For the master, his guitar does not violently bleed in the sense of wailing, tortured aggression. The three long meditations that make us this release are violent in the sense of deep passion. For Bishop, these songs are a form of prayer, and as such are as deeply felt an acoustic set as you are likely to hear, one that does not fall into the traps of the pseudo-spiritual, but which maintains an emotional peak throughout.

?Zurvan? is the most quiet of the set, an almost traditional blues-based instrumental that still explores some mighty deft territory, both musically and emotionally. It begins the record by reassuring the listener that s/he will be in good hands. ?Smashana? dips into a more layered drone, with aspects of psych that help to deepen the piece, and to build off the first song. The real meat is the final, 20+ minute ?Mahavidya,? which explores both fretboard and soul, and takes the drone of ?Smashana? toward raga, and toward a mystic conclusion to the set.

Sir Richard Bishop belongs in the category of musicians like Angus MacLise or LaMonte Young, or bands like Popul Vuh, though with more structure and chops to his explorations. Yet like, those spiritual mavericks, he takes his visions very seriously, and takes us along to the degree that we can follow. That he is a virtuoso guitarist only makes the reward for following that much more sweet. 8/10 -- Mike Wood (17 July, 2007)