ARACHNOID

"Arachnoïd" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by French progressive rock act Arachnoïd. The album was originally released through Divox in 1979. It has seen a couple of reissues through the years, the first one (still only on vinyl) was through Musea Records in 1988. It wasn´t until 1996 that Musea Records reissued the album on CD featuring 4 bonus tracks. Today it´s also available as a digital release.

Arachnoïd formed in 1970, but it wasn´t until the mid-70s that they started being more active and got the chance to record some of their material, which ended up on this debut album. It would be their sole studio album in their original run though, as they disbanded in the early 80s.

Stylistically this is a dark and eerie take on symphonic progressive rock. The eerie atmosphere of the release is certainly not made any less intense by the creepy looking cover artwork. So there´s definitely a synergy there between the material and the image of the band/the album. The music can be quite heavy at times, but not really in a hard rock progressive fashion, the whole thing is just so sombre and oppressive that it maybe leaves an impression on the listener of being heavy, although it probably is just really gloomy. I guess a reference to the contemporary horror movie soundtrack scores of Goblin aren´t completely wrong, although Arachnoïd are generally more complex in their songwriting. Early King Crimson are also often mentioned as an influence, and it is audible on some parts of the album with the heavy use of mellotron and almost jam sounding rhythm work. "Toutes Ces Images / Segamisec Setout" in particular points in that direction.

The musicianship is on a high level on all posts, with great guitar work (both acoustic and electric), a solid and at times fusion influenced rhythm section, and layers upon layers of synths, keyboards, organ, and piano (they have two guys in the lineup handling that). The music also features occasional use of saxophone, flute, and even a child voice speaking a couple of times. Lead vocalist Marc Meryl is probably a bit of an aquired taste. The lyrics are in French, and he has a relatively dramatic/theatrical way of singing/performing his vocals, that not all listeners will probably be able to appreciate. If you´re familiar with contemporary French progressive rock act Ange, this is a much less expressive version of that type of singing. There are softer vocals moments on the album too though, and the music is generally mostly instrumental, so the vocals play a smaller role in the overall picture.

Although the sound production is lacking bottom end, it´s still a well sounding production, which suits the material well. "Arachnoïd" may be a debut album, but it´s a release which was obviously created by seasoned and skilled musicians. The climate for this type of progressive rock wasn´t the best around 1979, so that may have contributed to the fact that this ended up being the band´s sole album release, but there is a lot to enjoy here if you´re a fan of the darker side of symphonic progressive rock. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.