ARACHNOID

Arachnoid came from the suburbs of Paris, a band which only earned some cult status over the years, struggling to find stability due to series of line-up changes, financial limitations and a slow development.They started in 1967 as the duo of Patrick Woindrich (bass, guitar, vocals) and Michel Pilot (guitar), evolving through the years to a Prog Rock band and adding members to the line-up.One proof of their slow development was the fact they hit the stage only in 1975, at a time when Pilot had quit due to lack of time.Woindrich then gathered a new line-up with Francois Faugieres (already a member since 1972) and Pierre Kuti on keyboards, Nicolas Popowski on guitar/vocals, Marc Meryl on vocals and Bernard Minig on drums, the band recorded an album in late-70's, released only on the newly established Divox label in 1979, an organization searching for new groups for its roster.

Arachnoid played a mysterious, very French-sounding and pretty unique Progressive Rock, which had its roots in Classical Music, but borrowed elements from a wide spectrum of tastes, only to showcase that this group was experienced enough and had a pretty long career, before launching this record, as their debut not only contains the early spirit of French Prog Rock but was flavored by jazzy, psychedelic and even some light Zeuhl moves.I can only compare them to ACINTYA in terms of originality and a heavy keyboard-led sound, although the two bands are far from similar.Arachnoid created muti-themed lengthy tracks with irritating vocals, slow moving guitars, Classical orientations performed on synthesizer and organ but also some strong jazzy passages with soft electric guitar and electric piano, revisiting the dark vibes of KING CRIMSON pretty often, producing some theatrical branches with narrations and keyboard experiments and somewhat getting lost in a labyrinth of complex ideas and poetry.There are even some evident links to PULSAR and CATHARSIS throughout the listening, featuring haunting spacious themes and obscure psychedelic acoustics, the album is far from consistent, but the band managed to produced some serious intensity and sinister atmospheres through these diverse influences.Actually I find myself struggling to catch up with all these mood variations, going from romantic lyrics and acoustics to a progressive mysticism with full-blown intstrumental interactions in a doomy execution, based on long keyboard plays and irritating electric guitars.

Of course Divox was not the right choice for a heavy promotion, but apparently the band found only closed doors when dealing with other labels.After some further line-up shakes Arachnoid became Color in 1980, sweetening their sound to more simplistic Rock formats, recording also an alnum, which was never released.Marc Meryl passed away in 1987 and Francois Faugieres died a few years later, battling for some time with a disease after getting wounded in a trip to Brazil.

Extremely serious progressive music with a dark and muddy sound and links to the more atmospheric French Prog bands like Carpe Diem, Shylock and Acintya.Not an everyday listening, but trully imaginative, psychedelic and instrumentally captivating.Recommended.