LE FESTIN

In my opinion this is HALLOWEEN's best album and one i'd certainly recommend to anyone wanting to check out their sound. The Gnosis site also rates this one the highest of their four studio albums. It's interesting that every issue that I had with the previous album "Merlin" has been addressed here.The Classical flavour is all but gone, this is a much more powerful album and the female singer takes an even greater role over the male vocalist.This was a pleasure.

"L'autre" is fairly relaxed wih female vocals, drums, violin and more. Synths come in in place of the violin. It kicks in suddenly before 3 1/2 minutes. Nice.This instrumental section is incredible. It settles back late with reserved female vocals to end it. "Le Retour Du Bouffon" builds as male spoken words join in. It starts to pick up after 2 minutes with vocals and violin as that powerful sound continues. It settles right down before 4 minutes with a beat then it builds again. A nice heavy sound is the result 5 minutes in.

"Neurotic" opens with piano as reserved female vocals (English) come in.Violin then drums follow as it gets fuller. It settles back.This is dark with vocals. Piano only before 4 1/2 minutes then spoken words and violin join in to end it. "Sheherazade" begins with a beat and intricate guitar. Some atmosphere joins in until that's all we hear. Vocals and percussion then lead before it turns heavier. Spoken words and an urgent mood before it kicks back in before 7 minutes.The violin rips it up after 8 minutes followed by a calm. It picks back up late. "Come" has these almost spoken male and female vocals followed by violin. It gets heavier and the violin starts to light it up.

"Araignee" opens with laid back keys and bass as relaxed female vocals join in. "Le Festin" has this intense atmosphere with powerful spoken male vocals. Female vocals take over then it picks up before 2 1/2 minutes. A little dissonance before 4 minutes then it kicks in heavily with guitar and drums.This is amazing ! It becomes mellow before 7 minutes with vocals. "Carnage" is probably my least favourite although I really like that intro with drums. It picks up after a minute with spoken male vocals. It changes before 3 minutes and eventually synths and drums dominate. Guitar 5 minutes in and the violin.

A very solid album and worthy of that 4 star rating.