After 'Soyuz' in 2018 which I had not fully joined (it will still have to that I recover a small dose), the Norvegians of 'Gazpacho' come back with a new album 'Fireworker' which contains only 5 titles but with two long developments and if you like this kind of compositions that we will gradually appropriate, you will therefore be delighted as you have certainly been with the last magnificent opus of 'Motorpsycho' and from 'Logos'. For this opus, the listener continues to be bathed in themes, I quote their website "the album follows the band’s tradition of blending grand philosophical quandaries, stimulating literary leanings, and haunting personal turmoil" and I invite you to read the very complete presentation.
And it is with almost 20 minutes of 'Space Cowboy' that the album begins in an atmospheric atmosphere well known now, the voice of 'Jan Henrik Ohme' bringing this sensitive and fragile side but we can't limit it only to that because after 5 minutes, classical choirs take over for an admirable vocal part which breaks with the restraint of the beginning and brings an intense force which falls back into the bewitching piano/voice duo and which then returns with the same intensity dramatic, then the second part starts again with a lighter section punctuated by deep bass and alternates tensions and relaxations to prepare in crescendo a masterful finale in which the choirs re-appear several times with, each time, an even greater intensity to finish in a sonorous raging. After so much tension, 'Hourglass' comes at the right time to rock us with a melody that gradually gains momentum with new magnificent choirs that fill all the space and which are followed by a melancholy part brought by the violin sound, the title ending in sweetness as it started. With the eponymous title of the album, the introduction brings an exotic side then takes off for a more energetic part which has magnificent vocal and instrumental arrangements and which alternates with softer passages in the opposite direction with the powerful passages sustained by deep bass, then the slow tempo of 'Antique' transports us into a universe filled with sensitivity and melancholy which can only touch. And to finish in style, 'Sapiens' unfolds its 15 minutes in a sound labyrinth typical of an inventive progressive in which you let yourself be guided and in which you successively discover each nook and cranny like a child discovering his gifts one by one for Christmas.
In summary, this latest album from the Norwegians of 'Gazpacho' is remarkable in all aspects and should appeal to a public loving an atmospheric progressive with long developments to discover gradually... | |
