lack of power descend-

So through the falling torrent of our fears
Our joyous force leaps like these dancing tears.

with extreme distortion of Silva's guitar and the attack and intensity of the band as a whole, so the only answer is not to try.

Rather, the only thing to do is to let the music wash over you and observe, or better feel, the strength, dexterity and humor (see "Grab A Chair, Pick A Card") that this fantastic trio (with some help on two tracks besides "Symbols").

Extremely theatrical in its physicality, The Rite Of Trio defines the musical space it is going to fill, and is relentless in getting its message across. A hint of what is in store for the adventurous can be found here.

You have been warned, so go forth and partake of the "metaphor of life" that is Getting All The Evil Of The Piston Collar! which aims for nothing less than to "change the spherical configuration of planet earth."