Gazpacho: March of Ghosts

Throughout their entire career, Norwegian progressive rock outfit Gazpacho has received accolades for their unique sound. Channeling melancholic songwriting, painfully fragile singing, and subtle but effect arrangements into an overall haunting atmosphere, they seek to create true artistic statements instead of easily accessible hits. With their seventh album, March of Ghosts, the group inarguably has outdone itself. Simply put, it's a masterpiece.

While March of Ghosts is a conceptual album, it isn't the group's first foray into the genre trademark. Their last album, Missa Atropos (a play on "misanthrope"), told the story of a man trapped in a lighthouse who writes a mass for Atropos (the Greek goddess of fate and destiny). While that album focused on one character and one story, March of Ghosts involves several tales. According to the band, "The idea was to have the lead character spend a night where all these ghosts (dead and alive) would march past him to tell their stories." Think of it as a musical take on Chaucer's literary classic, The Canterbury Tales (or Chuck Palahniuk's recent reimagining, Haunted). Lyrically, there is a lot of sadness and foreboding within, which complements the music well. Overall, it's a breathtaking experience.

Fittingly, March of Ghosts mostly flows like one piece of music, and every section is completely captivating and devastating. "Monument" (an instrumental consisting of ominous yet luscious strings) segues beautifully into "Hell Freezes Over I," which contains a guitar riff that gets reprised several times throughout the album. Immediately, the listener is lost in a chillingly affective space of delicate timbres, simple syncopation, and of course, the pained melody and voice of singer Jan-Henrik Ohme (who sounds like a wonderful mixture of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Muse's Matt Bellamy). March of Ghosts has barely started, and it's already proven itself to be a gem.

Elsewhere, the best moments come when Gazpacho explore odd arrangements, instrumental breakdowns, and unexpected Celtic timbres. For example, the bold segue into "Gold Star," the frenzied jam that concludes "Mary Celeste," and the avant-garde breakdown in "Golem" are all utterly brilliant, and they're just a few of the many special moments March of Ghosts contains. Finally, the penultimate "The Dumb" contains one of the album's strongest melodies, and the way "Hell Freezes Over IV" ever so quietly reprises the melodies, lyrics, and aforementioned guitar riff is astounding. Here, the group proves to be masters of conceptual continuity, as "Hell Freezes Over IV" feels like a heartbreaking reminder of all the tragedy that's passed. Its final moments contain more strings, which clearly relate back to the way it started.

March of Ghosts is an exceptional album, and it's unquestionably Gazpacho's best effort yet. It's a work of art that reveals more with each listen, and it's easy to get lost in the sorrow, tragedy, and majesty of its journey. The band finely tunes their unique sound to near perfection, and while it's still early in 2012, come December, March of Ghosts will no doubt appear on many Album of the Year lists. It provides a rare, immensely valuable and personal experience, and regardless of if you've heard of Gazpacho or not (or if you already have countless albums on your radar), it's an album you must hear as soon as possible.

Track Listing
1. "Monument"
2. "Hell Freezes Over I"
3. "Hell Freezes Over II"
4. "Black Lily"
5. "Gold Star"
6. "Hell Freezes Over III"
7. "Mary Celeste"
8. "What Did I Do?"
9. "Golem"
10. "The Dumb"
11. "Hell Freezes Over IV"

Added: November 23rd 2012
Reviewer: Jordan Blum
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2897
Language: english

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