Ha. Ha ha ha.

I write music reviews for a heavy metal webzine. And they sent me an Estradasphere disc.

God, I love my job.

Here's the deal: Estradasphere is a band of variable size from Santa Cruz, California. They are related to Mr. Bungle, in a roundabout way. And they play a style of music that combines death metal, techno, surf rock, boy band pop, jazz, klezmer, black metal, film noir soundtracks and eight-bit video game music. They are an instrumental band with occasional vocals, equal parts Meshuggah and string quartet, with members who belong to more side projects than there are members in the band itself.

I own every Estradasphere album, and even though I haven't downloaded a single Estradasphere audio file in the last half-decade I still have almost twice as many discs worth of bootleg concerts as I do legitimate studio releases. I have seen this band live three times, two of which are ranked amongst my top concert experiences of all time.

And now I get to explain to the readers of the Metal Coven Webzine why Estradasphere's latest release, "Palace of Mirrors," is worth owning.

Ha.

Exposition aside, "Palace of Mirrors" is a step up from the band's prior release, "Quadropus," in terms of focus and cohesiveness of sound (gypsy and jazz and death metal film scores, but it sounds like Estradasphere). I am deeply saddened to see yet another founding member of Estradasphere leave the circle: John Whooley, master saxophonist and Tuvan throat singer, left Estradasphere in 2004 in order to pursue his own endeavors, musically and politically. For a while, I felt this was a continuation of the fall of Estradasphere, a band that had utterly blown me away with their first two albums but then went on to shift lineups and lose most of the spontaneity of their sound. What was once improvisational gypsy jazz metal had become an exercise in studio wizardry. I started wondering how Estradasphere - a band virtually founded on the importance of the live musical performance - would be able to play their own music without having to hire a dozen session musicians.

Thankfully, much of that direction is gone this time around. "Palace of Mirrors" opens and closes like a soundtrack, and there is a heightened sense of consistency throughout the disc's hour of sound. "Palace of Mirrors" does not simply sound like a collection of songs crafted by a collection of multi-instrumentalists. It sounds like an album released by a band. And that was what I found to be missing on the last Estradasphere album.

Here's a sampling of the assortment of insanity found within the "Place of Mirrors." "The Terrible Beautypower of Meow" opens with an honest-to-God string quartet. "Smuggled Mutation" is angry Russian bluegrass grindcore with elements of circus music. "Six Hands" is an impossible-to-play-by-a-human piano interlude. "Flower Garden of an Evil Man" is almost industrial, with onslaughts of electronica and discordance. "Those Who Know..." is a Japanese cherry blossom tree in Winter, celebrated in the traditional style of the Old West. And after a six-minute reprise of the album's main theme (or first theme, at least), we have "The Return," a blend of classic Estradaspherian death metal (some of the band's most brutal to date, I must add), eastern European violin, accordion, and a huge smile on this reviewer's face.

There is a lot more extreme metal this time around, although I question Estradasphere's appeal to most Metal Coven acolytes. There aren't really any dedicated 'metal' songs, save "The Return," but fans of brutal drumming or extreme music should certainly listen to "A Corporate Merger" and "Smuggled Mutation." I am also saddened by yet another Estradasphere album lacking in 8-bit video game compositions. No follow-up to "Crag Lake?" No "Court Yard Battle 2?" Bands change, but there are certain key elements on both "It's Understood" and "Buck Fever" that make those two albums so amazing... elements mostly missing from "Quadropus," and only partially returned on "Palace of Mirrors."

But this is Estradasphere. And even more importantly, this is good Estradasphere. This is an album that doesn't sound like anything else on the planet, including previous Estradasphere albums. And yet, it is immediately distinguishable as the outpouring of one of the seminal members of the California avant garde music scene. After coming out of nowhere to redefine post modern music, only to fall by the wayside as their own neighbors took the title from them (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, anyone), Estradasphere return with proof that they aren't out of the running yet. And thank God for that.

Estradasphere. Ha.