WATCH FOR THE UMBLES

Talented new band hailing from the cold country of Norway and playing some sort of dark and psychedelic progressive rock.Formed in 2001 initially as trio,the founding members were soon to be joined by Jon Edmund Hansen and Geir Tornes and recorded a three-track EP the next yea.At the end of 2002 Leif Erlend Hjelmen jumped on board with his cello and GARGAMEL wernt on to write three more tracks to be included in their debut along with the EP's compositions.''Watch for the umbles'' came out in February 2006 on the Swedish labelTransubstans records .

If you like ANEKDOTEN then stop by and read this review,GARGAMEL produce an impressive dark and atmospheric retro-prog,based on some FRIPP-ian guitars,A VAN DER GRAAFGENERATOR-like psychedelia,KING CRIMSON-esque early symphoniscism and a light Canterbury twist.The album is heavily led by a mass of strong Hammond organ parts,followed by thrilling mellotron and some scarce spacey synth effects here and there.Most of the song structures contain alternating solid rhythms, upon which the musicians torture their instruments with weird solos and constant breaks:Flutes,keys and guitars are all over the place.Add to this complicated stuff the nice work of Leif Erlend Hjelmen,which reminds me of ANEKDOTEN's female power,cellist Anna Sofi Dahlberg or also a bit of WHITE WILLOWS' works.Slow tempos are often met when the vocals of Tom Uglebakken,are present,which by the way aren't GARGAMEL's strong point,keeping a safe procedure of delivering the lyrics.A few flute-based drives are not far from the Canterbury sound,while a couple of tracks contain also some trully interesting sax solos,interplaying with the rhythm section and the organ...This is an album of long tracks,varied insrumentation, haunting atmospheres, balanced complexity and most of all,a sophisticated approach to music.

Fans of KING CRIMSON,VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR,CIRCUS or modern bands like ANEKDOTEN,MEN OF LAKE or AREKNAMES will definitely love this album.For the rest,be warned that the album contains some really serious music,on which you should spend sometime.Nice and intricate discovery...3,5 stars.