WATCH FOR THE UMBLES

This sinister album from Gargamel is retro-prog which doesn't sound very retro - perhaps because the most obvious classic-era prog touchstones the band draw on are mid-1970s Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson, bands which sounded miles ahead of their time in their heyday. With sneering vocals which at points remind me of a less garishly theatrical Alice Cooper (circa Billion Dollar Babies) and brooding soundscapes which include plenty of modern influences (there's more than a touch of post-rock at points), Gargamel create an album which is at once true to its symphonic forebears and yet at the same time is very forward-thinking and advances the genre substantially. Despite the retro-prog tag, I'd say Gargamel are doing much, much more than simply pandering to nostalgia.