NIGHT

Fan of emotional prog? Add another half a star.

Gazpacho is a relatively new Contemporary Progressive Rock group coming from Norway, presumably named after the delicious Spanish spicy soup. Quite a few progressive rock fans got acquainted with this promising ensemble owing to their presence as a supporting act for the definitive neo-proggers Marillion during their tour. Coincidentally, the latter also have a track sharing the name of their Norwegian colleagues' creation, which could be another possible source of inspiration, especially seeing as how the two do indeed share some aspects of their sound in common.

The 2007 release Night can be seen as the group's most ambitious effort yet, in addition to being one that would attract a myriad of progressive hordes with its appealing elements and an extremely adventurous approach to songwriting. What separates the release from its predecessors is that it is a concept album based around reality, dreams and the manner the two are interwoven. Although the album consists of five tracks of formidable length, Night is essentially a single epic composition formed by a greater amount of fragments than it is presented on the record for our convenience.

The record surely deserves more than a single listen to be appreciated truly, however, one will know whether this will appeal to him or not, as it is 'that kind of music'. As banal as the phrase 'don't try to get it, feel it may sound, this is the type of music that you will have memorized owing to the feelings experienced during the listening session, rather than its melodies (although one will admit to remembering more than a plenty of nuances after subsequent listens). The concept obviously allows many emotions to be implemented in the album, and the group more than just succeeds here. The compositions flow comfortably, in a way similar to the way post-rock compositions tend to progress, and are a pleasure to follow with your senses. The delicate and ethereal moods are very well complemented with Jan Henrik Ohme's expressive voice and the tasteful, appropriately used instrumentation. Orchestral fragments, found in the opening and closing tracks, are no less fitting.

Although one could say that Gazpacho are quite similar to Radiohead (partly due to the ambiances they create, followed by Ohme's deep vocals) or that they are in the league of their own, adding that devotees of music along the lines of Porcupine Tree, Pure Reason Revolution, Marillion, later era Anathema and Novembre would all find something for themselves here, however, to this reviewer's mind it all comes down to this: Night is a successful, sincere creation by a promising group and needless to say it should be compelling to a sentimental intelligent progressive listener.

One of the 2007 releases that definitely deserve to be heard!

Reading the reviews and looking at the posts in several threads on Prog Archives, this is a killer CD that will be one of the highlights of 2007! Well, here is my analysis, track by track.

1. Dream of Stone (17:00) : This long composition sounds very compelling featuring a hypnotizing rhythm-section, melancholic vocals, a wonderful strings-sound and beautiful acoustic guitar. The contrast between the mellow, moving and bombastic parts creates a lot of tension in the music, as I stated earlier: very compelling! The final part is great with first a dreamy atmosphere that contains violin and piano and then a moving climate with a propulsive rhythm-section and howling guitar runs, awesome prog! Gazpacho their sound in this song reminds me both of fellow Skandinavian bands Anekdoten and early landberk as progressive pop bands like Radiohead and Coldplay.

2. Chequered Light Buildings (6:34) : This track starts and ends with mellow organ waves, fragile piano play and melancholical vocals. In between we are carried away by a sumptuous eruption and a compelling atmosphere.

3. Upside Down (9:41) : The first part contains dreamy vocals and piano, then another compelling climate with strong melancholical overtones. Suddenly a break with sensitive electric guitar solo and finally a wonderful conclusion featuring sad sounding violin work and warm twanging guitar. Breathtaking!

4. Valerie's Friend (6:29) : After twanging acoustic guitar and warm vocals, we hear the surprising sound of a mandoline. Then a sumptuous eruption with sensitive guitar and dramatic vocals, culminating in a compelling, quite bombastic atmosphere with howling guitar runs. The final part sounds like ambient electronic music, quite a contrast with the mandoline in the first part!

5. Massive Illusion (13:37) : This final composition sounds very alternating and moving featuring the distinctive sound of the tin-whistle, majectic violin-Mellotron waves, twanging acoustic guitars and howling electric guitars. The dramatic vocals give this song a melancholical undertone. The end is again breathtaking with intense violin work and fragile piano play, how emotional!

If you don't have a problem with dark sounding prog with lots of emotion and melancholical vocals, this is a great CD to discover: the Fifth Of Gazpacho, a classic?

EDITED

OK, I've changed my mind. This is natural, since I'm a human being and my tastes can change from time to time. The whole year into Post-Rock and Indie made me re-listen to some bands, and the first one I liked was GAZPACHO and their 'Night' album. Uneven and sometimes too RADIOHEAD-influenced, it's a good and enjoyable record in general, with epic 'Dreams of Stone' being particulary magnificient. Some late TALK TALK thrown in, some hooks that THE AMBER LIGHT' and PINEAPPLE THIEF' fans will definitely like, and this wonderful sense of melancholy attached to every note in this LP. H-era MARILLION shouldn't miss this one either. Recommended

GAZPACHO's "Night" probably is one of the best releases of 2007!

Not being familiar with the band GAZPACHO, but after reading the very positive reviews on this site, I decided to buy this album instantly. Supposedly GAZPACHO toured together with PORCUPINE TREE and one might compare GAZPACHO to bands like PORCUPINE TREE and RADIOHEAD in the way that these bands are all quite difficult to be "boxed".

