1001° CENTIGRADES [AKA: 2]

1001 Centigrades was my first exposure to Magma, and it actually remains my favorite. This captures them in their early stages, and has a lot of jazzy elements still very prominent. To me, this has the most memorable moments of the 5 or so albums I'm familiar with. It's the kind of album that after 3 or 4 listens, you can recall a ton of the changes before they happen. All the riffs and rhythms are very intentional, and thus, easily memorable. Of course, it's not nearly as dark and strange as their later material, but that may be why I still like it so much--it fits a variety of moods. It's very hard to describe if you've never heard it before: imagine strong riff- based music, without guitars, and a very believable mixture of jazz and modern classical music. I recommend this, especially if it's your first exposure to zheul, or if you haven't liked the bit of zheul you have heard.