The Scandinavian rhythm section of double bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love first hooked up with veteran fire-breathing Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata for a performance in 2013, and this is their fifth album as the trio Arashi.

They’ve always been a unit that plugs right in to the pure, white-hot essence of high-energy free jazz and this live date, recorded in Japan in 2019, is no exception. Here, they’re joined by a bona fide giant in the form of drummer Takeo Moriyama, who was a pioneer of the first wave of 1960s Japanese free jazz, a member of pianist Yosuke Yamashita's groundbreaking trio, and has performed with Peter Brötzmann among others.

Moriyama's famous for a blistering attack that pushes Andrew Cyrille's eternal pulse-time rolls into superhuman realms, so you’d expect this to team-up to call in the heaviest artillery. Truth be told, though, Nilssen-Love is already such a similarly punishing player that the difference is not immediately apparent. The two maintain a thick and meaty churn throughout. Sakata gets to show off all his signature moves, from sustained altissimo alto squeals, to a sly, sidling clarinet and ecstatic vocal yowls and growls. It's a whole lot of fun.