Artist: Primitive Reason
Title: Alternative Prison
Label: Uniao Lisboa
Available: Speciality Music Stores
Reviewed By: Robert Lewis
Rating: 3

In a world where every band sounds like some other band, it's not very often you come across
a one that is truly original. Primitive Reason is. Try to put them in a category -- you'll be
wrong every time. Each song contains fusions of several different musical styles: Ska; Reggae;
Hard Core; you name it, it's probably there! Such dramatic changes of style within individual
tracks could make for a very difficult set of songs, but Primative Reason manages to pull it
off and make the tunes into something really different, but in a good way.

The five member band hails from Portugal, though only the Guitarist, Mikas, is native. The rest
come from various parts of the world, making this band truly multicultural. Most impressive on
"Alternative Prison" is the saxophone stylings of Mark Caine. His contribution, in my opinion,
is the glue that holds the album together. Since Primitive Reason relies on musical diversity
in their songs, Caine's riffs are often used to lead from one musical style into another.
He carries this out to perfection, smoothing many rough edges that might make for some difficult
listening were the sax missing. The use of Caine's sound, in places where you wouldn't normally
expect to hear a sax, further differentiates Primative Reason from other bands.

As original as I found "Alternative Prison" to be, there are some minuses. While I was wowed at
first by the absolute originality of the music, eventually the thing that made the music original
made it challenging. The lyrics are sharp and sometimes ascerbic, but vocalist Brian Jackson
doesn't have the greatest voice in the world and the lyrics were often buried deep beneath the
music. This isn't radio music; the songs don't lend themselves to getting stuck in peoples' heads.
I can't think of a single title that stands out on its own merits, though the album as a whole
makes a bold, original statement.

All the minuses aside however, I would still recommend "Alternative Prison" to anyone wanting to
hear something that's really different. If that's what you're after, you'll get what you paid
for in a big way!