The album kicks of with the 17 minute long track "Dream of Stone". Out of nowhere pounding sounds are fading in and it sounds like a train moving in closer and closer. This sound is accompanied by a deep bass and drums about a minute later and one minute after that we are treated by Jan Henrik Ohme's warm vocals. I would almost say he sounds a bit Thom Yorkish and the music a bit Radioheadish, but that would be rather unfair to GAZPACHO, because they prove that they are a very competent band, maybe even better than Thom York and consortium. Towards the end of this track the music fades out and a delicate piano links the first two tracks seamlessly.

The second track "Chequered Light Buildings" is a very warm and delicate track. The lyrics remind me a bit of "Perfect Blue Buildings" by Counting Crows. This track also breathes the same depressing atmosphere as "Perfect Blue Buildings" does. The midsection of this track is solely instrumental and sounds wonderful. Towards the end we hear the same piano tunes that the song started out with. Again track 3 and 4 are blended into one other.

The third track "Inside Out" is probably my favourite track of the album. Wow! What a great melody and did I already mention Jan Henrik Ohme's warm vocals? This is it! Pure indulgement. Words cannot describe the way I feel about this track. Simply wonderful! No wonder the 10 minutes of this track only seem to last only 5. To make the whole complete we are treated by some delicate violins near the end of the track.

Track 4, "Valerie's Friend" is another atmospheric, yet very dramatic piece. Jan Henrik Ohme sounds like he's carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders. Beautiful once again.

The final track "Massive Illusion" lasts over 13 minutes as well. The wonderful opening sounds of this track are coming from the tin whistle played by Kristian Skedsmo. He is the big guest artist on this album also playing low whistle, accordion, didgeridoo, mandolin and banjo! In the liner notes the band expresses their appreciation towards him: "Our idol and well trusted mad genius wizard; Kristian "The Duke" Skedsmo. To him we owe it all." The middle piece is a bit more up-tempo and contains some fine hauling guitar work. The outro of the song contains some great piano and strings and this could be a wonderful emotional classical piece.

So how would I rate this album? I wonder between 4 and 5 stars. Maybe it isn't a masterpiece to anyone, but it surely is to me. This could very well be the best album of 2007! Yet it will have quite some competition of albums have already been released like "Blackfield II" and Sylvan's "Presets". And keeping in mind that Porcupine Tree's "Fear Of A Blank Planet" will be released at the end of April '07 and Riverside's third studio album coming out somewhere near the end of this year, 2007 will be a very interesting Progressive year!

I think I owe this album a 5 star rating.

An unexpected and delightful treat.

Few recent releases in any genre reach the heights of GAZPACHO'S 'Night'. Though labelled 'Neo-progressive', I feel the music offered here is art rock with strong ambient and space-rock sensibilities. Each segment of the overall concept drifts along with a solid backbeat, with carefully scripted variations and sparse but interesting fills. Likewise, the bass pulses a simple rhythm, only occasionally pushed forward in the mix. The real delight comes with the subtle keyboard and guitar fills which colour the music, giving it a strong ethereal feel, not unlike TALK TALK'S later work.

The comparisons with TALK TALK don't end there. Ohme's plaintive, emotive vocals recall Mark Hollis, as does the meticulous, rich engineering. Further, one gets the sense that, as with TALK TALK'S 'Spirit of Eden', not a single note or silence has been placed on this record without careful consideration and debate. Owls hoot, violins and cathedral organs segue from one track to the next, and distorted guitar notes cut off with no echo. The volume of the music is an important part of the mix, used in the first track to heighten tension, and in subsequent tracks to dampen a particular motif or to push it forward to prominence.

Perhaps this may render the music soulless to some ears. Certainly it's not music to drink lager by. But oh, there's certainly feeling there. Take a listen to the sample track provided by ProgArchives: if the vocals don't get you on side, particularly the motif at 3:30 (repeated throughout the song), if the guitar solo does nothing for you and if the music sounds too artificial for your tastes, then GAZPACHO is not for you. Though I'm a person brought up on DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN, and this music is light-years removed from that, I find plenty in this record to draw me in; and, once drawn in, much to make me return. Every track is strong, with memorable vocal lines, and powerful sequences release the carefully gathered tension.

This is the best new record I've heard in a year. Just kick back and let the rhythm and soundscapes take you away in to the night.

First of all I want to thank Prog Reviewer "evenless" for sending me (in Canada) this cd all the way from the Netherlands. Unfortunately for me GAZPACHO's music is very difficult to find over here right now, and so it mean't a lot to receive this highly acclaimed cd. As the band says : " "Night" is a musical description of a dream or a stream of consciousness".So it is a concept album and when you hear the music it's not surprising that the subject matter is about dreaming as the music itself is very dreamy and floating. What we are treated to are slowly building and haunting soundscapes with a Post-Rock feel at times.The mood is often quite emotional and while RADIOHEAD came to mind first I was also reminded of SIGUR ROS, BAUER and FRAKTAL.

