SLAǧ TANƶ

Deranged, overwhelming and pulsing with dark intent and ferocious intensity, Magma's `Slaǧ Tanƶ' is a twenty-one minute epic that leader Christian Vander and his Zeuhl brethren have been performing and refining live since 2009. Once again delivered in the Kobian language, it's brimming with the expected Magma ferocity and carefully executed musicianship, another bewildering extended piece that seamlessly weaves dark musical themes and intricate male/female vocal complexity together. It's exhausting in its shadowy, stalking ferocity yet reveals little fleeting traces of that impossibly beautiful, heartfelt delicateness that only Magma can balance so well.

Creeping from it's very first second, spectral piano and murmuring bass lurks behind skittering jazzy drum patters hiding dark intent waiting to be unleashed. Infernal choirs wail, each rapturous vocal proclamation returned with a crushing beat and discordant piano stabs. Trickles of electric piano, spirited female scat vocal interjections and dreamy sighs are merely a sickening tease of light and release. Pleading, comforting, swooning voices are consumed by heavy guitar snarls and thrashing drum spasms behind dank repetitive maddening bass bile that comes up in your throat. Shrieking mind-breaking maddening chants over infernal devilish piano wickedness drags you further into in the dirt, as despondent staccato piano over gothic drones finally slams the coffin lid closed.

Don't be alarmed by the seemingly short running time - this is an exhausting, draining experience that is completely paralysing, so full of intricate little details and complex variety that you could spend a lifetime trying to figure it all out. While this lacks the joyous gospel sophistication of their stunning previous work ` Félicité Thösz' (excluding the recent re- recording of an earlier work with `Rïah Sahïltaahk'), this is a return to the true dark side of Magma, sure to please the disciples of the most challenging works of this musical cult.

Hypnotic, powerful and more dynamic, complex and inspired than ever, over forty years into their career, and still no one can come close to offering the sort of intense experience Magma brings.

Four stars.

There are several things that set this album apart from other Magma albums that I have heard. First and foremost is the amazing cymbal play of drummer extraordinaire, Christian Vander. Second is the way in which Magma have refined and mastered their delivery format for their stories from the world of Kobaia. And third is the way in which the long-time band members have mastered and refined their vocal instruments: Stella Vander, Isabelle Feuillebois and Herv' Aknin (and even Klaus Blasquiz, who does not appear on this album) are simply astounding. They are solid as rocks. They are so seasoned that it is hard to discern any flaws in their work. It must be so nice for band leader, Christian Vander, to have such companion/collaborators who seem so unwavering in their support and who are so dedicated to this form of music, to the vision of their band leader, as well as to the betterment of their own skills. While I have to admit that I find Slag Tanz slightly less engaging than Magma's previous recent studio releases, however, I find it hard to rate any modern recording of Magma's with anything less than five stars because the composition, performances, and recording/engineering is so consistently strong (even though many of the compositions were composed decades ago and have been performed live for years). It is my strong opinion that we music listeners are so very privileged to have the recordings and concert performances of an artist with such strong and independent vision who always composes and performs at the absolute highest levels every time (and, of course, demands the same of his collaborators).

This might be the single greatest piece of music that i've heard from MAGMA. According to Christian Vander it was written back in the seventies and played live in different forms since 2009. I'm such a big fan of not only dark and intense music like we have here but especially when contrasted with mellower passages. Now these more laid back sections often have this burning undercurrent to them but they also that lighter sound with female vocals at times. This is a 21 minute piece of seamless music divided into eight parts.

"Imehntosz-Alerte!" features Fender Rhodes, cymbals and bass early on as male vocals kick in. It settles back into a dark atmosphere as the male vocals return. Some tension here for sure as it blends into "Slag". The bass and vocals really impress here as it becomes fuller right away. It's picking up in tempo and in intensity a minute in. So good! Check out the insane vocals before 1 1/2 minutes as well as the killer drum work. It settles right down before 2 minutes as Fender Rhodes, drums, bass and female vocals lead the way. The insanity is back after 2 1/2 minutes but then it settles and blends into "Dumb" where female vocals and male vocals lead the way. They are burning it up with male vocals once again around a minute and check out the female vocal melodies that follow. Contrasts continue then a calm follows as bass and drums take the spotlight. It turns extreme again.

"Vers La Nuit" is led by female vocal melodies, bass and drums then the male vocals arrive as they trade off before both join in together as it turns fierce late. "Dumblae-Le Silence Des Mondes" settles to start with male vocals before it builds with male and female vocals. Check it out at 2 1/2 minutes! That female voice that cries out and the bass in that doom-like atmosphere. Incredible! "Zu Zain!" sounds amazing with the bass from Bussonnet that is just grooving and Vander's random drum patterns. Female vocals arrive around 1 1/2 minutes. "Slag Tanz" is beyond profound in my world with those intense vocals along with the Fender Rhodes, bass and drums. Simply killer! It settles late and it feels right that this EP should end here but then we get "Wohl Dunt" which is almost dirge-like with piano and Christian's slow vocals as it gives us a chance to figure out what the hell just happened.

I wasn't that impressed with the previous EP by MAGMA but man they have blown me away with this one.