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It’s been a while since masks and musicians were a viable and even cool stage prop. This probably culminated when Peter Gabriel dressed up as a fox one time and kinda killed it for everyone.
Indeed, the whole association between stage antics and musicians died out in 1977 and few bands have decided to take up the idea of dressing up as a conscious ‘look’ for themselves.
The Kronos are one of these few bands who have dared to wear a mask, and in actual fact, it paid off hugely. The band seemed not to wear masks in a bizarre nod to some mystical crap they believed in, or even just for the sake of it, it seemed the only reason was to simply freak out the audience, a factor which definitely amplified their already heady mix of progressive-monster-rock-riffery.
As hard as it would be for a be-masked band to shake off comparisons to Genesis and Animal Collective, the band did it successfully. And while they did maintain a definite progressive rock edge, the band shrugged off the pomp and outrageous theatrics associated with the genre, and instead successfully integrated dance-rock rhythms, slick synth solos, thumping and rumbling basslines, and above all else, head crunchingly heavy and LOUD psychedelic rock.
The greatest thing about the band was not their sound or excellent musicianship, but rather the fact that whilst listening for half an hour, it still was an elusive guess at best who had influenced the band, there were obvious influences of Hendrix, The Doors and Led Zeppelin, yet there was present a sound that had bypassed these bands entirely, with some sections sounding more akin to rave-rockers Klaxons or their dance contemporaries, !!!, when mashed together this provided a hypnotic and quite freaky cocktail.
http://myspace.com/thekronospage