KAOS MOON

With the debut release in 1994, and the second in 2004, there has been a larger gap than normal to the third but multi-instrumentalist/singer Bernard Ouellette has now returned with new guitarist Eric Bonnette and new bassist Eric Portelance. The result is an album which is both interesting and somewhat confusing in that the vocal melodies are quite commercial and certainly fit well within the crossover progressive rock sub-genre, but the keyboard sounds are quite dated and chunky and often feel they have far more in common with classic RPI. He is also quite content to have passages where the two Eric's are not playing at all, which is a shame as the bass is remarkably fluid and driving, while the different guitar sounds utilised are interesting and when the guys decide to rock it then certainly do, coming across as a polished Deep Purple or Uriah Heep but with rather more interesting time signatures.

The result is something which is interesting, but is not nearly as compelling as one might think given this band has been around for so long, but there again the last album was Bernard and session musicians and one cannot help but wonder if that is the same this time given he also produced it. One gets the impression there is a good album here to be heard, but it needs to be somewhat expanded and if there had been a wider use of keyboard sounds instead of so much organ that might have done the trick, while if Bonnette had been given the opportunity to take more of a lead role that may also have helped, but for the most part this is quite one-dimensional and not as essential as one may expect.

Someone should tell BERNARD OUELLET that he missed a release in 2014, given that the other 3 from his project KAOS MOON were issued in 1994, 2004, and now 2024. With "The Goldfish", he has gathered only 2 accompanying musicians in contrast to the more audacious productions, the superb "After the Storm" and the less exciting "Circle of Madness", but the signature sound remains a fittingly chaotic yet partially accessible crossover with just a smidgen of the RIO in between the lines.

This is something of a frustrating listen as the "wow" factor is scattered about frugally amongst all tracks, making it hard to pick favorites. In addition, organ is a bit too prevalent and samey sounding. Ouellette would do well to repeat a theme now and then to ram home a point but is instead hell bent on the opposite artifice. Still, his voice hasn't slipped much in 30 years and the vocals and lyrics reveal a facility with English that excuse any political shots from the bow related to his refusal to write and sing in his native French.

The most generally appealing numbers are the at times folky "Loggers Tale" and the epic title cut, but, as I implied above, you might just as easily choose a non intersecting list. This is what makes "The Goldfish" swim in circles a bit too often in between adventurous explorations. Good enough. See you in 30 years according to the mathematical sequence to date.

'Love Transfusion' and the dated keyboard intro, heavy bass, the 80s as if it were yesterday; Bernard on vocals, the nasal voice calls out in view of the orchestration. The fat, twirling break, a zest of IQ, an oriental slope and off we go for the dream. Reprise with a heavy riff tearing away the languorous atmosphere of the keyboard solo. 'Logger's Tale' with the Balkan music side and the neo organ; the vocal mixes in the musical framework leaning towards AOR, then the Orient with bouzouki. The fruity keyboard solo then the guitar on their personal imprint, jazzy vintage prog. 'Noisy Shoes' bucolic atmosphere with the synth violin and the acoustic, a bit of Jethro Tull for the languorous voice, a note of Yes. The violin from the Irish fishing port confirms me in the aforementioned group for the folk tune. Banks' keyboard variation yes Genesis in the background, warm this vintage sound. 'The Hatching' cinematic intro on 'The Wall', electro-latent; it rises to the point that I half understand that we are on an instrumental, singular, fresh; good prog rock that dares the solos linked, guitar, piano then enjoyable guitar, a good effective interlude.

'Miles Away' acoustic arpeggio, a 'Horizons' encore? Country ballad that rises and settles on a Floydian atmosphere for the guitar, neo-prog for the fruity synth, flowing naturally; between Andalusian and South American atmosphere with this wild solo. 'Fly' with the latent computer-piano intro; prog air, jazzy, melodic, a flight of crows in the distance. Floyd hints mixed again, a tune that takes, an easy US rock-type chorus and the tune rises, carried on energetic prog metal, with the beautiful part of the captivating keyboard. 'The King of Dead Men Living' new delicate, melodic and crescendic guitar arpeggio, the voice as a guide. The guitar solo explodes in fits and starts, the sound is restrained and heavy; the voice also comes back chopped, the synth twirls amplifying the rock prog metal sound. 'The Goldfish' as a finale and the oriental intro, which can go as far as Japanese lands; Bernard uses his soft voice, the one that melts. The bouzouki comes back to play the solo, waiting for a potential belly dance; the break on a melting slow tune, on Santana, magnificent, calm and captivating. The sound is old-fashioned, the riff too, the keyboard is searching for itself, on a Focus of time, a Rainbow, giant this keyboard with the sumptuous final riff.

Vintage sound, energetic progressive rock with elaborate variations that sounds fresh. Originally on Progcensor. (3.5)

Cross Match

Canadian band Kaos Moon's 1994 debut album After The Storm is one of those rare gems that I most probably never even would have heard of if it wasn't for Prog Archives. After having found out about its existence, tracking down the actual music was not easy. But I can honestly say that it was absolutely worth the effort. Somewhere in the borderline between Crossover Prog and Neo- Prog, this actually sounds very British. I'm especially reminded of IQ, but with a bit more of an edge.

