Kong - Mute Poet Vocalizer (1990)^{Release ID: 3279}

I'm no stranger to instrumental progressive metal. I've listened to bands and artists like Liquid Tension Experiment, Animals as Leaders, Plini, and Ring of Saturn's 2022 self-titled album. The question is, what is the earliest progressive metal band to be solely instrumental? This might be debatable, but Kong might just be the king! Actually they mix the genre with industrial metal, though that's beside the point.

Their 1990 debut Mute Poet Vocalizer came out at a time when instrumental progressive metal was barely a thing, much less progressive industrial metal. While the album became d*mn elusive after all its copies were bought, well, thank greatness for YouTube and Spotify! Anyway, barely anything disappoints me in this offering.

"Hok" is a great start, with everything set up by the groovy audible bass by Mark Drillich. "Fair" has a fairly mellow pace. It's another great track, but nothing too special worth noting. "P.R.O.K.O.V." has cool riffing by guitar duo Aldo Sprenger and Dirk de Vries. While some might consider the circus audio sample odd, it helps make that track one of my favorites here. "7/8" is all about the 7/8 time signature.

"200 Max" takes things to more quadrophonic levels, making it another unique highlight. "Cramp" is the longest track but also the weakest. It's still good though, and the album's rating isn't affected. "Quiet!" is so unique with different layers, exemplifying the band's progressive side.

"2:14" is another progressive instrumental that sounds good but not the best. "Cows" is another true highlight. There's barely anything anyone in metal had ever tried before from the strange guitar to the effective keyboards and great bass. An intense instrumental that should be remembered! The CD edition has two bonus track, starting with "Base", slow while gradually heavy. "Hop" really hops around for an ending track, with some fun drumming by Rob Smits.

Mute Poet Vocalizer might just be an early pioneering album of both instrumental progressive metal and progressive industrial metal. It's so unique and sounds fresh for an early 90s albums. Go get it, Infinite/Sphere members!

Favorites: "Hok", "P.R.O.K.O.V.", "200 Max", "Quiet!", "Cows", "Hop"