As "Dream Of Stone" starts to play you can hear the sounds rise quietly out of the silence. This is very atmospheric and drifting music that slowly builds, including the vocals.The slowly beating drums are mesmerizing and I swear I hear mellotron. There are mournful violin sounds with piano melodies later in the song. It actually gets quite heavy 15 minutes in with some great guitar as the drums pound away. "Chequered Light Buildings" opens with tender vocals and slowly played piano as they gradually grow louder including the tension until it all builds to a climax.

"Upside Down" is my favourite track. It has a good steady beat with piano and acoustic guitar. What I really like are the vocal arrangements on this one. Nice. More violin and piano before this one is over. "Valerie's Friend" becomes almost happy sounding. Gasp ! Powerful middle section with a terrific guitar solo and the song ends with violin. "Massive Illusion" has a slow atmospheric beginning. They start clapping to the beat at one point. Nice organ work and the guitar 8 minutes in is really good. More mournful violin to end it.

4.5 stars for this emotional and haunting record. Highly recommended.

Sometimes paying too much attention to the previous reviews can cause the residual effect of losing focus and not grasping objectively the true gist of the music being projected , especially when the band is sonically unknown to the listener. This is the labyrinth I suckered myself into, much to my chagrin and it took a dozen or so spin-throughs to disengage from the web of expectations . I cannot comment on Radiohead or Coldplay because I crucified radio back in the 90s , fed up with the nauseating incompetence of formulaic , manufactured sludge (which persists until today). My fellow colleagues have indicated Ptree and Landberk tendencies, which I simply cannot identify, at least overtly. On the other hand, the Mark Hollis-Spirit of Eden influence is quite correct, as well as the David Sylvian touches, both spawned from the Bryan Ferry school of singing. As soon as the beacons were dispensed with, things became increasingly clearer, Yes, this is atmospheric music that requires the candlelight, turn off the lights treatment, unplug the TV-DVD-PC-Cell (now that's hard to do!) and just let the sounds overcome your defenses. The funeral lilt of the first piece really lays down the mood, an opiate-laden hallucigenic (not necessarily psychedelic) canvas where the vocals dominate center stage and the assorted instruments act as a backdrop. This is not always a succesful option but when it works, it shines (Hollis, Sylvian) , with a hint of This Mortal Coil (the proggiest of the New Wave crews of the late 80s) , what with gypsy violin snippets that add to the gusto. The keys, guitars, bass & drums are all very low-key, no nifty " Hey! watch me play" delirious solos to be found, all subserviant to the team concept. Hence, I can understand why some will fawn all over this (and rightly so) and annoint this with the highest praise ("Upside Down" is really great) but I can sympathize with those who feel this is all too soporific and artsy. You gotta be in the right mood , again context determining how much pleasure can be derived from this strange brew. I did, a lot!4.5 night stars .

Gazpacho meets Radiohead ...

'Night' is an album on the border betweeen Art Rock and Neo Prog which sounds like a collaboration of GAZPACHO and RADIOHEAD. The songs are in a dark melancholic mood and there are also some references to MARILLION, not only because of the cover art which is similar to 'Holidays in Eden'. Jan Henrik Ohme's vocals sometimes are near to the voices of Thom Yorke and Steve Hogarth.

Technically not very complicated but with great feeling and heroically delivered. With the smooth transitions between the songs it looks like a concept album. Wonderful in any case for relaxing with headphones on and a glass of wine in reach.

Dream Of Stone is the cornerstone of this release with a hypnotic rhythm, a fantastic short violin/piano interlude followed by a heavy grooving part and a magnificent piano end a la TALK TALK. This is by all means a terrific song and 5 stars worth IMO. Chequered Light Buildings follows as a very melancholic ballad which evolves/explodes after 3 minutes to a dramatic song. Upside is mainly a continuation of the first song and Valerie's Friend contains emotional vocals, the excellent drum playing is to mention and we have a surprising ambient finale. Massive Illusion first of all can be catagorized as a Prog Folk song, very interesting with hands clapping and a much more happier flavour at first. Afterwards the song picks up again the melancholic violin/piano theme from the first song and spreads it out for some minutes.

For the summary it's not enough to be a masterpiece because of some unnecessary lengths. But in the whole it deserves 4 stars anyhow. Dedicated to fans of melancholic emotional Prog.

Let's resist the temptation of saying that this YET another Norwegian neo-symphonic prog band, but the fact is that there are a few now, a phenomenon started by White Willow, then Wobbler, Gargamel (and a few I can't come up with now) and now Gazpacho, although this is their third or fourth album but they only come to international notice now. Unlike the melancholic, dark sombre music of Gargamel, Wobbler, Anekdoten (etc..), musically speaking Gazpacho are a gentle neo prog with strong symphonic tendencies and might be likened to Overhead, White Willow, Ageness, Gallion and so on.

