LAMPIÃO REI

A few years back I reviewed an album from a new act within the zeuhl space of progressive rock, or more accurately, progressive metal. That album was Holoceno by Papangu, and it is still shaped to be one of my favorite albums within the zeuhl music scene by how they effortlessly melded sludgy, heavy metal with the weirdness of zeuhl music. Now, three years after their stunning debut, Papangu seem to have changed directions with their sophomore effort of Lampião Rei.

Lampião Rei is definitely quite the shift in terms of ideals when it comes to the music that the band promoted with their stellar first record, going less metal and more into a more traditional progressive rock sound. This album kind of reminds me of Pale Communion by Opeth in a way, being an album that moves away from the metal that the band once had in favor of. Now, unlike Opeth, I feel that Papangu sort of jumped the ship of intense zeuhl metal way too soon in their careers. They still have got it in some regards, especially with the stellar third track of Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos), but it does feel as though they abandoned a ship that wasn't even crashing yet.

Though, while the biggest fault of the album is the band abandoning the more metal aspects from their first that made them really unique, I think they combined some extra elements that really work very well for this record's more rocking sound. The most notable of which is the expansion of the more jazzy substance that was admittedly a little missing from Holoceno. Zeuhl did originate as a more jazzy genre of prog rock music, especially when you consider Christian Vander's inspirations being a good deal of jazz musicians like John Coltrane. So, I think seeing the more jazzy elements of zeuhl be pushed into more of a limelight here is really nice. The last two tracks of Ruínas and Rito de coroação certainly showcase more of that fusion sound more prominently, sort of sounding like more intense versions of some Herbie Hancock songs. I think it's really great that they're expanding their sounds into some new and fun directions.

Another musical genre they are also starting to explore, at least in small doses, is more Brazilian genres such as forró, udigrudi, and MPB. It's really only noticeable in one track, that being Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita), but even then that track is amazing. I have been getting into more Brazilian music as of late, like Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento, and Secos & Molhados, so hearing Papangu go into a more MPB sound for one of their songs was certainly a treat! I guess where Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos) was the stellar offering of zeuhl metal for this album, Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita) is the stellar offering of more traditional Brazilian music that the band wanted to try out upon here. Kind of makes me want a Brazilian pop rock record from Marco Mayer now.

Still, while the new sounds shown here are very great, I still think they should've upped the metal aspects way more. That is definitely my main problem with this record, and it is the fact that they struck gold on their first record, but seemed to move on from it way too quickly that kind of irks me. I think the jazzier sound this record has would meld extremely well with the more brutal metal that Holoceno showed, but I guess that just isn't in the cards yet.

I still really like this album despite its shortcomings, but I do hope Papangu doesn't abandon their metal aspects in future releases. Lampião Rei shows lots of promise for the future of this still cool new band.

Best tracks: Acende a luz: II. O encandeio / III. Sagüatimbó, Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos), Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita)

Worst tracks: Acende a luz: I. Alquimia, Mulher rendeira