Stonehenge

In the mid-‘80s, visionary Japanese duo Ruins made a vital connection between the supposedly antithetical genres of punk and prog. The band’s mature aesthetic was already in place by the time of its early international releases, though “mature” probably sells short the off-the-wall glee evident on Stonehenge. Channeling the invented language of French prog mainstays Magma, bassist Kimoto Kazuyoshi and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida scream, grunt and croon operatically, giving their convulsive compositions a cartoonish edge. But underneath the wackiness, their instrumental interplay is stunningly potent, contrasting blasts of Morse-code mathiness with stomping, writhing riffs. Like later work from American brands in the so-called brutal-prog vein, Stonehenge is a reclamation of the feral spirit at the heart of the genre’s genteel aesthetic.