Out of the recent new releases on the The End that have been dishing out confounding, progressive post-Bungle/Naked City genre mashup avant-heaviness (Stolen Babies, Unexpect, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Estradaspheres latest is arguably the easiest to wrap your head around. It also achieves an almost symphonic hugeness. That's because as crazed as Estradaspehere get with the construction of their pan-genre compositions, they also have a terrific knack for melody and hooks, and this album is loaded with 'em. This is also Estradasphere's first completely instrumental album since losing their singer, and I think it works great...their appeal is in the rollercoaster ride of eclectic musical styles that transport you to an alternate universe where the A.M. radio dial is still in full effect and is ruled by a virtuosic sextet that is equal parts crushing thrash metal outfit, 60's film score design team, prog rock band, jazz ensemble, and Eastern European chamber folk group. The thirteen tracks on Palace Of Mirrors use a variety of instrumentation (violins, upright bass, accordian, organ, Japanese shamisen, electronics, and more) and carefully splice together complex, densely assembled compositons of easy listening strings and orchestral pop merged with Romanian gypsy tunes and bombastic death metal drumming ("A Corporate Merger"), hard edged 70's funk intertwined with proggy sludge metal riffs, utterly infectious Beach Boys style surf-pop melodies and psychedelic Industrial pulses, circus music and an awesome 70's spy music/ western pastiche played on traditional Japanese shamisen alongside folksy violin and mouth harp ("Those Who Know"), every song a wildly unpredictable and hyperimaginative soundtrack. A freaking amazing album, def in the vein of Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn, Naked City, Mr. Bungle but way more, uh, listenable, and is one of the best avant-fusion albums I've heard for 2006. Highly recommended.