FANFARE DU CHAOS

A new Zehul album from a brand new band in my opinion is a lot more intriguing than most of the albums coming from prog metal, it's always an exciting news, there are not enough albums coming out today which you can consider to be pure Zehulic, well this one is and it brings a lot of respect too. I think Rhun have done a fantastic job making this genre to be a little more accessible, and can slide a few non Zehul fans through the back door. Although it's impossible not to be influenced by Magma when playing Zehul, this time the music is not so demanding or hard to digest like Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh for example. There are few more influences that makes this album quite different than other releases, one thing that is most evident is that this album is heavier and more hard rocking, there are clear King Crimson (Wetton years) influences all over the place, that's one of the elements that makes the Zehulic chanting to flow freely. Another band that comes to mind here when talking about heavy rocking Zehul is Bondage Fruit, yes this is very much reminicent of the band's early Zehulic style, only Rhun are less repetative and more progressive. Rhun's instrumentation aside from the standard including saxes, flutes, bassoon and clarinet, from here the road is short from diving into some Chamber ala Univers Zero, although those instruments are present most of the time, there's one part dedicated to Chamber played only by them. I can proudly say that this is one of the best albums to come from this genre in the past decade.

The album was issued by altRock and is comprised of two recording sessions, the first half (3 tracks) was recorded in 2012 and was issued as a download only EP on the band's bandcamp titled "ih". The altRock edition released in 2013, adds 3 more tracks from earlier sessions recorded in 2008, the whole thing was mastered by Udi Koomran. As I understand the album's title is also "ih" and not "Fanfare Du Chaos" like is listed here, which is only a tag name to go with the band's name, and a right one too.

There are two things that makes this album different and by this more accessible from other hardcore releases, although the music is very much well played and quite complex in some places, it's not complexity that makes you lose yourself in a big chaos, it's the kind that keeps the listener on his toes. Secondly, although Zehul tends to be quite repetative, Rhun seems to be jumping from one idea to the next while still maintaining of the typical repetative mantra chanting kind of singing, so the outcome is an album that first tries to be pure progressive rock and then injects his Zehul and chamber influences.

Although this is the band's first album it's easy to see they have been around for a while, the songwriting is very mature, the music is crafted so well where every line, every drum roll is thought out, as opposed to the approach where everyone plays a solo until he feels like he needs a cigarette break. Rhun's influences are not just scattered across the album, they are bind together like a tight package and creates one style which is their own. The music has a heavy feel to it, delivered with a heavy distorted bass, which is always a delight, and noisy distorted guitars which every now and then breaks into a manic guitar solo which would even cause the grumpy old Mr. Fripp to almost smile. But for me it's the wind instruments that takes this album to a different level, they are cleverly weaved together with the rest and goes where ever the wind blows, creating a dazzling sound with an impeccable performance. They go from caressing to aggressive and to screeching outbursts that pierces your ears in delight. While they do have Magma like chanting, the band still makes a lot of room for playing especially in the second half of the album, where the Zehulic chanting is more subtle. The instrumental parts are simply superb with an excellent interplay between guitars and wind instruments on top of a raging drums and bass, I especially love the parts where they go crazy, fanfare du chaos indeed!

So although Rhun haven't invented the wheel...yet, they do have a lot to offer to anyone who already likes this genre or the ones that would like to get more acquainted with it. I loved what they were trying to do and I love the way they did it, I sure do hope this is a band we will see more from in the future. Their EP (which is the first half of this album) is available for listening and downloading on their bandcamp page, so at least do your self a favour and check it out. Well deserved 5 stars.

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