����� As I've been getting increasingly obsessed with the more shadowy corners of underground progressive rock, it's been leading me to some really interesting stuff that has come out on the Cuneiform label,

home to what might be the darkest prog band of them all, Univers Zero. That Belgian outfit is pretty much the ultimate in creeped-out Lovecraftian art rock, but as I've been digging deeper into the label's back catalog, I've been

discovering some other stuff that's also pretty sinister in tone and atmosphere. One of the few American bands that I've gotten turned on to is Wisconsin's Far Corner, a group of classically trained musicians (one of whom is also a

member of the terrifically weird blackened prog outfit Haiku Funeral) who draw from the malevolent sound of Univers Zero and the darkest edges of the Rock In Opposition movement, playing a kind of heavy, erudite chamber rock that would

probably also appeal to more adventurous metal fans. The band has only released two albums to date, and both are highly recommended listening if you're inclined towards those aforementioned bands/sounds, combining top notch musicianship

and challenging sonic structures with a big dose of menacing ambience.

����� The most recent full length from these dark chamber-rock heavies is 2007's Endangered, which saw them expanding their sound with additional synthesizers, orchestral percussion, trumpet, violin, bamboo flute, melodica and a range of found objects, while also experimenting with cello and bass guitar tones. The result is Far Corner's darkest and heaviest material yet, digging even deeper into the metallic predilections shared by some of the members to create some seriously crushing moments within their elaborate arrangements. From the bleak, booming percussion and dissonant, mournful strings that drift across the intro of "Inhuman", the band immediately casts a sinister pall over the album. As with their debut, they craft complex, classically-informed prog rock with the sound of fretless bass, cello and classical piano situated at the forefront, powered by the drummer's intricate, often improvisational playing. Endangered moves through eruptions of brutal percussive violence and spooky gothic harpsichord, bursts of virtuosic organ shredding, and lots of aggressive bass work that'll suddenly stomp on the distortion and hammer out a crushing metalloid riff. The album also delves into more abstract improvised noisescapes, sometimes opening up into unsettling ambient passages strafed with groaning strings that can sound like a Penderecki piece slowly sinking beneath waves of black tar. It can just as easily shift into something like "Not From Around Here"'s stunning, beautifully moody folk-flecked jazz, though, too. But the bulk of this album trawls dark waters, often resembling a more overtly metallic Univers Zero, drawing from a similarly baroque chamber-prog style. And like those Belgian masters, Far Corner can really swing when the mood strikes them; as obtuse and intricate as these six songs can get, they've got a knack for digging in at key moments with a catchy, crushing riff or stomping angular groove that's drawn out to just the right length.

����� But the centerpiece of this disc is the nearly twenty minute long title track at the end. A series of sprawling instrumental solos and improvisational explorations, this epic is as creepy as anything else on the album. Much of it sounds like some particularly demented 70's Euro-horror film score, drifting through passages of ghostly atonal synth and ghoulish harpsichord tones, gently floating flute melodies, staggered rhythms and restrained drumming, all building towards a brilliantly ominous finale filled with suspenseful moments like the chortling, mocking trumpets that resolve to a gorgeously brooding jazz melody, or the final stretch where it sounds like the band has suddenly been overcome by interstellar poltergeists, right before embarking on one final onslaught of absolutely wicked horn-blasting prog.

����� Along with their debut, this stuff has turned into some of my favorite music on Cuneiform, really expressive and adventurous stuff that I can't recommend enough to fans of that malevolent prog rock sound I'm constantly gushing about.