Aside from being a highly regarded improviser, double-bass player Marco Serrato is also one half of Spanish doom metal band Orthodox. Influenced by religion and jazz, Serrato carries both elements through to this recording with Italian percussionist Francesco Covarino, with a set that is pitted with surprises and sonic illusions. Made up of six wildly different tracks, the opening ‘bestemmia’ acts as the template from which the rest of the album is slowly built upon. Raw sounding flourishes of bowed bass scrape alongside abstract flutterings of percussion as the players mark out their musical territory before fully unifying – both creatively and spiritually Serrato's bass playing is particularly notable, as he almost forensically pulls his instrument apart to discover what unearthly sounds he can make it produce On ‘biroccio’ it painfully breathes and splutters discordant notes, while on ‘impipiniti’ it takes on the twin mantle of sounding like a droning bagpipe and a squalling free jazz saxophone. Precariously accompanied by Covarino's intelligently placed percussion manoeuvres, the playing here is bold, brave and occasionally astonishing to behold.