ÜDÜ ẀÜDÜ

This is my third attmpt at writing this review, the first time the computer went a little mental so I lost it. Yesterday I was down to my last sentence of my lengthy second attempt, but them the nuisence of a cat put her paw on the keyboard and and somehow managed to wipe it. If this third attempt fails then perhaps the good lord does not want me to write a review on this album. Anyway this album was my first introduction to Magma and the Zehuel music in general. I have listened to it many times, infact too many times which is a testament to the quality of music of this album. The first song Udu Wudu starts off with a somewhat optimistic feel to it, which I latyer found out to be quite unusual for Magma, it has a kind of African/Latin Jazz feel to it , very ethnic feeling, with Christian Vander's and backing female vocals, the female vocals have the basic rhythem, while Vander's voice works inside and outside of their graceful beautiful voices. The trumpets are what give the song the optimistic feel to the tune, while the piano gives it a somewhat soothing feel to it. A warm introduction to the album. The second track, Werdorje has great operatic vocals on it, again a little more cheerful than Magma's usual work, but with great guitar and keyboards that give it, in my opinion, a science fiction feel to, its truely a great song. Troller Tanz (Ghost Dance), is for newbies to Magma, the most accessible track, great screeching, ghostly keyboard sounds, limited vocals set in the middle of the sog that give it an exciting element, the vocals have a sense of trepidation if perhaps ghosts nare scaring him, infact the whole song has an exciting feel to it, and quite possibly if it was remixed today could be a hit on the dance floor. This song is very much rhythmic based, with some Star Warsesque Keyboard brake which make me think whether this album influenced the composer of Star Wars; since this album came out a full year before Star Wars (it makes you think the name Vander sounds surprisingly close to the name Vader). The third track Soleil d'Ork (Ork Sun), has a great kind of african/ethnic feel to it, great base and wah guitar and great kobian chaning, which gives it a Science Fiction ethnic feel to it, as if this is a folk song of the planet Kobia. An interesting and brilliant piece. Zombies (Ghost Dance) The singing sounds like it was either done by Zombies or labotimised patients that sound of loss of humanity and lethargy thus conformed to the living dead, which suits the Zombie theme just fine with a great great funky bass rythem and piano with haunting sounding keyboards that adds to the Zombie theme, the song acomplishes everything it was set out to achieve. The one sided epic De Futura should appeal to fans of bass guitar and is another masterpiece, with low octive alien like vocals that remind me of the Morlocks in H.G. Wells' time machine (which is quite funny since this song is about time travel). The stamina of Jannik Topp's bass palying is super human, building to faster and faster tempos perhaps to emulate the sound of time travel going faster and faster thru time and space. Great heavy guitars also add to the scince fiction feel to this album. Some might complain that this song is a bit too repetitive, but this is Zehuel not Syphonic prog and when you are in the right zone for listening you'll relise that this is an amazing Zehuel masterpiece. The climatic base playing and heavy guitar (almost metal sounding) are just brilliant and exciting. This to me with the more emphasised keyboards is the most 'spacy' album by Magma, the first track Udu Wudu is the only song with any brass in it, so it is quite different from Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh. If I could describe this album to newbies of Magma I would say it is a cross between Mike Oldfield and Yes, without copying them (infact I think Magma influenced Oldfield), with singing style reminesent of Atom Heart Mother's opera vocals on its 20 minute opus. Please don't be turned off by the strange vocals, I was originall bemused by them, but like all top notch prog I feel in love with Magma's music, you will eventually get your head around the Kobian thing I promise it just takes time to grow. This album In my opinion is without fault in the Zehuel genre and shouls be considered an essential buy to any serious prog collector, just remeber be patient and open minded and you'll reap a huge reward. Long live Magma!