HOWL

4.5 stars. REVE GENERAL was the vision of Guigou Chenevier, one of the most talented drummers I know. I first became aware of him when I explored the original five RIO bands, and ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN out of France was his band. They were such a quirky, off-kilter unit, and Guigou was so important to their sound and an amazing player. I would catch back up with him on his VOLOPUK project that began in the 90's and ended with that final studio record in 2003.

REVE GENERAL consists of three former VOLOPUK members plus all of that four piece band called METAMORPHOSIS. They were based in Austria and featured two guitarists, cello and violin. They ran the same sort of time span as VOLOPUK, beginning in the late nineties and releasing their final studio album in 2006. So REVE GENERAL is a seven piece band with a drummer, 2 violinists, 2 cello players and 2 guitarists. This is heavy chamber music. Guigou himself refers to this music as "rock chamber" or "contaminated chamber music".

This is live music. They never released a studio album but have played a few gigs including three consecutive nights in November, in France in 2014. The just under an hour of music here is taken from those shows. By the way of the seven musicians 2 are from Austria, 2 from Czech Republic, and 1 from Japan, France and Turkey. This was mastered by Udi Koomran and sounds great. It kind of reminds me of RATIONAL DIET's "At Work", just how powerful and intense this gets with the strings.

One of the highlights has to be that very french sounding song with male vocals called "Si Tu Viux". Just a pleasure. The instrumental that follows "5/4" is even better. Another highlight is that opener "Nejak" with the way it builds until violins are slicing madly. Some nice contrasts on this one as well as male and female vocals. So intense late, like it's ready to blow. "War" sounds great to start with drums only but then we get a lot of depth and how good is this after a minute! Some spacey moments too later. Man every track has something to offer including that fifth one with the long title.

The only bass on here is on "Winesoup Cowboys" where the VOLOPUK cello player obliges. And it makes me wish there was more. Some powerful stuff on this one and they repeat themes. "Dunaj" might be my favourite track. So powerful with depth and intensity. Yeah I'm a broken record here. "Paralyse" is another heavy tune with male vocals too. "Vodka Express" ends with some train whistles but before that we take a ride that is very adventerous as well as serene. Check out the post rock vibe before 3 1/2 minutes with those guitars. More female vocals on the closer plus an explosion of sound before 4 minutes, but some good contrasts throughout.

I'm more impressed with this now than when I spent time with it several years ago. I'm bumping this up.