MAGMA [AKA: KOBAÏA]

Magma's debut was, in many ways, their most daunting and challenging release. Curiously, there are moments of great beauty here, soft passages expressed on piano and flute. I think this serves to make the darker passages all the more harrowing. The darkness of the music is underscored by the vocals-Klaus Blasquiz' Wagnerian basso profundo and Christian Vander's inhuman screeching. I think that this all combines to make this seem like water torture to the neophyte Magma listener. Indeed, it took me a long time to come back to this release after my first listen.

This is one you have to spend a long time with to appreciate. It's also perhaps their jazziest release, with lots of stellar reed work from Teddy Lasry and Richard Raux. I don't think I'd recommend anyone starting with this album if you've never heard any Magma before, but it is an excellent release. It's just got a bit of a "time-release" appeal.

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