This is simply an excellent album with groovy bass lines, delightful modern keyboards, powerful lead guitar, driving drum beats, and pleasant vocals. Everything (with the exception of the vocals) is louder than everything else in a very appealing way. Not every track is as strong as every other, but overall the material is very strong. The groovy opening track Memory Station and the instrumental Cross Match stand out for me with their somewhat greater quantity of quirks, twists and turns. The former has a brilliant keyboard part. The album flows very well from beginning to end and there is a nice variation between softer and more hard-edged, faster songs.

Sadly it would take Kaos Moon as much as ten years to produce a follow-up album (and besides, that second album sounds like it was made by a completely different group!). This band deserves a lot more recognition than they have received.

After The Storm is a highly recommended album!

At this pace, the next album will be released in 2014

Coming exactly ten years after the excellent debut album After The Storm, Kaos Moon's second album sounds like it was made by a completely different group. And to a large extent it seems that it actually is an almost completely different group. Compared to the sound of After The Storm, the nature of The Circle Of Madness is much more whimsical and laid back. The edge of the former album is lost on the present album. Also, while After The Storm featured predominately modern keyboards, The Circle Of Madness features more vintage keyboards and a plethora of acoustic instruments.

Both albums are very enjoyable in their own respective ways, but for me the 1994 debut far outshines this follow-up. Or, at least, the debut is much more to my personal taste. I'm sure other Prog fans would make the opposite judgment. The Circle Of Madness is a pleasant and eclectic Pop Prog album that might well appeal very much to some people.

Good, but somewhat disappointing after the excellent After The Storm.

Probably due to the lapse of time existent among the two disks and mainly for the changes in the line- up of the band (and still the profusion of invited musicians ) - fact that in my way to see change the style and the "felling" of any band (with rare exceptions), this second work of the band KAOS MOON entitled "The Circle of Madness", if it is not a totally disappointed, it is in a very inferior level to his previous work. However I still detach the track 1 "Eternal Light Avenue", track 2 "Say to me" and track 5 "The Wall of Silence" (in my opinion the best moment of the disk). Nevertheless I cannot give a superior rate to 3 stars.

I almost always happens, Canada brings to us quality bands, such as, POLLEN "Same", RUSH (discography), MORSE CODE ("Procreation" & "La Marches des Hombres") etc... In the case of the band KAOS MOON the history repeats, at least in this first disk "After the Storm", where the band presents a progressive which mixing some heavy passages (a lot of times with having accentuated swinging) and othe more lighter, Probably due you influence them mentioned above and still of other bands as SAGA and QUEENSRYCHE. I detach the track 1 " Memory Station" they already present this mixture of a swinging in the beginning of the music that is inserted with a theme, that although it still follows a more Heavy-Prog line follows a closer orientation of a ballad and that only in the end returns, although in brief way to the initial swinging. The track 2 "Nobody's Perfect" with their close moments to the space-prog of bands as PINK FLOYD & ELOY ( as soon the music starts) mixed with something of the sound of the RUSH (with a prominence for the bass guitar). The track 4 " Cross Match " with his rhythm techno. pop. However I am afraid of committing some injustice when choosing these tracks in relationship the others, because the disk in itself is very good of the beginning to the end. Due my considerations, my rate is of 5 stars!!!

This is IT!

Wow! This debut album from the band from Canada's French province Quebec really BLEW me away at first spin of the album. You might challenge me on how come I rate this band highly but I have solid reason to defend my standpoint: the nuance that the band creates through the music has truly embraced my hearts not just my ears. How come? It's for a very basic and simple reason: it reminds me to a legendary band Pink Floyd. But, please do not compare it with Porcupine Tree because Kaos Moon took different approach in their music making. While Porcupine Tree has focused significantly on soundscapes, Kaos Moon takes Floydian guitar approach and rhythm section in the vein of Pink Floyd - even though it's not exactly the same. Pink Floyd's music rarely used riff in their music but Kaos Moon uses it quite a bit in the music. Kaos Moon does not take the soundscape side of Pink Floyd - that's why I welcome your differing opinion about this.

The band is quite strange to me as they had been around since 1984 and did only make album in 1994, a solid ten years of no album! It seems like they love number 10 because the second album "The Circle of Madness" ten years later (2004). The band was initially formed by Bernard Oulette.

"Memory Station" (5:00) opens the album beautifully and it blows me away at first spin. The tempo is actually upbeat but the guitar playing is really in the vein of David Gilmour and the music reminds me to Pink Floyd "Dark Side of The Moon" album. It has good harmony, stunning guitar work and melodic singing. The second track "Nobody's perfect" (7:20)brings the same nuance as the opening track. Again, the guitar playing is really stunning even though the music is not as ambient as Pink Floyd. The third track " Sayana" (4:05) starts with different style but when the guitar enters after the first lyrical verse, it reminds me to Pink Floyd's "Time". Oh .. I really love this kind of music and I miss Pink Floyd makes something like this again - if they make a new album.

