siLLy puPPy PAINTER is the second release in the form of a short 23:28 EP from the Australian progressive metal band BAK. Once again all the compositions are written, composed and arranged by Beau (guitar / bass / baglama) and Kit (drums / percussion / keys / piano). Also on board is a whole army of session musicians who create the lush symphonic orchestrations, extra strings, brass, woodwind, operatic and choir vocals as well as all the ethnic sounds that span from Middle Eastern to Indian in flavor. While not quite a full-fledged follow up to their 2011 debut album “Sculpture” its four tracks are nonetheless quite strong examples of their unique style of mixing and melding symphonic and progressive metal with Arabic folk music all touched up with classic era traditional metal. So far this one is only available as a digital format.

“Us All” begins the set with tribal drumming and Middle Eastern orchestration and strings and hooks the listener in instantly with a nice guitar groove and passionate exchange of sung and spoken vocals alternating. This track reminds me of a prog metal band like Fates Warning teaming up with some Middle Eastern orchestra and perfectly fusing into one. The metal takes over at times but is always enshrouded in the ethnic influences. A nice melodic guitar solo is included.

“Creation” begins on a lighter note with slow string sections that lead up to a female vocalist that makes the track feel like it’s going to burst into a bellydance number at any moment. The tribal percussion finally enters the scene but stays in the symphonic acoustic range with lots of vocalists harmonizing over the Middle Eastern musical scales. This one has a cool baglama (Turkish stringed instrument) solo. No metal appears until the last quarter of the track when some power riffs thrash it up and then fade out with the track.

“What We Have Done” is the longest track at over 9 minutes and begins with Indian percussion and soon becomes joined by the prog metal type vocals without the metal. But soon the power chords come in and it becomes more metal. It reverts back to the ethnic musical accompaniment. The two styles basically trade off between the ethnic and the metal with each taking their turns jumping into the limelight. Towards the end after the metal has a chance to build up a bit we get some extreme vocals that alternate between death growls and shouting which are simultaneously accompanied by an operatic choir. Pretty cool.

“The Tragedy Of Isabella Lockhardt” is a short two minute instrumental that sounds more like something off of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” than anything else on the album. OK, whatever.

This one is more sophisticated than “Sculpture,” which had many moments of sounding like Metallica’s black album meets the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble with other ethnic sprinklings. On PAINTER the ethnic and symphonic efforts are much stronger and it feels like a much larger production as well. While i absolutely love the music of BAK, it does sound a bit like Myrath with Fates Warning vocals at times but unlike those bands, BAK use the metal parts sparingly on PAINTER. This is quite an enjoyable album for those who love Indian and Middle Eastern music and love metal folk fusion at its most melodic. A very decent album that i only wish was a full length one because this isn’t long enough!