France has in the past delivered some of the finest prog the world has seen, and the trend has continued in the last few years with a lot of great new bands popping up on the scene, you can now also add Maldoror to that list as they've released their debut CD, L'Arbre Cimetière. Forget about comparing Maldoror to their newer French contemporaries though because the truth of the matter is, they've probably already eclipsed them musically, and this CD should really put them on the map, not just locally in their own contry, but globally as far as progressive music is concerned. For a debut CD, its very impressive what they were able to achieve musically.
Over 3 years of hard work went into the creation of L'Arbre Cimetière, and the end results yield a rich, textured and extremely polished sound. The album thematically deals with oppression and the powers of a dictatorship, all set to very tight musical arrangements and vocals full of power and emotion courtesy of Christophe Belliers, who also handles keyboard duties as well. Guitarist Jean Christophe Rouanet's presence is felt throughout and his tasteful, melodic playing is just one of the finer trademarks of this CD. Great care was obviously taken to ensure that his solos would shape, enhance and mesh perfectly with the complex arrangements of the songs. There are so many musical epiphanies to discover on this CD and it would be a major oversight if I did not acknowledge the highly skilled bass and drum work of Stephane Descamp and Silvain Goillot respectively, as they both play an equally important role in shaping Maldoror's overall vision. You'll hear the influences of bands such as Genesis and Spock's Beard to name just a few, but Malodoror succeeds in blending some of the finer elements of the progressive genre both past and present and weaves it into their own unique sound, and this is why it all works so well. So brush up on your French and check these guys out because as far as debut CD's go, it doesn't get much better than this one.
Track Listing
1) L'Arbre Cimetière - Partie 1
2) Tristes cités
3) A la recherche du passé
4) Bal des pendus
5) La convocation
6) L'ouverture du procès
7) Le pouvoir des mots
8) Les nouveaux mondes
9) Simples physiciens
10) Ainsi soit-elle
11) La sentence
12) L'Arbre Cimetière - Partie 2
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