RÏAH SAHÏLTAAHK

"Riah Sahitaahk" was originally the side long opening track on MAGMA's second album "1001 Centigrades". Christian Vander decided to re-record this track and it was released as an EP in 2014. It is quite interesting comparing these two versions which i've been doing all week. I will say that the original lineup for this track blows away this modern version and yes i'm a huge fan of ONE SHOT members Mac Gaw and Bussonet who add there talent to this latest version. Still when you have names like Moze, Cahen, Seffer, Blasquiz and Lasry on the original you know this latest lineup is up against it.

As others have mentioned the original had plenty of horns with Seffer(sax, bass clarinet), Lasry(clarinet, sax, flute) and Toesca(trumpet) helping out while the latest has no horns. No guitar on the original but Mac Gaw adds that here. No female vocals on the original but Stella and Isabelle are prominent here. The other difference is that the original is one long suite while the latest is broken down into 8 different tracks which i don't like.

My favourite section on this EP is "Un Zoin Glao" because it is experimental unlike the rest with frenzied vocals, dissonant piano and odd-metered drumming, heck even the guitar sounds adventerous. Overall though I feel that 3 stars is the right rating for me. It's a step down for sure from the original in my opinion, in fact it's not close. MAGMA fans though may love this so check it out for yourselves.