While their type of neo-prog is of a gentle and pleasant brand, it is also fairly unchallenging and accumulates the clichés of the genre, but I must give to the group, they never get too "clonish" or irritatingly "ala sumthin' ". The sextet develops many quiet atmospheres driven by Andersen's keyboards, underlined Vibo's guitar (he's heard Reine Fiske from certain passages on Night) and Kromer's violin. As for the concept of the album, it seems to be axed upon the opening 17-min "epic" Dream Of Stone and the entire nightrip (nicely illustrated by Antonio Cruz). The 6 min+ Chequered Light segues into the almost 10-min Upside Down then into what seems to be the album's most emotional point of the album (the hardest sounding anyway) where our protagonist dreams of his prospective girlfriend Valerie and her friend and a church burning. I am not sure this is it, the lyrics aren't included, but it is partly illustrated in the booklet.

While the music goes through a myriad of tempo changes, ambiances and atmospheres, I cannot say that the group is using the full recording dynamics and the music stays relatively/boringly/safely even. My guess is that after 20 listens, should one make your hear a 20-second sample, you'd still be unable to tell in which of the five songs you're in. and I guess this says it all in terms of Gazpacho's best album to date (if I read the other album's reviews), and therefore it isn't likely to get essential status anywhere on any scale.

Well, well. Night is really a thoroughly nice album. Nice in that way that it always keep a respectable distance to your life and conscience, never dreaming of interfering or challenging your existence. It isn't a soulless album, far from it; it's full of emotion, but only of one single kind. After a while it gets as repetitive as a Scandinavian winter, and sadly just as interesting.

Gazpacho doesn't suffer from any problem when it comes to creating dense atmospheres. The sound is literally drenched in some kind of nocturnal, melancholic, thick keys-created landscape, one that evokes feelings of cold and naked lands while it's still almost hypnotizing at times. I'd describe it as slightly post-rockish. At least based on the little I've heard from that genre. On many of the songs the guitar is mostly used in creating a beat for the swirling keys on top it. Repetitive drums, guitar and bass.no, repetitive structures form that droning whole I find very hard to tolerate. It's not getting any better as the beautiful, almost feminine voice of Jan Henrik Ohme lays down on top of the music as an ethereal veil of smoke, or perhaps more fitting in this case, as the slowly moving Northern Lights. Really slow build-ups, adding small, but noticeable changes almost every single repeat. Be it a delicate little chord work on the guitar, some choir effects, piano, a mini solo or just an empowered metal-ish power chord version of what happened last time. Eventually the atmosphere is quite rich with all sorts of sounds, something that you actually might miss the first few listens, just because everything moves so painstakingly slow.

Apart from the ambience-oriented parts (plenty) there are some better, metal-ish, Scandinavian folk and Neo-Prog dramatic parts (fewer) here. Very enjoyable, but still often part of the cold, electronic soundscape. The closing song of the album, Massive Illusion might be my favourite in the mix, with outspoken acoustic guitar, some change in the vocal department nice keys and for a change: a driving element. Nice and sad violin ending it for that extra touch.

I guess you realise that I don't think this is all bad. That's how objective I'm prepared to be. If you don't have a problem with ambience-filled, droning atmosphere and.well, atmosphere at the expense of virtuoso performance, for all it's worth, then you should love this album. It's heavily arranged, with lots of precision and electronic influences and as such very successful.

For me: 2 stars. Fans only.

//LinusW

I ended up my review of their first work with these words: It lacks in originality and feeling. Most of the tracks are too similar and on the mellowish side. This EP was released in 2002.

What has changed in the meantime?

The band played mainly some fine Muse oriented tracks on their debut album (Bravo) and lots of tasteless gazpacho (they have chose their names, not me). This Night album opens on a long piece of music which is completely derivative of the Mark II Marillion (another usual source of inspiration for the band). Ambient, aerial, repetitive and unemotional to my ears. Fine background music after all (especially the closing section which features some fine violin notes).

This opening number is a pretty good preview of what the listener will listen afterwards. Almost all songs are made out of the same mould (Upside Down is a shorter carbon copy).

My preferred song is Chequered Light Buildings: the mood is darker and heavier. It breaks the mellowish atmosphere which is welcome as far as I'm concerned.

The band had the good idea not to release an overlong album (but this is usual for them). As such it is not too bad an experience but I don't believe that I will listen to it much more in the future. Marillion Mark II fans: this one is for you.

The closing number Massive Illusion features some fine electric guitar and well crafted, emotional and almsot classical violin during the second part of the song (which lasts for about fourteen minutes).

Three stars.

In My Not So Humble Opinion:

"Night" by Gazpacho defines Neo Prog for me.

I know, they are considered Crossover by the Prog Archives, but in my thought, this is what Neo is all about. The lush keyboards, carefully thought out transitions, the layers upon layers of sound is done brilliantly on this CD. I can thank Franz Keylard of "The Dividing Line Broadcasting Network" for introducing me to this band, and also the belief that they're Neo. You see, my first introduction to Gazpacho was on a podcast of his radio program. If I remember correctly, he planned on playing "Upside Down" before moving on to something else. Almost a half hour he came back on, cursing them for being so good, he couldn't just play the one song. He ended up completing the album and made the comment, and I'm paraphrasing here, 'they do Marillion better than Marillion'.

Right or wrong, it was at that point that I defined the Neo Prog sub-genre in my mind; also, it's a great one line description of the album to the uninitiated. It's hard to highlight individual passages because everything builds from one point to the next. Each note leads to the next one and so on and so on through the entire fifty three minutes of the CD.

