THEUSZ HAMTAAHK - TRILOGIE AU TRIANON

The perfect Magma live set perhaps?

This amazing live-set of Magma offers us a complete view on the three Haamtaahk pieces: part I Theusz Hamtaahk (35:00), part II Wurdah Ïtah (48:36) and part III Mëkanïk Dëstruktïw Kömmandöh (48:51) (better known as MDK). Wurdah Ïtah and MDK were both released as studio-albums in seventies, but Theusz Hamtaahk was not.

Magma plays a perfect show with technical supremacy, great vocals and choirs, the best of drums by Christian Vander himself and of course the great distorted bass by the Magma- worthy Bernard Paganotti. The accuracy of the band is unbelievable and the way they play the long compositions is masterful. The arrangements are true to their original releases. MDK even get's an additional brass section! I don't own the original version of MDK and Wurdah Ïtah, so I can't compare them with the dvd-versions. The filming of the extravaganza was very good and the sound is perfect.

Theuz Hamtaahk, the opening piece, is incredibly sophisticated and a very hard track to get into. The long repetitive middle section is a great moment to refuel again. It's great Magma recorded this piece so good, because it would have been a worthy studio album.

Wurdah Ïtah is another classic Magma piece with a lot of rhythmical and harmonic experimentation. The vocals are quite important throughout the song. The song has more optimistic moments then most other Magma epics and it suits the band fine.

MDK is often mentioned as one of the best Magma albums. It's bombastic sound is recreated perfectly on stage with choirs, the additional brass section and of course the heavy rhythmical section led by Vander. Some of the themes are played a bit too long, but overall the compositions is very likable. The solo's of Paganotti on bass-guitar and Gabriel Federow on electric guitar show amazing skills. It's nice to see some authentic podium improvisation between the concentrated compositions.

Conclusion. I don't feel like I have found the right words to describe the genius of this live- set. Two hours of the most progressive music ever made with one rare Magma piece, one of most beautiful Magma pieces and finally the bombastic Magma piece. All a fan could ever dream of! For newcomers this might be a bit too much of musical exploration and I would suggest to listen to the new Emehntehtt-Re album first. Four stars, but six stars for fans of the band (like me). Very hard to get into if you're not a fan!

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