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“Truce 2” is the second installment for the Markus Reuter led trio known as Truce. The making of this album was supposed to take place almost two years ago, but with the pandemic and its fallout going down, things got postponed for quite a while. “Truce 1” was mostly free form jazz rock jams in a style somewhat similar to Robert Fripp’s King Crimson circa mid-70s. When Reuter and his crew, Fabio Trentini on bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums, got back together after the long break, they tried to pick up where they left off in a similar fashion, but soon found that they had all changed considerably and this Truce 2 was going to be an entirely different beast. This time around, rather than just playing unedited free jams, the band decided to organize things a bit, and they also indulged in some editing and overdubs as well. The end result is a more powerful and direct musical statement, and the music itself also changed. Although there is still some of the funk-rock jams of the first album present, this second album is much more metalish, industrial, noisy, abrasive and intense. “Truce 2” may have less jazz fusion, but in many ways it’s the better of the two albums. The power and intensity of this music will slam you upside the head for real. Even in this album’s quieter ambient moments, there is a feeling that the damn may break and unleash a torrent at any moment.
Its hard to come up with artists with a similar sound, but maybe some of the more metal oriented John Zorn projects might come to mind, as well as guitar heavy avant-garde fusion groups like Last Exit and Power Tools, as well as Miles’ “Dark Magus” and the 90s version of King Crimson. Although they do hit a groove now and again, much of this album has a constantly shifting focus in which musical ideas are presented for a while and then hastily cast aside for something else. You can listen to Truce 2 many times and still hear things you missed before. Markus is still one of today’s top soloists, and he often reels off Pete Cosey style sheets of rapid fire stinging guitar shrapnel. Band mates Fabio and Asaf have also grown in confidence and offer musical ideas far beyond what happened on their first outing. Sure, some fans are going to miss the more familiar sound of their first album, but give “Truce 2” a chance, it is one helluva a ride, totally devoid of clichés and expectations.