MECHANICAL MOONBEAMS

Certainly one of my alltime favourites. I discovered this belgium band during the first lockdown, Machiavel is well known in their home country, even having some single success with the song 'Fly' after turning towards new wave in the 80s. Their first three albums (and to some extent their fourth) are deeply rooted in progressive rock however, this being their third. Machiavel mixes typical prog rock keyboard prowess, provided by the late Albert Letecheur (who is also the main songwriter together with axeman Jean Paul Devaux) with a heavy rock'n roll attitude foreshadowing their later new wave style and even being a precurser to the neoprog genre (bands like Twelfth Night and Pallas would later mix prog with wave). At the heart of the band is late frontman Mario Guccio with his meaty, aggressive and sometimes delicate vocals giving the band a very distinctive style. Think Peter Hammill and Derek Shulman thrown into a blender while also slipping in a spoonful of italian accent.

HIghlights are too many to mention but in general the album features five rocking songs and two ballads and plenty of mellotron bliss. Opener 'Beyond The Silence' features great heavy riffing with many time signature changes. 'Summon Up Your Strengh' showcases the typical Machiavel song structure, opening slow and melodic before breaking out into a fierce (prog) rocker with Guccio proving a punky lead vocal. 'Rope Dancer' (which found some success as a pre-album single) and 'Mary' are slower ballads, the latter is quite haunting since Guccio sings from the point of a little girl witnessing her first day in school. 'Rebirth' ist probably the most standard prog rock song on the album. It recalls the jester character from the previous album, I find myself getting easily distractet when this song plays, it is faaaaar from not being a great song, it just isn't as interesting to me as the other four rock songs. My two favourite tracks bookend the second side. 'After The Crop' starts out fairly standard on acoustic guitar with a soft vocal before the synths take the lead as the song gets heavier. The second half of the song is completely bonkers in the best way. Letecheur plays a boogie rhythm.. on a mellotron while Guccio shines again while in parts electronicly enhanced vocals while namedropping the albums title. The album closes with 'Fifth Season' again starting slow on synth and mellotron before drummer Marc Ysaye takes charge with a heavy and complicated drum part that even after numerous listenes throws me off the beat some time. The song and album end in the most majestic way with Ysaye and Guccio sharing vocal duties while Devaux provides a great solo.

~ first published at 'audio.philip' on Instagram ~