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Spastic Ink Ink Complete (Dream Circle, 1997) 49 min


Spastic Ink is an instrumental trio from Texas led by guitarist Ron
Jarzombek, who played with the landmark progressive metal band Watchtower in
the late 80s. Watchtower's second CD Control and Resistance (Noise,
1989) sounded like power metal with totally off the wall riffs and playing.
This chaotic jumble of traditional metal with crazy vocals and songwriting
appealed to some metal fans (including Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost, who got
them the deal with Noise), but not so much to the general public, and
Watchtower never broke through. Spastic Ink formed in 1993, and includes Ron's
brother Bobby on drums and Pete Perez on bass, both formerly of Riot. The
band's name means "crazy, written out music."


Ink Complete combines 11 tracks from two earlier demos, That 178
Thing (1993) and Ink Complete (Preview Cassette, 1995). Each
song is based on a musical theme or written around a non-musical idea, and the
CD booklet explains that inspiration, along with little cartoons. For example,
"The Mad Data Race"; sounds mechanical like a computer and is 5 and
1/4 minutes long, "A Morning With Squeaky" has a shrill melody that
sounds like a chattering squirrel, and then there's "Mosquito Brain
Surgery." Several songs are crafted around musical ideas or chord
patterns, like “See, and It's Sharp” which uses only two notes - C
and C# - across five octaves. A band that can write an interesting song using
only two musical notes is pretty damn good. The only cover tune on the CD is
“A Wild Hare” a complete arrangement of one of Thumper's scenes from
the movie “Bambi” with all the cartoon music, voices, sound effects,
and noises played by the band. It's amazing. A lot of instrumental records have
10 songs that sound the same, but each of these is unique and different.


The playing on Ink Complete is nothing short of
brilliant. Jarzombek's guitar work is reminiscent of Steve Vai,
with rising solos that wail slowly or rip a hundred miles an
hour. Perez follows Jarzombek's lead, playing solid rhythm bass
as well as fast licks high up on the neck. Bobby Jarzombek keeps
excellent time behind all of this craziness. 


Spastic Ink is certainly no ordinary metal, but if you like
intelligent instrumental music, well written and well played,
with a sense of humor, check out Ink Complete.


The original pressing long out of print, Ink Complete
has been reissued in Summer 2000 with a bonus track of demo
material.  According to the Spastic Ink web page at
www.spasticink.com, work is well underway on the second Ink
record, with Sean Malone from Cynic on bass and Jason McMaster
from WatchTower on vocals.


Contact:
Spastic Ink c/o Ron Jarzombek, PO Box 34772, San Antonio, TX 78265 - 4772; or
Ayres Rock Management, Ph./Fax (818) 764-7317

E-mail Spastic Ink c/o Ron Jarzombek at: ronjarz@ix.netcom.com

Spastic Ink Internet Home
Page


Review by Scott Andrews [sha3u@virginia.edu]





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