Germany's Inquire present to us Melancholia, the band's third offering. A conceptual piece based on Jean-Paul Sartre's novel "Nausee", Melancholia relates the existential crisis of Antoine Roquentin, an everyday Frenchman whose journey of self-discovery leads him to realize that even though he defiantly asserts his existence, most people he encounters are afraid to acknowledge their own; focusing primarily on the existence of objects. He comes to the realization that existence precedes essence.How we perceive a thing based on it's physical characteristics often hides the truth of it's existence. He cannot persuade his former lover, Anny, of this and thus resigns himself to a lonely existence. He comes to grips with the fact that human love is just an essence and that there is no purpose to existence.
So, based on that "uplifting" premise, what can we expect musically ? As the titles implies Melancholia is a despondent record filled with dark atmospheres. It's the perfect rainy day record. Rooted mainly in the neo progressive vein, Melancholia still manages to escape many of the cliches of the genre with certain symphonic arrangements and rich atmospheres of forebearance.Narrated in French, sung in English, and with passages of German spoken word; one might need a linguist to decipher all the lyrical nuances of what is already a very convoluted storyline. Although fairly lyric-heavy, Melancholia does feature certain excellent musical passages such as in "The Museum" where guitarist Dieter Cromen and keyboardist Robert Kohler supply us with some resplendent solos; and the closing title track in which spoken word gives way to the disc's strongest instrumental foray.
But wait, there's more: a second disc in fact. Welcome To My Rock N'Roll is a 5-part 18:02 movement which :"rearranges moments of an organ symphony by French composer Louis Verne, created at the beginning of the 20th century, and forerunner of the rock n'roll movement." Pomp and power are the order of the day on this one, which sounds like an ELP-like attempt at modernizing classical movements.
Inquire serve up an interesting mixture of styles and sounds, although maybe just a tad on the bleak side with this offering.Fans of neo who enjoy strolling down the dark alleys of life will definitely find this disc to their liking.
Track Listing:
- Bienvenue a Bouville ( 7:32)
- Nausea ( 6:29)
- Anny ( 3:03)
- Der Autodidakt ( 9:38)
- The End Of A Sunday ( 9:51)
- Anny- Part II ( 3:04)
- The Museum ( 13:27)
- The Chestnut Tree( 7:59)
- Anny-Part III ( 1:18)
- Melancholia ( 13:39)
Disc II-Welcome To My Rock N'Roll (18:02)
- allegro maestoso
- cantilene
- intermezzo
- adagio
- final
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