HALLOWEEN

If you are looking for an album that departs from the common parameters and creates its own structure, concept, time and story, it is definitely "Halloween". An entertaining, sensitive and tragic story of a conflicted protagonist pressured by the soon coming claws of death.

This symphonic tale begins with the first of what will be nine enigmatic parts that guide us through an intricate narrative. This is the shortest division of the album and is titled "Halloween Song". It introduces us to an uncomfortable, terrifying and even somewhat religious terrain through feminine and childish chants accompanied by a piano that does just that: accompany, through slow chords and notes that are still waiting for what will be.

The second part, entitled "Tired Answers", is the most important instrumental section of the album, which puts us in context and warns us what awaits the protagonist of this long-lasting 38-minute suite. It continues with the theme of slow melodies, but gradually introduces elementary instruments for the energy sought (and achieved) in the album: First the flute enters, supported by background keyboards as strong as a beam, which are responsible for the tragic, sad and paused atmosphere. Then the guitar, with less force than the flute but contributing to the consistent and growing horror, because that does not mean that the song loses level: the melancholy of the melody is the support of the frenzy of this instrumental section.

Unexpectedly, a tense transition changes the course of the song with synthesizers and drums leading this part of the journey. The first dissonant notes take place, highlighting the tension, fear and surprise. All this with fine arrangements and a delicate battle pulse. The more this track goes on, the more violent it gets and the more important the arrangements become, turning the song, or at least its concept, into a fight (of the protagonist who has not yet recited his first words) against fear.

It is important to remark again that the keyboards are definitely the main instrument of the song and the main transmitters of the tension.

Reaching the end of this second section, everything seems to calm down a bit. The song takes a little break after such a wild ride. The vocals return for a few seconds before moving on to what seems to be the return to the arena. The sounds created give the feeling that, the protagonist of this battle, returns with strength and confidence.

The third part "Colours of Childhood" kicks off the lyrics of the song. The lyrics are nostalgic to the max. The classical guitar that once humbly accompanied is now important for the first time with a riff that delicately (though still with a bit of tension) denotes that feeling as well. I interpret these verses as the nostalgia one might feel on the verge of losing one's life, the blunt and radical longing to feel for the last time innocence or happiness as if one could take it to the afterlife. A gentle but demandingly harsh remembrance of times when one was happy (or at least fondly remembered, for nostalgia is a rather contradictory terrain). After the first confession and the first plea for mercy, a small instrumental section with an energetic rhythm and an electric guitar solo leads us into the fourth part. Notice how the instruments pass from hand to hand the protagonism of the song.

The fourth part, entitled "Sorrow In My Dreams," demonstrates that the cornerstone of a great suite need not necessarily be ostentatious, complex or brilliant. It is the one that gives meaning to the entire 39 minutes. A section replete with meaning and symbolism, where the protagonist begs for mercy as he faces what is and will be his last existential crisis, at least in this life. And the poetic and beautiful thing about it is that the instruments seem to beg as well! 'How can I stand anymore the rising tide, the growing sorrow?' That rising tide symbolizes the huge set of sorrows, grievances, confusions, questions and regrets that were accumulating for so long until reaching the true end, the inexorable encounter with death. Great way to close side 1!

Side 2, begins with a rather strange and ambient fifth part, entitled "Lone Fantasy", where you can hear nervous breathing, percussion and keyboards that could represent the entrance to hell. Tribal sounds are here indispensable to create what is the character's panic. Some very well placed cellos initiate the lyrics of this second side of the album. The sound here has a much more symphonic vibe than on the first side. A very melodic and tense riff, but catchy. As I said before, it is to highlight that the change of instruments is impeccable. One could imagine that it would sound grotesque or inadequate, but the band shows a great hierarchy in this aspect and handles it with professionalism and musical wisdom.

The sixth part starts directly with a melody that seems to anticipate that the end is coming, with notes of conclusion. However, the story (as well as the melody) takes an unexpected turn.

Out of the very nothingness, happiness, which seemed a remotely distant and impossible feeling in this song, blossoms from deep within the song's brain to drastically defeat any feelings of woe, implying that it was all a nightmare of the protagonist. Here remains what is the most precious melody of the whole song - its title already makes it clear what is to come! The opening phrase of this section could also give the title to the entire song - 'A strange glint' is such a pertinent and poetic expression! The lyrics here have a very great importance. It is endowed with an extraordinary and rocking poetry, with the trait of ultra-optimism that a human being experiences after coming out of an unbearable hell, thus sharpening every feeling of happiness. Definitely an outstanding and well achieved symphonic sound.

Having finished the literature in this song, the remaining 8 instrumental minutes, divided into 3 sections (that one, before listening to them, thinks how it is possible to maintain the level after such a previous poetic section), begin with the seventh part "Misty Garden of Passion", which comes to calm things down a bit and cool down the exaggeration. Still, if one wants to stand still in both enjoyment and evaluation, that is impossible here, as the conflict of the character represented through the song is unfathomable and multi-layered.

When everything seemed to have calmed down, the eighth part "Fear of Frost" comes to bring back the tension - this album is called Halloween for a reason, isn't it?! One wonders what to think about it after so many exchanges, passages and sudden transitions. Definitely the emotional instability is the distinctive and main feature of the album. It is worth noting that, by this time, the electronic keyboard sound was very fashionable, and here it has a great use to increase the tension and the feeling of internal warfare. The meaning that can be given to this break (i.e. this section) is that the protagonist has acted in such a way that he will never have peace, or it will cost him a great sacrifice to achieve it. That dose of optimism and imagination that takes place in the sixth part can be interpreted as the urgent and powerful desire to feel love and happiness that can only be born and manifested after having experienced a presence in hell, due to the previously explained exaggeration and idealization.

This tragic, literary and symphonic story comes to the end of its narrative in the ninth and final cut "Time", a title that can mean a million things after the course of this album. Given its melody, I interpret it as giving meaning to the eternity of the protagonist's situation. Without this ninth part, perhaps the album would lose a bit of solidity and sense. It represents the immutable and inordinate value of time and what we do with it. It represents karma. It represents that the only one responsible for our life, is us. "Time" is the second shortest track on the album at less than two minutes long, and, creatively, it is the one that brings the sense of reality to the album, stopping the protagonist on a real plane, his plane of magna suffering, and pulling him out of the dream or any trace of imagination that isolates him from reality.

"Halloween" is the band's most outstanding work, positioning it in a prestigious place in the history of French progressive rock. An iconic tale that will remain in the mind of the progressive collective unconscious.