INFERNAL MACHINA

Jannick Top's second album, Infernal Machina far outshines his previous effort, Soleil D'Ork (although the latter was also quite good). While Soleil D'ork mostly consisted of reworkings of previous songs Top had been involved with, Infernal Machina is all new material, in the form of a single epic Zeuhl piece.

Infernal Machina features an extensive lineup, including many members of Magma. Christian Vander's drum playing doesn't stand out or shine as much as in some of his best works, but its simplicity fits the music very well. Top's bass playing is magnificent, very intense and featuring a lot of very low notes. This, combined with the relatively quiet but very distorted guitars, lends a much heavier feel than, really, any of Magma's work. This is somewhat counteracted by beautiful layered female vocals.

Infernal Machina exemplifies extraordinarily well the musical concepts of theme and variation; many times throughout the piece we hear variances on earlier parts, which helps to contribute a strong feel of unity to the entire album. Still, the parts which Jannick Top has split his creation into are each distinctly different from each other; this does not prevent them from being fully connected.

This album builds as it goes, up to a few climaxes (the highest being the guitar solo from Part VI) and then releases tension, only to build up again. Because of this, Infernal Machina has the feel of a complete work; surely Top's masterpiece.