WEIDORJE

As has been mentioned Bernard Paganotti and Patrick Gauthier the bass player and keyboardist on MAGMA's "Udu Wudu" album decided to leave MAGMA and start up their own band.They named their band WEIDORJE at the suggestion of Klaus Blasquis who also planned to be part of this project before backing out. By the way Klaus also came up with the cover art. The name WEIDORJE apparently means "Celestial Wheel" and it's from the Bible (Ezekial?). It was also the name of a Paganotti / Blasquis penned track on that "Udu Wudu" record. The music on this album is very much in the same style and sound as the music on "Udu Wudu". Many of these guys have played in HELDON and several would go onto to play in Jean-Philippe Goude's "Drones" album, Paganotti's "Paga" album and Gauthier's "Bebe Godzilla" record.

"Elohim's Voyage" is a side long suite and I don't know if they took the name "Elohim" from the Hebrew title for God, but that would make sense. The song starts with spooky keys and outbursts of heavy drums and guitar. It starts to pick up 2 1/2 minutes in as vocal sounds come in. There is such a great sound as the bass, drums, guitar and vocal melodies lead the way. The bass is incredible here. We get some sax and more vocal melodies until the song sounds even better after 7 minutes. Some dissonant horns after 9 minutes that go away as drums and guitar continue the brilliance. The sax and vocal melodies return 12 1/2 minutes in. This song is dark and amazing ! "Vilna" opens with keyboard melodies from Gauthier and Goude, and then the song kicks in after 2 minutes.The bass is huge as usual. Vocal melodies 5 minutes in. The song sounds fantastic 8 minutes in. These guys can really create great rhythms. Sax melodies follow. Another amazing song.

"Booldemug" is an uptempo track with a collage of sounds including drums, guitars and horns. Check out the bass after 2 minutes ! Some ripping guitar 4 1/2 minutes in and i'm sure the drummer has lost his mind at this point and is unable to stop pounding the skins. The two bonus tracks were recorded live including "Rondeau" with it's tempo changes and pounding drums, as sax and vocal melodies add to the sound. We also get some bells before 7 minutes that remind me of RUSH's "A Farewell To Kings". "Kolinda" continues with the throbbing bass lines and pounding drums as sax, guitar and keys fill out the sound. This incredible melody stops as we get a nice little guitar line with only light drums helping out. It gets fairly heavy 8 minutes in before the original melody returns 11 minutes in. Nice.

In my exploration of Zeuhl I haven't heard anything yet that I haven't liked a lot, including this monster. Highly recommended. This is one wicked bass album !