CHRISTIAN VANDER: TRISTAN ET ISEULT [AKA: ẀURDAH ÏTAH] (OST)

This Magma bizarrerie was issued as a Vander solo album, even if the spine of the band is present. But really, please regard it as a full-fledged Magma album, because this is the second installment of the Theusz Hamtaahk (Time of Hatred) trilogy. Wurdah Itah (Dead Earth), most likely a Kobaian message to earthlings wasting the planet. Presenting a reduced line-up, but still featuring the four Magma essentials, the pounding bass (J Top), the powerful but subtle drumming (Vander, also playing some keyboards, including the piano, another trademark), the Orff-inspired choir vocals (just Stella - Vander's wife - and Blasquiz), all four elements coming off clearer, less embedded than when the full Magma outfit is playing. This was supposed to be a soundtrack to a doubtful artistic and seldom-seen film, but let's face it: the present album is all you need.

If you are a more casual fan of the band, the subtleties will probably not appear immediately, especially so that there are quite a few motifs that had been used in MDK (Theusz Hamtaahk's final instalment released two years before), necessary for the full trilogy representations as a recurring theme linking/bridging the different sections, but here having a sense of déjà-vu. The stripped-down line-up (no guitars, flute, brass, large choirs and other keyboards present here) is actually the main (if not the only) novelty, when compared with the rest of the oeuvre. On the other hand the lesser density of the music gives us a chance to analyse easier how the music is built and just for that fact alone, Wurdah Itah is worth a few spins. You can even detect Vander's fascination with Trane's pianist, the awesome McCoy Tyner. (once again, I thank my friend Chris Gleeson-Syzygy for his outstanding review of this album, as this fact had escaped me before, until it became evident after reading it)

Presented as a series of short tracks (12 in all), this album is really made of two sidelong epics, apparently both melting into a single number once played in concert. Whether you shall consider this album essential is probably dependant on the number of albums you already own, but if you are just starting out, this album should get a certain priority, partly because of its stripped-to-the-bone quality, even making it a likely good introduction to Mazgma's Kobaian tales of tragedy and quests for salvation.