MAGMA [AKA: KOBAÏA]

I'm normally the kind of person who likes to research musical styles and bands from the beginning, so when I was about to start my adventure through Zeuhl with MAGMA'S self titled debut, a friend told me not to do this and go with their second or third release, something I thank, because if I hadn't started with "1001º Centigrades", I'd probably had abandoned the quest on the "Celestial Music" to return to my beloved Symphonic, instead of acquiring the taste for Zeuhl.

With his I don't imply that "Kobaïa" is a bad album, by the contrary, but not what you could expect from a pompous and brilliant sub-genre, being that "Magma" is jazzier and with some "Latin Music" influences and I like more the Wagnerian self indulgent sound of their later albums like MDK much more. But too much chit chat, so lets get on the horse and start with the review.

"Kobaïa" begins with the self titled 10:15 minutes mini epic, with a Jazzy percussion and bass based intro that soon blends with a Latin sound somehow close to SANTANA, the peculiar use of keyboards and winds enhances this effect but still with a more Fusionesque feeling. Some sound effects made with the wind instruments reminds us we're before something much more experimental than expected, but still the band seems to be searching for a defined sound.

Only at he end and after an excellent Latin Jazz oriented piano break, the band changes path towards that mysterious and interesting sound that captivated me in MDK, good but not outstanding.

"Aina" starts again even more Jazzy than the previous track, and like it morphs into a Latin Jazz sound with a very characteristic percussion style, the problem is that the first instrumental break is too close to mainstream Jazz with a more elaborate structure, to be honest a very disappointing song.

A name like "Malaria" made me expect a more Central American sound, but as usual MAGMA surprised me with something really adventurous, the simple and repetitive piano collisions with the dissonant sound of the rest of the band and then morphing into something more fascinating and contradictory with a weird flute and cacophonic arrangements, this is more what I expected.

"Sohia" continues in the vein of the precedent song but this time more mysterious and dark, if we weren't talking about his weird French band, I would had swear the use of the flute is very close to an Andean style, but it's only a coincidence, but the real interest comes later, as the song advances, the structure is more contradictory and intriguing with incredibly radical changes and mystical atmospheres.

"Sckxyss" is the MAGMA I am learning to love, dramatic and arrogant with a magnificent vocal work and elaborate structures, cacophonic, dissonant but coherent simultaneously, sadly too short.

The mystical and terrifying "Auraë" closes Disk 1 with a haunting piano with dramatic and strong wind interruptions, but as usual MAGMA surprises with a beautiful and relaxing flute melody that keeps getting more and more complex as instruments are added. From the fifth minute the soft song changes into an operatic and pompous piece of music with those characteristic and unique vocals that only Christian Vander can provide, great way to finish the first disk.

"Thaud Zaia" and the soft mysterious flute open Disk 2, and in what form.....What started soft and melodic becomes so strange and dissonant that I can't imagine how this band was received back in 1970 when nobody expected something so revolutionary.

If by his point my schemes were not destroyed by this point, the acoustic intro of "Naü Ektila" proved that I could expect anything and yet be surprised, incredibly beautiful song with a Medieval flavor enhanced by the weird vocals in Kobaian.

But what comes later is what I call weird with capital "W", and absolutely radical change with sounds that collision one with the other and even a hard rock guitar blending with a jazzy section just to go crazy again, wonderful track, 12 minutes of pure Prog Rock.

It's amazing, when I believe I heard the most strange possible music, "Stöah" comes with it's peculiar vocal intro that sounds almost as a public speech in German, but what comes later is even stranger with the Avant sounding piano. Interesting is the word I choose for his song.

I surrender, the last track of the album called "Müh" has so many radical, contradictory and unexpected changes, that I won't even try to describe it.

By my words must be evident that I liked this album a lot, so my rating must seem contradictory, but I have rated "1001 Centigrades" and "MDK" with 4 stars and both are clearly superior IMO, so I have no other chance than to go with 3 until the half stars are accepted in Prog Archives.