Jan Henrik Ohme's vocals are mesmerizing, so soft and fragile; it took me a few listens to realize that he was a he. Thomas Anderson builds a wonderful wall of sound with his keyboards, never sticking out like a sore thumb yet every note and sound is beautifully placed. Jon-Arne Vilbo does a fine job on the guitar, building from a minimalist place in "Dream of Stone" up to his personal crescendo in "Valarie's Friend" to finally add to the CD's most energetic point in "Massive Illusion". Mikeal Kromer adds some spine tingling moments with his violin, mostly to segue between the different movements of the CD.

If you like lush music, if you like subtle music with a thousand little nuances filling the many layers, then this CD is highly recommended. Five Stars.

I was wondered by seeing here "Night" as crossover prog and as Norway's group. In fact, I used to know simple formula, Sweden = rock, Finland = metal, Norway = ? Now I know it, they can be also good. It's just they're not so well known country (in prog things). I was also thinking about this Radiohead connection, but only thing reminding me this is J. H. Ohme's voice. Magical, on the other side of unpleasant vocal type. Very strange one, maybe even reminding vocalist of Muse, but I'm not so sure in that. But similar to RH ? Total of 53 minutes, divided in 5 tracks, which makes average length about 10 minutes. Not so RH style though.

I see Night more like post-rock influenced. Few, long tracks with a lot of space to improvisation, tracks taking its time to present what they want to tell (few strange moments also, explained later). To be honest, I listen to this album, when I'm very tired physically (not psychically, because I almost never am), because of its softness, hypnotic flow (second time I imagine what would drugs do to me with connection to this album), but long passages can lead to idea that ""nothing's going on here"", which is of course not truth. It just takes time.

"Dream of Stone" sets the mood to entire album. Everything what will come later is quite similar, but I mean similarity as in post-rock, not that all tracks are the same, or clones of each other. As in matter of PR (this album is reminding me it more and more), you can't just wait for riffs, admire drums playing, or rock'n'roll style. I'm trying to practice unique approach to every album in its own way (if I like it, then I'm trying to find out how this all were meant to be). So I feel it. "Chequered Light Buildings" continues in unspoken story about poetic feelings (well, there are lyrics and Story of album, which is sometimes more important to me). And so on, describing each track here is extremely difficult, because I want to take this record as one track, one tale.

For me, important thing is that there's a deepness to which I can look and not see the end. That there's a unique combination of vocals with instruments (but voice is main instrument here at these times), which is very haunting. As I said at "Part 2 by MotW", ethereal beauty. And I feel it again. Every sound has its place and helps to form overall composition perfectly.

Five stars for not from this Earth record (maybe Moon, or Pluto Night)

Gazpacho has a sound that is pretty unique. The closest band I can think of to compare them to is Porcupine Tree; but that is more in terms of the way that the music works on me, than the way it sounds or makes me feel.

The music here is definitely atmospheric. Contrast is used to great effect (listen to the build up on "checkered light buildings" as a perfect example, where vocals and piano slowly build into an explosion of electric guitar, driving drums, and epic strings, which then has acoustic guitars and more strings added on top before the vocals return hauntingly). The band makes use of each of their instruments, but they are never just "there"; when an instrument is being played, it has something to say.

That being said, instead of being melodic, this music is atmospheric. And while some melodies will stick to the memory after listening, it is always the way that the music makes one feel that makes this album such a rousing success.

It is hard to tell one track from the next. They flow into each other completely naturally, without any feeling of being forced. And while certain themes remain only within certain tracks (such as the "How small is your life?" chorus in Valerie's Friend), each of them has enough different themes that you could imagine the tracks being broken down even smaller if you wanted to. But truthfully, I can't imagine the tracks on this album sounding as strong without the context of the album. It is the way that ideas flow into each other; the road of emotions that the band takes you on that give this album its cohesiveness.

The instrumental work on this album is excellent. It is never dull, and always works perfectly within the context of the music and the lyrics. The singing is also great, in a style that is perhaps somewhat similar to that of Radiohead, although I find that I prefer Gazpacho. The singer has a bit more strength and power behind his vocals, I think.

The album ends beautifully, with an almost classical feel to it (in fact, I had to listen to some classical music after hearing this album the first time to get it out of my system). I find myself wishing that it would go on a bit longer, because it is such a beautiful album, but unfortunately, all things must come to an end, and I am forced instead to hit "play" a second time.

My first encounter with Gazpacho occurred during Marillion's Marbles-tour here in Stockholm, Sweden. Although I didn't particularly like the release Marillion was promoting I still went to see the show just to experience their live performance. The supporting band Gazpacho didn't make much of an impression on me at the time but I think that their equipment was primarily to blame for that. The concert hall itself was also one of the more peculiar arenas which is rarely used for music performances.

Since I was really into Radiohead at the time I basically wrote off the band as another one of Radiohead clones without giving them a proper chance. That decision might have worked for Gazpacho's first three albums but once they started getting the most positive reviews in their semi-professional careers with the release of Night I stopped being stubborn and decided to enter their domain.

