A Short Review
With Mr. Bungle once again on indefinite hiatus, its members are free to pursue their other musical interests. For Trey Spruance, Bar McKinnon, and Danny Heifetz that means continuing their work as Secret Chiefs 3. Their third full-length studio album, Book M, is a challenging, varied collection of songs and an obvious labor of love for bandleader Spruance.

Continuing the patterns of the earlier SC3 albums, Book M draws on a wide range of musical influences, from surf rock to jazz to Middle Eastern. This album displays a coherence that wasn't found in the previous two. Book M has a rhythm and flow both consistent and accessible, due in large part to the seamless integration of traditional Middle Eastern instruments with electronics. This mixture is handled in a variety of ways, from the subtle rhythm of the album opener, "Knights of Damcar," to the ferocious techno-sounding "Zulfiqar III."

Members of Estradasphere appear on the album, as does percussionist William Winant and extreme violinist Eyvind Kang. Yet, everyone's input pales against that of Spruance. As well as playing eighteen different instruments, he wrote, arranged, engineered, and produced the album. With Book M comes not only the sense that Secret Chiefs 3 is less a band and more a personal manifesto, but that Spruance's musical ideas are evolving with great leaps and bounds.