FANFARE DU CHAOS

Led by the one and only Captain Flapattak who drums and sings in a similar style to his main idol of worship, Christian Vander, this zeuhl lover did what many others have and created a musical act that emulates the magical mojo of Magma and then takes it places Magma would never even consider. Created in the city of Coutances, France, Flapattak started his band RHÙN in the 2000s and in 2009 released "Demo" and then three years later in 2012 an EP titled "Ïh." Finding no outlet for these earliest recordings, in 2013 he re-released them as a single package which would become the debut album FANFARE DU CHAOS.

While all bands owe their allegiance to the progenitors of the entire zeuhl musical style, they differ by exaggerating characteristics of Magma's large canon of variations and one of the most liberal in doing so is the great Captain and his team of zeuhl noisemakers which in this case features different musicians and singers due to the fact this release is really two separate ones rolled into one. The first three tracks "Toz," "Interlude II" and "Dunb" are from the "Ïh EP" and the other three "Bùmlo," "Mlùez" and "Ïh" (believe it or not!) are from the "Demo."

RHÙN is a wild and unhinged sort of band and takes zeuhl to the most frenetic levels possible. While primarily focused on the Magma style of "Mëkanïk Destruktïw Kömmandöh" as far as the zeuhl parts are concerned, the band rocks the guitar and bass much more than Magma ever did as well as the over-the-top choral effects where some of the singers sound like they're possessed! While the guitar, bass and drum are ratcheting up a true racket usually leading to chaotic crescendoes, the rich interplay of woodwinds offer excessively beautiful counterpoints that often take the overall sound into the world of prog folk or even moments of Canterbury jazz.

The overall flow of the album is more scattered the average Magma release as well and the album is actually closer to the band's first two albums "Kobaia" or "1001° Centigrade" except that RHÙN pretty much has moments where any phase of Magma is fair game but despite all the Magma worship going on, RHÙN like any great zeuhl band makes it clear and obvious that this is NOT Magma! With the skilled precision and energetic drive of the best prog metal band, RHÙN delivers a highly caustic version of the zeuhl universe that is part heavy rock, part avant-jazz and 100% crazed! While the tracks are from different periods of the band's origins, all meld together quite nicely and the average listener wouldn't even guess the duel nature of this debut.

Bands like RHÙN will please the lovers of the more frenetic styles of Japanese zeuhl. The Ruins chaotic noise rock aspects are written all over this one yet the Magma-isms are dominant and of course moments that are unlike any other zeuhl band. It's sort of a trading off process between the traditional French variety of zeuhl and the anything goes and then burn down the neighborhood Japanese approach. Despite the dominance of frenetic outbursts, there are also plenty of quieter contemplative psychedelic moments that simply just get a groove on pacifying your soul into a less defensive state before the band goes spastically bonkers once again. Personally i find RHÙN's approach to be right up my alley and scratches all my extremophile itches. Unfortunately it would take an entire decade for the Captain to follow up with a sophomore release but in 2023 "Tozïh" proved this wasn't a one off.