This is an important debut by Schantz on the Edition label, which is steadily making a name for itself across Europe and even raising a few eyebrows in the US. It's easy to see why with quality releases such as this, which succeeds at a technical, emotional and aesthetic level with some of the most exciting playing since Michael Wollny and his group [em] were turning heads a couple of years ago. This is rousing music, electric jazz to be sure, but of a very high level. The centrepiece of the album is ‘Martial Arts’, basically a three-part suite that doff's its cap to Chick Corea of the My Spanish Heart period, with a powerful Fender Rhodes solo and appropriate handclaps. The chains of minor thirds on ‘Dill’ are surprisingly not inspired by Coltrane but by Radiohead, but from whichever end of the telescope you view them, the Coltrane changes are a challenge, especially at the tempo Schantz chooses. The sound of the group is shaped by Schantz's mission to source analogue synths, which provide a much more ‘authentic’ roar than their contemporary digital equivalents, an important touch that together with the almost telepathic interaction between Schantz, Neset and Eger – and here Neset shines in a way that he hasn't quite succeeded with his own projects – lifts this album into the realms of the exceptional (and unmissable). Let's hope they take this project on the road, because this is a group that really turn heads.