Jason Irabagon, Mike Pride, and Mick Barr are a fiery trio who play insistent, free Rock music. Their newest release "Appalachian Haze" is the second installment of their I Don't Hear Nothin' But the Blues series, and consists of a single blistering track that nary lets up the intensity during it's 47 minutes. Previously this group was a duo consisting of Irabagon (of Mostly Other People Do The Killing fame) and drummer Mike Pride, who besides leading the Drummer's Corpse project, is involved in a handful of improvising settings around NY and elsewhere. This time around they have employed the help of guitarist Mick Barr, who adds a mostly impenetrable layer of over-driven texture to the proceedings. His tone here reminds me a bit of Terrie Ex, although his playing is less angular. He paints a thick smudge of pulsing distortion over Irabagon's surging free-for-all lines, creating a uniform cloud covering that Pride's clatter barely manages to puncture.

Scattered throughout this tumultuous listen there are moments of stasis, usually signaled by Pride's drumming. He occasionally settles into a Gary Gliiter-esque groove, and surprisingly quotes the intro drum break from Bel Biv DeVoe's "Poison" a few times. In fact, in between some rather minimal blasts of rhythmic abandon, it's easy to hear a broad survey of Pop and Rock drumming in Pride's beats. His double bass runs especially remind me of a fragmented Alex Van Halen. This referencing of Pop culture keeps the music from totally assaulting the listener by injecting familiarity into 40+ minutes of unrelenting expression. Dynamically this music doesn't stray much from full blast volume until nearly the end, but repeated listens reveal subtleties within the melee. If you're into no holds barred improvisation turned up to 11, this record hits the spot. Well done.