What I heard on this release was a much more matured band and although the Radiohead influences were still present Gazpacho had now an identity of their own! I could trace a few influences from the Norwegian music scene, especially bands like Motorpsycho, which spiced up their flavor and made the band a front runner of the scene.

Dream of Stone is an atmospheric opener that initially felt like it had a few more secrets to reveal upon repeated listens but that was unfortunately not so. A pity but the praise is still non-the-less justified considering the band's definite signs of growth. Upside Down on the other hand did manage to improve over time and is in my opinion the definite highlight in terms of the consistency offered during it's 10 minutes running time.

Overall it didn't take long for Night to grow on me and I'm basically of the same opinion of it as I was after 4-5 times I heard it. The sheer beauty of development these compositions undergo is well worth the time investment. Still I think that Gazpacho has a lot of undiscovered potential left in them so it will be interesting to follow them toward their ultimate career highlight!

***** star songs: Upside Down (9:41)

**** star songs: Dream Of Stone (17:00) Chequered Light Buildings (6:34) Valerie's Friend (6:29) Massive Illusion (13:37)

By the time this 4th album by Gazpacho was released, the band had produced three earlier ones and trusting the averages on our site (I don't know any of these three myself) the three predecessors were only average in quality.

This 4th release is a different story according to a significant number of raters/reviewers. For me personally it's quite a different matter only explainable by difference in taste I guess. When I play this album I indeed hear above average music but my dislike for Hogarth era Marillion combined with huge similarity between this Marillion and Gazpacho cause a low appreciation by me I'm afraid. The music is quite slow and with little energy, well let's just spell it out: pretty dull I'm afraid. I will be hurting some feelings with this statement I fear but again: I'm just a minority and it's just my opinion. This music makes me yawn a bit until ..... yes, indeed until last track Massive Illusion takes its turn. Suddenly it's a total different ball game for me. What a fantastic song this is. The violin is absolutely stunning and mesmerizing.

I wish this album would have contained more special songs like this one (ok, the opening track Dream of Stone has a bit of violin as well but only for a minute) and then I would have joined the long line up of 4 star raters without hesitation. As it is, this one song can't save the album for me. But it does save it from a deadly 2 star conclusion I had in mind after the first 4 songs and lifts the album to three stars for my taste. Like I said, Marillion (Hogarth) fans who don't know Gazpacho yet should certainly check this album out. Perhaps Radiohead and Pineapple Thief fans could do that too. But if you like your music spicy and energetic, leave it.

A very nice set of diverse songs (which is not always the case with a Gazpacho album), though all establishing the signature ambient-droning Gazpacho sound supporting Ohme's somewhat monotonous voice. There are two real standouts, including my favorite Gazpacho song (so far): "Upside Down" (9:41) (9/10) and "Dream of Stone" (17:00) (9/10). Night is definitely my favorite Gazpacho album though Tick Tock runs a close second. The band's real masterpiece.

*****Five star songs: 3. "Upside Down" (9:41) (9/10), 1. "Dream of Stone (17:00) (9/10).

****Four star songs: 2. "Chequered Light Buildings" (6:34) (8/10), 4. Valerie's Friend (6:29) (7/10), and 5. "Massive Illusion" (13:37) (8/10).

Often compared to H-era Marillion, Gazpacho emerged from the shadow of their inspirations and set themselves up as a truly original proposition with the incredible Night. A concept album taking us through the uncharted realms of slumber, the songs tend to flow together and are tied into a cohesive piece by the pulsating, spooky rhythms that regularly emerge here and there to lend continuity to the album, and over which the band carefully apply various embellishments to keep things varied. A simple enough idea in principle but tricky to apply in practice; Gazpacho pull it off marvellously, so it's no surprise that Night well and truly put them on the prog map.

If I were tasked with using one word to describe this album, my choice would be "cold." And like most everything from Gazpacho, the general mood of the album is downcast. Night is a fair album that has never succeeded in engaging me, but has a sad loneliness that is conveyed in a most beautiful manner.

"Dream of Stone" Chilly atmospheres fill this lengthy track, and the unmistakable voice of Jan Henrik Ohme sometimes shivers as though he too is cold. The composition is extremely unadventurous but never once strays from being good. It is an ethereal piece of music that does not cease to convey dark emotions.

"Chequered Light Buildings" Lonely piano sparsely serves a friendless voice. The guitars thicken the texture as the piece becomes more ghostly.

"Upside Down" This third song has more drive and might have made an excellent part of a soundtrack. It also has a compelling series of vocal melodies.

"Valerie's Friend" Gazpacho keeps the shadowy nature of their music but adds rich acoustic guitar to the sound. The electric guitars eventually provided the song with some much needed bite.

"Massive Illusion" The fifth and final piece reiterates the sad nature of the album. However, it eventually takes on a more upbeat, almost voodoo vocal section and spectral backings. The final passage is a beautiful violin and piano duet.

