QUARANTE JOURS SUR LE SINAÏ

What an impressive release from the French band NIL. After reviewing the THORK album, i'm starting to believe that the Maurin brothers (the two guitarists) are musical masterminds.THORK is a side project for them that is a little experimental, with an Avant feel to it. Another side project is SYRINX, more dark and atmospheric music. So although this is another dark record there is so much variety on it, from Jazz to Fusion to Avant and even some Metal. And yet this record flows like a river.

There is a real harmony to the record. It's a concept album about Egypt and it's gods, made up of part I (over 36 min.) and part II (over 26 min.). On my stereo it shows 28 songs, and most of them flow into each other with no break in between. Another observation is the instruments used, from mellotron to cello and harp, sax, church organ, clarinet and more. Male and female singers as well, although there is by far more instrumental music than vocals.The joy for me is listening to the lead guitarist David Maurin play. The different styles he plays, the unique sounds, from fiery to angular to scrorching to riffs to acoustic and so on.

Buying this NIL record is a no brainer, there is enough complexity and variety and beauty to keep even the most seasoned progger interested for a long time.