ATTAHK

This album features a great cover by artist H.R. Giger. It's the most accesible of Magma's '70s albums. But it's still weird compared to most prog albums from 1978. By the time this album was recorded Janick Top had left for a solo career, and Bernard Paganotti and Patrick Gauthier had left to form Weidorje. New bassist Guy Delacroix overdubs his bass parts; he does "Air" bass and "Earth" bass. On Attahk, Magma have a strong funk/R&B/soul influence which seperates it from earlier albums.

"The Last Seven Minutes" has great drumming from Vander. Before 2 minutes sounds like a drum machine with scat-like vocals. After some back up vocals. Love the bass starting before 4 minutes. Singing gets more intense. After 6 minutes settles into a nice groove with crazy lead vocals and lovely back up vocals. Ends with echoed drums. "Spiritual" is Zeuhl gospel. A happy sounding song, makes you want to clap your hands. "Rindae" has classical piano with Zeuhl vocals.

"Lirik Necronomicus Kanht" is Zeuhl disco. This song features kazoo-like vocals. I like the sound of the phased hi-hat. This song makes want to dance. Good back up vocals. I like when the music picks up and gets more intense with the operatic back up vocals. Nice Rhodes before 4 minutes. Music gets faster at the end. "Maahnt" begins with synths and drum fill. Then funky bass and complex but funky drumming. Lots of altered vocal sound including a belch. Later tempo increases with horns. Disco beat near the end. The song ends with the sound of a train/subway. On some CD versions the next song starts with the train sound.

"Dondai" starts with piano and a flute part on Chamberlin, then goes into a mellow groove. Later some subtle but effective Rhodes. Bass gets more busy and then an overdubbed fuzzy bass appears. Vocals get more dramatic. Calms down a bit with good bass. More Chamberlin. Drums get faster. Calms down again near the end with what sounds like vibes. "Nono" begins with a bass riff, Rhodes and vocals. Then a nice melody on Rhodes with harmonized back up vocals. A steady hi-hat pattern. Steady bass with more intense vocals and drums. Then great synth playing. Gets louder and more intense. Vocals chanting "nono". A voice going back and forth in the stereo spectrum. Slowly fades out. Ends with the sound you hear when someone dies in the hospital; the beep when the line goes straight on the machine.

This is a good introduction to Magma but not really representative of their sound. Magma's worst '70s album but still more interesting than most prog releases from 1978. The music is not as strong as on earlier albums, but the production is an improvement over previous releases. 3 stars.