GLUTTON is a post-prog trio from Oslo, Norway. From their inception in 2013 they have released three albums, their latest being "Eating Music" released in May of last year. They combine the styles of jazz, progressive, psychedelic and post-rock over a foundation of alt-rock, very similar to THE MARS VOLTA. The band members all come from various musical backgrounds, able to draw on a wide range of styles such as 70s prog to classical minimalism.  The trio consists of Eirik Orevik Aadland handling both guitar and vocals, Eirik Orevik Aadland on bass and Jonas Eide Hollund on drums. This being their second record with Apollon Records, it seems they might have finally found a home for their particular brand of progressive alt-rock.

The music is atmospheric, exploratory and merges their many different influences into a somewhat cohesive whole. Sounding much like contemporaries RADIOHEAD, the aforementioned THE MARS VOLTA, and fellow Norwegians MOTORPSYCHO, they have a very improv-based approach but tonalities and stylistic qualities would still slap the alt-rock label on these guys. They try different things on this album - such as employing a full horn section, strings and a few other guest musicians to add sample, synths and percussion which proves they have a creative mind and approach to the writing process.

It is clear from the outset that PRIMUS and particularly, Les Claypool is an influence for the band. The bass is prominent and quite prolific in most if not all of the tracks. Even the vocals, especially on opener "Far Away" features vocals that are similar in delivery to the bass virtuoso until morphing into a more Cedric Bixler-Zavala ala THE MARS VOLTA in style. Interspersed with generally noisy "nothing" tracks labeled "Eating Music" with a number attached adds nothing to the experience other than simply to be weird. There is lots of complexity and fairly lengthy track lengths, most notably in "The Tomb of the Unknown Ontonaut" which is like taking a jazzy, spacey journey - not unlike what DAVID BOWIE might sound like on speed and given to overindulgence. Speaking of which, the final three tracks all blend into one another with unifying bell/chime synth tone connecting them all in a wild improvisational firestorm.

THE MARS VOLTA this group is not, though they seem to emulate much of their style and it seems more derivative than an homage. There are tracks that were interesting but most were pointlessly meandering into free improvisation that it became dull. "Pinhole", contrarily, was a succinct, enjoyable track. It started with a fantasy feeling melody, vocals that made me long for a THE JULIANA THEORY reunion in its ballad quality - even hitting some falsettos highs that are quite impressive - and featuring a guitar solo that, despite being uncharacteristically effect driven, has an almost classic rock-ish vibe.