Warning: this is not your average progressive rock album. Discus could almost be described as the Indonesian Mr. Bungle - almost. They are not that frantic in terms of style-surfing and they don't have a singer as mad as Mike Patton, but they sure match Mr. Bungle in terms of virtuosity, eclecticism, and heavy rocking. This eight-piece group (a luxury in prog rock, where there's hardly a dollar to be made for a trio), with five lead singers, hops around between heavy metal, fusion jazz, contemporary classical, symphonic progressive rock, and traditional Indonesian music, usually touching all these bases within a single ten-minute song. The vocal parts are intricate, combining male and female vocals, several singers trading the lead and occasionally joining in complex polyphonic segments…

This 8-piece band consists of musicians with different musical backgrounds, but they are led by a guitarist/composer who loves progressive rock. Discus' music tends to mix prog, jazz, Indonesian pop, Gamelan, Zappa, swing, fusion, and even a bit of zeuhl to form a highly original, and diverse sound. These guys, for example, are not afraid of jumping from a progressive Gamelan section straight into something influenced by the 1940s jazz scene. The jump from style to style is fascinating, and refreshing to hear. Discus' debut CD serves as a great introduction to each of the musician's background (almost similar in concept to Yes' "Fragile"), but it isn't entirely progressive rock. The album begins and ends with two rather long prog compositions that mix Gamelan and local influences. Another track features smoking Zappa-esque fusion…