MEKANÏK DESTRUKTÏW KOMMANDÖH

I am deliberately going to keep my review short. This is my first review of a Magma album and it has taken me about 4 months of repeated listens to get ' into' the music. My perseverance has paid off. I can honestly say that I finally get what all the fuss is about. This is the work of geniuses. The music is not just 27 years old either. It contains thematic sounds dating back to medieval renaissance periods. If anyone ever dismissed ancestral influences within music then Magma would be a good example to prove them wrong.

This album whilst consisting of seven tracks really does flow as a whole unit. The vocal harmonisations and choral tapestries abound and play a decisive role and key component to the overall Zeuhl sound. The flutes and guitars are simply incredible, Claude Olmos is an excellent guitarist. The layers of sound are such that it will take many more months to fully digest and appreciate, not to mention Christian Vander's drum and percussion work. Another observation is the similarities to another French band, Clearlight. No surprise there but there is something Canterbury about Magma too! This was 1973 and yet if I listen to Mike Oldfield's Incantations from 1977, maybe, just maybe he was influenced by these extraordinary pioneers? Four solid stars.