Review: Poh Hock – Gallimaufry [EP]

Style: Progressive Metal, Jazz Fusion, Funk (Clean vocals/Instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Native Construct, David Maxim Micic, Aviations
Review by: Christopher
Country: Massachusetts, USA
Release date: 31 March, 2023

In 2015, a little band called Native Construct appeared out of nowhere, dropped their one and only album, Quiet World, and were then never heard from again, rapidly becoming a part of progressive metal legend. Fortunately, the group’s lead guitarist, Poh Hock, has continued making music beginning with a debut EP, ĀTMA, dropping in 2019, and delivering unto us his sophomore EP, Gallimaufry, earlier this year.

Frantic, jazzy and funky, Gallimaufry explodes into life with the fifty-eight second long opener “Foreword.” which somehow manages to pack more into a minute than some bands do in whole albums. The jazz fusion/funk vibe on display here continues throughout the album, demonstrating the poppier sensibility Hock has cultivated, but no less complex and progressively virtuosic for it; on the contrary, Gallimaufry keeps evolving with every new phrase—everything a Native Construct fan would expect really. 

Take “Another One of Those Times” for example, which is completed by the guest vocals of Debo Ray who traverses the space between synth-pop softness and quasi-metal rasping belts. On the surface it seems like a simple pop bop. In reality the technicality is almost overwhelming, Hock’s guitar work constantly evolving beneath the vocals, from thicker, djenty riffs to soft chords to funk strumming to frenzied lead licks. Meanwhile, former Native Construct singer Robert Edens joins Hock on “Fragile Space” which has a huge sense of synth-y ambience overlaying the endlessly energetic prog innovation with a poppy façade, rather akin to Aviations’ latest album but, again, with the liveliness turned up to eleven.  

The other two tracks on Gallimaufry are instrumentals and they’re worth tackling separately: “I Don’t” skews more towards Animals as Leaders style djent, as endlessly creative as one would expect, and interspersed by a rather unexpected slide guitar solo; while closing epic “L.a.S” has a dominant funk gloss over its manic djent rhythms, cycling through an 8-string waltz, into a rather huge climax and Vivaldi-esque (Antonio, not Angel) guitar solo, before descending into joyfully virtuosic pandemonium. Both of these tracks are stellar works of instrumental prog wankery, but I do find myself more charmed by the vocal-led tracks. As someone who’s never been too enamoured with the “instrudjental” genre that’s probably a “me” problem, and I’m happy to admit that Hock is one of the greatest practitioners of the style. However, I think his proficiency, while undeniable, is elevated by the guest vocalists who force him to temper his excesses, or at least allow for a melodic throughline to hold the mania together.

Now, at the risk of having to turn in my prog fan badge and gun, I never really got Native Construct. Don’t get me wrong, those guys could compose and perform like crazy, but it was a little rough around the edges, compositionally undisciplined and maximalist—“of course it’s compositionally undisciplined and maximalist, they’re prog!” I hear you cry—and, dare I say it, a bit masturbatory; Hock’s from Boston, but at times you wonder if he might be that infamous man from Nantucket. However, he demonstrates a certain amount of compositional maturity on Gallimaufry, although the instrumental tracks still skew a little into onanism, if in an often delightful way.

Poh Hock certainly ranks among the most innovative guitarist-composers in the entire prog scene, and he’s on top form on Gallimaufry. Sometimes his utter mastery comes with a tendency to play his instrument a little too hard, but that’s not going to be a huge problem for the old Native Constructors. If a curmudgeonly prog death fan like me can find Gallimaufry to be mostly straight-up genius, then the real lovers of maximalist prog madness will be positively priapic. 

Recommended tracks: Another One of Those Times, I Don’t, L.a.S
You may also like: The Resonance Project, Syncatto
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Poh Hock is:
– Poh Hock (vocals)
– Zak Baskin (bass)
– Joey Ferretti (drums)