1001° CENTIGRADES [AKA: 2]

1001° Centigrades is the second studio album from French avant garde rock/ zeuhl band Magma. I was very impressed by Magma´s debut album which I found to be an excellent album and an eye opener as I hadn´t listened to music like that before. 1001° Centigrades continues the style which was initiated on the debut.

The music is dominated by lots of brass arrangements and there are lots of influences from both avant garde rock and jazz. The jazz influences are really great and never sounds like regular jazz which is such a relief for someone like me who´s generally not very fond of jazz. The semi-operatic vocal style is an aquired taste for sure and I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy it. The song structures are really complex and with song lengths that are 21:45, 11:46 and 8:23 minutes respectively ( there are only three tracks on the album)this qualifies for a very challenging listen.

Rïah Sahïltaahk which is dominated by the weird vocals is the hardest song to get into IMO but it definitely wins on repeated listens. Iss Lanseï Doïa is pretty avant garde and reminds me a bit of Henry Cow at their most out there. My favorite here is Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk. It´s certainly the easiest song to get into IMO.

The musicianship is outstanding. Christian Vander´s drums are innovative and challenging and is the driving force in Magma´s music but as I said above the brass section is very dominant. There are actually three brass players on the album. There are also some really great bass and piano playing.

The production is excellent. Great organic mix.

I prefer the debut to 1001° Centigrades and it´s probably because I still have a hard time with the weird vocals which are much more dominant on 1001° Centigrades compared to the debut. This is still an excellent album though. Magma has a very unique musical approach and 1001° Centigrades fully deserves 4 stars even though I think it´s a hard album to get into. I can feel it growing on me though.