GARGAMEL

"Prevail" feels like a very long track, with kind of a jamming feeling. "Trap" is my favourite track thanks to the Hammond and great symphonic melotron in the end.

"Labyrinth" starts in the King Crimson vein, very serious but too my dislike, soon turns into a non-melodic VDGG singing. The instrumental mid part is OK but to me, feels like a filler (let's create a 17-minute last track like on the previous album). It's the 11-th minute when all hell breaks looks finally and all band players showcase their skills.

If I should compare it to the previous album, this is a slight bit weaker. Singing appears more often (not their strength) and the instrumental contributions are less significant. Still a 3,5 star album.

The first minutes by the first tracks confirmed by initial thoughts - great keyboard-driven symphonic prog partly inspired by King Crimson/Anekdoten, no vocals and quite a good level of dynamics despite repetition. The great Moog solo with the heated up drumming followed by competent guitar even graduated my level of joy.

"Strayed again" provides a completely different view of the band, though keyboards are still omni-present, there is a VDGG-like vocal, great acoustic moment with flute and avantgarde experimentation, later we can hear a jazzy organ which demonstrates high keyboardist' competence.

"Below the water" is a relatively down-key track, based around 3/4 rhythm though singing puts me off. "Into the cold" fixes the things for me but ingesting a dose of Anekdoten and have a dreamy atmosphere thanks to flute and mellotron.

"Agitated mind" is a long track and things take a long time to develop but it's not a complaint. It is quite well structured and contains reflective parts too.

To sum it up, vocals are the weakest element on this album but the instrumentation and good creativity drag this album up the bar. 4 stars

1. Descending (9:55) : First a slow rhythm with distinctive electric piano runs and passionate English vocals, then a Pink Floyd sounding organ joins the party, followed by mellow synthesizer flights. Halfway a propulsive bass with a distorted, spacey guitar solo and a warm organ sound, culminating in a compelling final part that sounds like "Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green guitar) meets early Pink Floyd (dynamic drums and hypnotizing organ layers)", a good start!

2. Prevail (13:59) : A bombastic atmosphere with raw electric guitar riffs and powerful saxophone that first turns into mellow and then experimental, pretty adventurous but to me it sounds a bit fragmentic. In the second part I love the acceleration featuring violin-Mellotron, fluent drums and fat guitar riffs, it reminds me of fellow Skandinavian Anekdoten. After a psychedelic interlude with soaring organ and a great Hammond sound, this track is concluded with, surprise, a trumpet solo!

3. Trap (5:31) : This song (evoking early Pink Floyd and King Crimson) is wonderfully coloured with vintage keyboards like the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, Fender Rhodes electric piano and Mellotron along powerful electric guitar solos.

4. Labyrinth (17:40) : After an intro with the unsurpassed Mellotron, we can enjoy a lot of variety, from a slow ? and swinging rhythm to experimental with strong work on harder-edged guitar and vintage keyboards (Hammond and Mellotron), the final part is Prog Heaven featuring a bombastic climate with choir-Mellotron, propulsive drum work and fat guitar riffs, Gargamel at their best!

Unfortunately it turned out that this was their final effort, from promising Norwegian prog band with an adventurous and varied approach.

My rating: 3,5 star.

The instrumental 'Tics' is easily the highlight, starting with a dark organ sound that sounds more Hugh Banton then Banton sounds himself nowadays. The track continues through multiple sections with brilliant heavy-ish prog, with influences from VDGG, Anekdoten and Genesis. 'Strayed' opens strongly with a melancholic cello part that recalls the mood of Crimson's 'Islands'. The effect lasts till the atrocious vocals join. Really, trying to mimic Hammil if you haven't got the qualities to pull it off is sacrilege. This mainly instrumental track remains strong but the grating vocals largely spoil it. 'Below the Water' is even worse. 'Into the Cold' fares better due to being largely instrumental again. 'Agitated Mind' is an attempt at writing an epic. A failed one because it goes down entirely with the preposterous vocals. Really, why didn't anyone mute the volume level of the microphone.

This kind of album automatically makes me reach out for the real thing and unfortunately Gargamel doesn't come out well from the comparison. The music on this album is excellent but with a 'Hammill' in such poor shape, it doesn't touch anything released by VDGG. The next album has a distinct improvement in the vocal department and is much better by consequence. 2 stars, 4 if you can tune out the vocals.

They remind me of Sinkadus and Wobbler as well. Having the same combination of forceful vintage rocking Prog with that dreamy melancholic mood. In case of Gargamel the vocals are also not the greatest asset (too much of a Hammill copy, I prefer the real thing). On the other hand the vocals have largely improved compared to the band's debut, where the vocalist could hardly keep his pitch. There's plenty of room for instrumental passages, such as the spacey second half of "Descending". It's at those moments where the band really shines for me. "Prevail" has better vocals, followed by a long proggy instrumental middle section. It all builds up to a great finale. The stronghold is the 17 minute long "Labyrinth".

I wouldn't say Gargamel is as good as Wobbler, Sinkadus or Anglagard, but they get close on occasion and they are certainly talented. If you're a fan of named bands and also dig Hammill's vocals then you should definitely check out this album.

Those who fancy a slice of art rock with it's feet firmly placed in the early 70's should feel right at home with this effort. From the opening number and title track's Crimsonian touches on vintage symphonic space rock from the Eloy/Floydian school of compositions to the dramatic vocals Peter Hammil style, the references to the great acts of yesteryear are plentiful.

First and foremost to Van der Graaf Generator it seems, but also to the artists already mentioned, while the guitar and flute solo instrumental piece in the middle of second track Prevail the Sea should feel familiar to fans of Jethro Tull.

Vintage in sound and dark in mood, with an eclectic take on retro prog, this disc offers much to those who can't get enough of early 70's inspired ventures. Personally I felt that the tracks didn't quite manage to grasp me though, and the two long epics in particular felt too drawn out. This is a matter of personal taste though, and for others this album should be a true joy from start to finish.

Indeed, some of the most obvious VdGG moments come from Uglebakken's vocals, strongly inspired by Hammill's gutsy delivery, but the songwriting sometimes dares also a few Graaf- esque The group's vintage instruments is the standard one, including a guest cellist and two horn player, since Uglebakken also play sax and flutes. Just four tracks on this second album but two lengthy epics including the excellent and moody Prevail The Sea with the guests doing their bits to make it truly interesting: when the trumpet comes in, the drama is at its utmost; but the awe starts right from the opening power lines: you'd swear you're onto ITCOCK's lost track.

The short trap presents almost a burlesque face with its extremely bizarre time sig and presents a slight Gong/circus atmosphere with a Hackettian guitar and a closing Banks- ian 'tron line to die for. The other epic is the 18-minsLabyrinth, a much calmer and spacier track, but unfortunately its intro is marred by a Watcher Of The Sky sequence (double infamy it is repeated another time), but once the intro dealt, the track settles into a space void where the Theremin induces scary voids and Floydian guitars (circa Saucerful Echoes) evoke time warps, than a rising saxophone is paving the way for a wild instrumental feast where the organ is blasting its power, urging the guitars to spit out the venomous chords, until the whle thing drifts into chaos and then into oblivion

Gargamel's second album confirms their debut's success and the group is now solidly in the Scandinavian circle of great retro-prog bands and can look up Anglagard and Anekdoten from eyr-tu-eye.

4(+), as even their music is faithful continuing of 70's (favourite trend in modern prog, I don't have much prejudice against it), and presents us "their" sound, it can be boring a little bit. Repeating some motifs.