AS FAR AS WE GET

Dagmahr's second offering, 'As Far As We Get', which was released four years later than their more than interesting debut album, introduced Jean-Guy Mossu as the new bassist for the band. The musical ingredients are basically the same (including influences from 'Red'-era KC, 75-76 era VdGG, Fish-era Marillion, classic Rush), but the overall sound and arrangements are rougher, mainly because the more obscure aspect of their music is emphasized. All in all, their inspired sense of melody remains intact. "Last Reaction" and "Perpetual Attrition" (both, 11-minute tracks), as well as "Lightly Engaged", are captivating and varied enough to catch the most demanding listener's attention: my personal favourite of the three aforementioned tracks is "Last Reaction", since I find it the most successful at encapsulating the album's overall trend. "Inside The Egg" (Part I) is an elegant and catchy exercise in combining diverse harmonic motives (a la VDGG's "Still Life"), while (Part 2) closes the album in a very effective way. A guest musician on cello uses his instrument not for symphonic purposes, but to add special textures into the realm of layers played on organ and synthesizers by a very efficient Pierre Mascotte. Track 4 starts as a progressive ballad, full of subtle density, before a bombastic 7/8 instrumental section comes in to fill the inventive coda. IMHO, "As Far as We Get" stands as an improvement in comparison to their previous effort. It's a pity that hjese guys can't manage to keep a more consistent musical career... or maybe they've split up, I don't know... Anyway, Dagmahr is a band that should be paid more attention to in the progressive circles: the level of emotional intensity that they achieve in their material is cleverly conquered via ambiences and subtleties, not just pyrotechnics, and that's a very considerable musical achievement to my eyes.