This 2007 release whilst not as complete as their follow up album Tick Tock still is a highly impressive work. The theme here is sleep and dreams. The album opens with epic Dream Of Stone, a seventeen minute magnum opus. It is minimalist and has a really hypnotic beat, occasionally building to a climax before subsiding again. The drum beat rarely disappearing save for Mikael Kromer's fine violin work. Ohme does not stretch his vocals too much on this album which results in a relatively even tempo throughout Night. I do believe the band were still experimenting with their sound which is only natural and the only negative I find here is that there is no major risk taking here whether that be the vocals and musical contributions. That being said, the repetition works ( reference Mike Oldfield) and here gain Gazpacho use it to the maximum of their ability especially on the opening track. " Chequered Light Building" is pleasant but mostly non descript as is " Valerie's friend " but " Upside Down" is 10 minutes of melancholic brooding bliss and here Ohme really does deliver in the vocals department. The closer " Massive Illusion" is nice enough but again not really testing the ears and blends in well with the rest of the album. I think three and a half stars is a fair rating for Night. It is a slow burner as well which always adds value to any great piece of music and perhaps gives a clear indication of even finer work to come.

"Night" is the 4th full-length studio album by Norwegian alternative/progressive rock act Gazpacho. The album was released through Intact Records in February 2007. "Night" saw a deluxe 2 disc reissue on the Kscope label in 2012. It´s a slightly different album compared to it´s predecessors, as they all featured "regular" length tracks, and "Night" features a 53:21 minutes long concept piece, divided into 5 seperate tracks.

The overall concept is about dreams. Where they end and where reality begins, and the protagonist´s exploration of that concept. A rather ambitious theme, but Gazpacho pulls it off in a natural way and with a good flow. The music on the album is a mellow (though dynamic and occasionally louder), emotional, and slow building type of alternative/progressive rock, where melancholic atmospheres, and Jan Henrik Ohme´s distinct sounding vocals are the focal points.

"Night" opens with the 17:00 minutes long "Dream of Stone", which is a very slow building and atmospheric track. While it reaches several epic climaxes along the way, it´s still feels a bit too long and repetitive, which isn´t nearly as much an issue with the shorter tracks on the album. With that little issue out of the way, the material on "Night" is still generally of a high quality. It´s obvious that much thought have been put into creating these tracks and the lyrical concept, but personally I could have wished for more catchy moments throughout the album. It´s a grower for sure, and the more you listen to the songs, the better you remember the hooks, but they aren´t exactly easy or accessible upon initial listen.

The album features a pleasant and warm sounding production, but the drums could have prospered from a slightly more organic tone. In addition to bass, guitars, drums, and vocals, the music also features keyboards, and the occasional use of violin. All musicians are well playing and Gazpacho comes off as a very professional sounding act.

Upon conclusion "Night" is yet another professional and enjoyable melancholic rock release with progressive leanings by Gazpacho, and certainly the highlight of their career up until then. Previous releases by the band weren´t always stylistically consistent and the quality of the material also varied (though still within a standard to good range), but "Night" is pretty accomplished, from the songwriting, to the sound production, to the musicianship. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Here is my first review of Norway's Gazpacho. And I will start with their fourth effort called Night!

With the first epic Dream of Stone, they set the things clear. They make a very influenced by Marillion (the beginning of Chequered Light Buildings could be included in any of the Steve Hogarth's albums) modern prog with some glimpses of Radiohead (particularly in the shorter tracks) and with some strings and beautiful keyboards which give an extra layer of melancholy to the songs, acting also as some kind of emotional Nexus between the songs.

The production is very good, and all the guys play majestically their instruments. But I have a problem with Ohme's vocals. He sings all the time in a forced high-pitched tone which is annoying to me. He sings accurately almost all the tones and he performs a good interpretation of the beautiful lyrics of the band, but I find his voice repetitive and boring in the long term.

Sadly, this fact makes the album lose a whole point along with the fact of the inclusion of a track that is clearly under the rest like the repetitive Valerie's Friend, making Night a very good album where could have been an excellent one.

Best Tracks: Dream of Stone (long, epic and beautiful), Upside Down (excellent piano melodies, a fine crescendo at the end and marvelous strings and flutes too) and Massive Illusion (I particularly enjoy the choirs in this one)

Conclusion: Night is a very good example of sentimental, melancholic and very well written modern prog-music with influences of Marillion, Radiohead and Sigur Ros. Sadly, I find the singing of the front man just not good enough for this band and this is a fact that I just cannot forget, because he is very present in the whole record.

Nevertheless, if you have not heard Night yet I can recommend it to you whole hearted because this music is really first class.

My rating: ***

Despite the 3 stars you see i give this album, some may think my reaction to be lukewarm at best. But, this being my first encounter with Gazpacho, it won't be my last! This is some nice art rock we have here. What i find most appealing is the production. Man does this album sound clear and well produced on a pair of decent cans. Given the apparent theme of this music, i think it nails it perfectly. I chose to listen to this album just before bed while i was physically and mentally winding down, and from the opening track it sure helped my heart rate drop to a level of blissful night-time peace. I wouldn't listen to this probably at any other point in the day, it has a niche sound and atmosphere that only suits my needs or wants for a particular purpose. There in lies its' problem; it does exactly what is meant to do well, but that's all. What it is meant to do at least in my interpretation of its' sound, is to put you in a dream-like trance through minimalist waves of synth and vocals that are 3x louder than the rest of the band cooing you like a lullaby. The vocals despite being quite loud in relation to the rest of the mix, i find neutral in terms what it brings to the overall sound. Nothing memorable about the melodies brought on by the vocalist. The end result is quite pleasant, but also not too engaging either, but i understand that's probably intentional? I happen to enjoy many different forms of music, even music that isn't meant to be listened to intensely (if such a thing exists - i think it does) and this album if listened to with no distraction doesn't give much to dig deeper into beyond atmosphere. What you hear on the surface is what you get within the first few minutes of this album. You can pretty much guess exactly where the rest of it is going. Once again, i like it, but it isn't blowing my hair back aside from it just being a well produced assortment of songs that flow nicely together.