"Cross Match" (6:21) is an instrumental that starts in ambient mood using Taurus pedal and keyboard followed beautifully by guitar effects. Drumming provides its wonderful entrance augmented by guitar effects while the Taurus pedal still provides its background sounds. The music than moves in upbeat mode - moving away the pink Floyd influence and make their own way. It's an excellent instrumental! Drum work and guitar solo are truly stunning. As the title implies "Symphonia" (5:23) stratrs off in symphonic nuance through the work of keyboard but then followed with music in moderate tempo in the vein of neo progressive music. The intertwining guitar and keyboard work that form nice rhythm section is cool. I remember CAST which shares similar style like this song.

"If Someday" (7:34) starts wonderfully with catchy piano work and keyboard followed by floating vocal work. The music moves in crescendo with symphonic style. It reminds me to the kind of Genesis' "Many Too Many" with more dynamic melody, accentuated beautifully by jazzy piano work. When the music enters with drum at approx 1:30 it sounds great especially the tight bass guitar work. I believe most of you would love this track especially when the guitar enters, it's a stunning guitar solo. The bass guitar is given the chance to deliver solo augmented by keyboard and guitar fills. "Vision" (5:13) starts mellow and then moves in crescendo with accentuated vocal work augmented by guitar riff and dynamic drumming. Keyboard and bass provide excellent work here. The ending part which features guitar solo combined with keyboard is nice. "After the Storm" (5:31) concludes the album with an instrumental work opened with long sustain keyboard work and effects in ambient mood. The music starts to blast at approx 1:02 with drumming and nice piano work in repetitive notes followed with simple guitar riffs while piano still deliver its repetitive notes. At approx 2:20 bass guitar plays dominant role to create the beat followed with guitar solo and long sustain keyboard. It's truly an excellent instrumental. It reminds me to Pink Floyd "One of These Days".

Overall, I am really satisfied with this album because there is no such mediocre track at all in the album. In fact, there are many wonderful segments throughout its entire album. You might disagree with me on the Floydian style but at least you would see the guitar playing is really Floydian. I am very keen to have the later album and I believe it must be a great album. Highly Recommended.Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

It often happens that the first album one obtains by a band becomes one's favourite. The reasons for this phenomenon might vary from the sentimental to the scientific. For instance, if one is moved enough to buy a second disk by a band, then likely one thinks highly enough of the first disk to make it hard to match. In addition, one might deliberately acquire one of the more highly regarded works of a band in the first place, which again becomes a tough act to follow. So much is this the case for this reviewer that I must note a blatant exception, in the form of Kaos Moon. Granted, over 2 decades and only 2 albums, the "group" is more of a pet project of Bernard Ouellette than anything else. I sought out their debut after rather enjoying "Circle of Madness". Once it entered the confines of my mobile CD player, it there resided for about 10 days and probably 12 full listens. Conclusion: it's all good, much of it great.

Take a healthy dose of melodic rock, delicately executed mood shifts, the full continuum of shades from very dark to very light, superb singing and instrumentation, especially in the tasty and versatile lead guitars and bass, augmented with just the right keyboard atmospherics, perky punchiness that avoids metallic malapropisms, and you have "After the Storm". In this incarnation Kaos Moon is like fellow Canadians Saga without the Queen-like drama. In other words, certainly not wholly progressive, but wholly enjoyable without overstatement and with all but the tastiest fat trimmed. If I had to single out a few tracks, albeit minimized if taken out of the overall musical context, I would pick "Nobody's Perfect", "Sayana", "If Someday", and "Vision". The 2 instrumentals are both adventurous yet accessible as well. Indeed, it is the overall entertainment value of this work that places it way above most prog, while avoiding that velveeta factor at the same time. The only exception might be "Symphonia" due to silly rhyming lyrics and a trite unmemorable chorus.

Pick this one up, give this a listen, followed by another listen, and another listen....and after the storm has passed, I think you'll agree this warrants 4+ stars.

The Montreal group Kaos Moon plays an elaborate form of rock with pop and progressive overtones. Its focus is on the melodic voice of Bernard Ouelette and intricate but warm accompaniment. Nothing clinical here. Ouellette seems to hold most of the cards in the musical area as he plays over a dozen instruments. I am not sure how Kaos Moon got their name but the generally brief instrumental flourishes and irregular harmonies do seem a bit chaotic in nature, generally in a good way.

While "Eternal Light Avenue" and "Say to Me" introduce the style fairly representatively, they are actually somewhat languid and the choruses seem a bit trite. "Crawl", "The Waves" and "Wall of Silence", and the title cut all better represent the band's ability to be accessible yet intellectual musically and lyrically. "The Presidency" does not even bring Bush haters on board, and is just too direct in its messages, substituting political opinion for creativity.

An album I can recommend to the mad or clear thinking as long as they don't mind coming full circle. It will be interesting to track the evolution of Kaos Moon, and I hope they start putting out more than one album a decade.