Customer Reviews

Magma Attahk

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love music with lots of energy that's hard to classify. This is closest to rock, heading toward jazz-fusion and maybe opera. I would say the rhythms are the most attractive aspect, followed by the vocals that include spiritual chorouses, growling, operatic crooning, tweedling, donald-duck moaning and burping. All in a language I don't understand. That a drama is going on is clear even without the English subtitles of the songs: 1. The Last Seven Minutes (1970-71, phase I) 2. Spiritual (Negro song) 3. Rindle (Eastern song) 4. Liriik Necronomicus Kanht (in which our heroes OURGON & GORGO meet) 5. Maahnt (The wizard's fight versus the devil) 6. Dondai (to an eternal love) 7. Nono (1978, phase II)

The front cover art, by R. Giger, shows a couple musicians/characters from the story (Ourgon & Gorgo) wearing safety-pin goggles. The back cover shows all seven musician/characters' heads in informative x-ray view, plus a b&w photo of Vander.

In short it's lots of fun and it rocks.

I still don't know what planet this is from, but I would like to visit it if I could. This whole monstrosity is beyond classification, definition, or even category. It should be put into a class of its own. I don't mean that as negative publicity because I enjoyed the stuff quite nicely. What comes across as dissonant gibberish over some sci-fi cult film sountrack while the post-apocolyptic mutants glow in the radioactive aftermath actually encompasses that mindset and the ability of Christian Vander to weave some complex rhythms and sensitive compositions together in one of the most bizarre and hard to define rock/funk/fusion/opera/new wave/.../.../.../.../etc. bands in history. "Unique" is not even close to an adequate term to describe this incredible form of musical trash. "Original" would be eeven more of an insult. Music is pure emotion, and Magma is absolutely an emotional experience. Play this one for your MTV crowd and see the emotional perplexment that it gives them. Looking to expand your horizons? Magma is the craft for your intergalactic journey. Be prepared. DONDAI!!!!!!!! By the way, the band is from France and the lyrics on this and other Magma releases are in a non-existant laguage fabricated by the band that better represents the musical themes... 'nuff said?

I picked this album up in vinyl, at random, years ago in a used record store. At first, I didn't understand or like it, but I kept it and over time it grew on me, although I still don't understand it. The style ranges all over the map, from "soundtrack" rock to modern choral to techno-pop. It's essentially uncategorizable, which perhaps is why I like it. Some of the high-register male vocals are a bit annoying, but the mixed-sex vocal arrangements, particularly on Track 3 (Rinde), are quite nice. It might be fun to get some friends together and write a story to go with the music.

As others have noted, Magma's 1978 album *Attahk* marked a controversial departure from the group's previous work. Many applaud the band's alleged exploration of "new" avenues. I, however, am not one of them: First, because novelty in itself is not a virtue, and second, because although a given style may be new to a group, that fact does not make it new to the listener. Jazz fusion and disco/funk were well established in 1978, and the last word that comes to mind when hearing Magma try its incompetent hand at these genres is "progress".

Despite its falling officially under the rubric of "Magma", *Attahk* is essentially a Christian Vander solo album (which is perhaps why the back cover credits the record to "Christian Vander's Magma"). Here, Vander strays far from his European Classical music roots (Stravinsky, Bartok, Orff) to explore funky, quasi-disco themes that could not be farther removed from the legendary Magma style. 1975's uneven *Live* album signaled an interest in jazz fusion, and this type of music appears on *Attahk*, as well ("The Last Seven Minutes"). Other tracks feature an embarrassing and repetitive, hiccuping hybrid of these two styles ("Nono").

Indeed, it is the repetition that largely makes this album so singularly unlistenable. Many who defend this waste of plastic do so by saying, "well, not every piece has to be twenty minutes long". True enough, but, to me, even though these pieces are relatively brief, they seem to continue forever, and feel much longer than Magma's past "epics". ("Nono", in particular, is a real nails-across-the-blackboard endurance test). Even the initially dulcet and lovely "Dondai" rapidly outstays its welcome, through inept and failed attempts at thematic variation.

At the risk of inspiring ignorant and superficial misunderstandings, I will state that I am firmly in the camp that feels Vander to be at his best when he allows his European musical influences free reign, and at his worst when he tries to be John Coltrane, Ray Charles, or Otis Redding.

In any case, the nadir of Vander's output was yet to come, but *Attahk* shows that the disease was well advanced. The decline from *Wurdah Itah* and *Kohntarkosz* to "Otis" and "Call from the Dark (Ooh, Ooh, Baby)" is monumental, and *Attahk* is best viewed as a snapshot of a creative free-fall in progress, the "cry" of a formerly lofty composer who is about to make messy contact with the concrete, below.

Post-Script: By the look of the "unhelpful" votes, I have trod on the uncritical Magma fanatics' toes. Is the review really unhelpful to someone who is deciding whether to buy this CD, I wonder, or does it simply offend those of the Christian Vander cult who believe that their hero can do no wrong?

It's closer to jazz-fusion, then their previous works. I'd like to mention Vander's incredible drumming, and also beautiful, inspired male and female vocalises. Very original, very strange, not easy to comprehend, but absolutely excellent.

4 1/2


Who could express such classically-arranged free-form frenzy's anywhere near as consistently or articulately? Almost everything on Attahk (especially on the supremely satisfying side one) grooves with such eccentrically informed conviction that it easily (and surprisingly) falls on top of thrilling discography.

It's been said that Magma was branching out into more diverse fields of music at this time, and I have to agree. But this is a good thing - Magma managed to preserve their trademark sound - driving rhythm section, vibrato vocals, and nonsensical lyrics and virtuosic ensemble playing - while at the same time experimenting with fusion, funk, soul and classical. There are no long epics here, but that does not mean that the music is not interesting. Quite the contrary, all songs are extremely well composed and performed with bravura so typical of this strange band. I personally like the funk/fusion edge that they were developing at the time, and the orchestrations on some tracks are tastefully done. There are not many solos here, besides the one on "Maant", but the vocals are used as instruments, so that makes up for the lack. Overall a very enjoyable album, and a great addition to a rare prog/fusion collection.

The diaper pin sunglasses go THROUGH their noses.