Dreams are so interesting and odd to me. The idea of journeying to the inner corners of your mind and imagination with no rhyme or reason, yet some form of meaning is something that feels almost like fiction. This real-world phenomenon has been researched from point a to point z, and I feel like we might never get a grasp of what they truly mean due to people's different psyches. Our psychological understanding of what is and isn't, the false truths bleed into dreams and our minds mustn't be deterred from reality or our sanity will go away. In all honesty, I am surprised this phenomenon would make an amazing concept for an album, especially in the realm of progressive rock, but sadly I never see any such a concept explored to its fullest potential. We may get albums where a part is a character's delusions in their minds or being stuck in their mind, but never dreams themselves. There may be two reasons for this. 1. It'd be very hard to pull off effectively. 2. Night by Gazpacho is already a thing, so why attempt what they mastered once in their career?

Gazpacho is a contemporary progressive rock group from the early 2000s. Formed by Jan-Henrik Ohme, Jon-Arne Vilbo, and Thomas Andersen they take a page from the popular, more Radioheadesque art rock of the time, however with their spin on the whole style that is most closely related to Neo progressive rock. Their name comes from the Marillion song off of their Afraid of Sunlight album. At this point in their career they had released 3 albums, Brave, When Earth Lets Go, and Firebird. During this period they experimented and improved on their melancholic sound, utilizing alternative rock atmospheres that allowed them to create a unique, inspired sound. Since their conception they have always been a progressive rock band, however, they never fully smothered deep dished themselves in the bread, sauce, cheese, and grease of the progressive rock pizza. That was until 2007 when the band had created their 50+ minute conceptual piece. This was an album where they fully delved into the concept of dreams, creating one giant song in the process, however, they split it into 5 different songs that all fit together.

Unlike most albums that do something similar to this in the vein where it is one song that is split up (IE Colors or Tower of Silence) where I genuinely feel like each part intertwines in such a way that it makes every part feel essential for the listening experience. However, the fact each part is separated allows this album to never get boring, which I feel is one of the biggest hurdles any band making this kind of album has to go through. It may be one long song but I do not feel as though I ever get bored near the end, or that some parts do not mesh well with others, which were some of my complaints for stuff like Dopesmoker or Mirror Reaper.

The sounds on this album are something to behold. Everything around each part has a consistent theme and leitmotifs that you can notice, which I think is a good thing. I am a sucker for this kind of thing, especially when it comes to leitmotifs. Heck one of my favorite video games is packed brim with leitmotifs, and when it applies to a progressive rock context I am always happy. It is like a fun spotting game where after each song you can have a new motif to search for. While in most cases this would be boring, in the grand scale of the piece these motifs happen fairly rarely, however they happen often enough to fit every piece to this dreamy puzzle. Not only that but the main contributor to this album's greatness is the instrumentation. I just love how it perfectly captures the feelings of dreams and nighttime. The energy that resonates from this album speaks home to the feeling of being in a dream. The strums of the guitar, the drumming, and Ohme's vocal works on this album are the cream of the crop. Speaking of Ohme, his singing is downright beautiful. I cannot express how truly lovely they can get, sometimes to where I feel like he turns into a completely different singer.

Not only is the instrumentation excellent, but so is the emotion that drips off this album. Everything here feels melancholic, and where in some cases I feel like the band is missing out on something greater if they expressed more emotions on the emotional spectrum in their music, I feel like here it works well, since what is the night without the lack of light? The night is the darkest time of each 24 hours, because of this it is befitting for the band to be more melancholic.

What is more melancholic is the entire concept of this piece, which is of course about dreams. While the lyrics feel more like a story about something coming to an end, it is actually about where dreams end and reality begins. It is not simply about dreams as in something our brain conjures up when we sleep, it is about what happens when the dream ends. Where do all those little brain characters go and so forth? Each part does contribute to this narrative in some way, with Dream of Stone and Upside Down being about a blind prince who gets engulfed by the sun; Chequered Light Buildings is about growing so high to go to space; Valerie's Friends is about a girl named Valerie having a nightmare about going to a dangerous party; Massive Illusion being about how dreams end. All such have that intrinsically implemented inconsolable nature the band always loves to pull.

For a progressive rock epic, not only is this a masterpiece, there truly is no other album like it in the grand sea of albums. For anyone who loves that atmospheric, melancholy progressive rock from bands like Marillion, The Pineapple Thief, or even Pink Floyd, this album deserves its highs in spades. An amazing modern progressive rock record deserves its five stars.