1978: Attahk of the killer Tormato

With this idea, I might just have to dodge an attahk of rotten tormatoes.



In case you don't know both albums, here is the longest song off each album.

"Dondai (To an Eternal Love)":



"On the Silent Wings of Freedom"

I've always loved Tormato more than most but Attahk is fairly meh in my world.

Kobaia is my favourite Magma album. I hadn't much liked Attahk at first, aside from one track not "Dondai", as I found it deliciously silly, but it's an album that I found myself playing on vacation a lot after having owned it for years, and it just fit my mood at the time. Both Tormato and Attahk can be rather silly, and that's fun. I happen to love Attahk, although I wouldn't rate it as high as various other Magma albums. "Nono" is probably my favourite track off it.

Aside from any similarities when it comes to any absurdity in both, and of course aside from my excuse at making an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes play on words, which is really more than enough reason as this site can never have too much humour, lame or not, I was interested to see how they would fare up against each other as Tormato has a 2.98 average score with 1407 ratings, while Magma has a 3.69 score with 330 ratings. Perhaps people are being harder on Tormato in the ratings because it is such a beloved by many band.

Here is a positive review of each album:

Attahk:

MovingPictures07 wrote: Zeuhl like you've never heard it before! Many people overlook this album by Magma and I'm not really sure why. It is an extremely unique album, even among Zeuhl albums, and the funky edge is extremely welcomed from this reviewer. Isn't prog supposed to progress? I'm surprised at the reactions for this album, as the new grounds covered in this album really expanded the Zeuhl sound. 1. The Last Seven Minutes- Woah! What a way to start. I have seen videos of this live and the drumming is AMAZING. This has to be one of my favorite Vander drumming performances of all time, and everything about this song is pure Magma genius. The vocals are fantastic, and the instrumentation is perfectly upbeat. Danceable Zeuhl? The piano towards the end gives me goosebumps every time. Flawless. 10+/10 2. Spiritual- Gospel Zeuhl. as much as I do not like Gospel type music at all, I extremely enjoy this song, and that is probably the best way to describe it. This is a very pleasant song; definitely a unique step in the Magma catalog. Extremely upbeat and wonderfully executed! 9/10 3. Rinde- This is an absolutely beautiful song, featuring great vocal work from Stella and heavenly piano. Too bad it's so short. 10/10 4. Liriik Necronomicus Kanht- If you thought the vocals were weird before, just listen to this. All of the instruments create a fusion of sounds to perfection once more, and it all explodes in a masterful 5 minute onslaught. Everything comes together so perfectly that it is tough to describe through words. Genius! 10/10 5. Maahnt- From the futuristic opening, this is a haunting piece. The vocals here are hilarious. Try not tapping your foot especially to this one! 10/10 6. Dondai- A more peaceful contrast to the previous two songs, with a piano and drum-driven laid back atmosphere. This still continues the new style of Zeuhl that has been used all throughout the album in an extremely effective song structure and instrumentation. The bass line is hypnotic and the building vocals are masterfully sung. 9/10 7. Nono- A great closer! It continuously builds and builds until reaching a very neat keyboard part. This is, along with the opener, the highest point of the album. Magma that you shouldn't miss! This has a very demented, yet upbeat and futuristic feel to it. Flawless. 10+/10 If you haven't heard this, what are you waiting for? A very unique addition to the Zeuhl catalog from Magma, but no less genius and way too overlooked.

Tormato:

SouthSideoftheSky wrote: Rejoice! Don't Kill The Yes! I'm surprised to see so many people, even many people whose musical tastes I generally share, trash this album. I think this is an excellent album! Wakeman's keyboards are excellent and all over the place. The band allow themselves to have fun here, as opposed to on the very serious and classical sounding Going For the One album. Indeed, the slightly more cheerful feeling reminds more of Fragile than any other 70's Yes album. I also feel that the five individual members are allowed equal space on this album. Steve's guitars and Rick's keyboards are given an equal amount of space. Rick even get a co-writing credit for the beautiful Madrigal (something unusual on Yes albums). Chris' bass is loud and bottom and sounds great (as usual). Jon's vocals are also great (as usual) and Alan hands in some great drumming. In my opinion this is yet another fantastic Yes album, and I generally prefer it to the somewhat sterile Going For the One. There is no Awaken here, but the album as a whole is more consistent. An underrated and often misunderstood album. Highly recommended!

Edited by Logan - August 10 2018 at 20:53

Not big Attahk-fan (I think it´s Magma´s worst album right after Üdü Wüdü) but it´s still better than Tormato, so my vote goes to it.

Tormato is very underrated in my opinion, the opening track is quite good, and the album closer "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" is a masterpiece tbh.

^ For me it's Nono, that one just really gets to me, but Dondai is great. I like the whole album.

At first the track I loved was "Liriïk Necronomicus Kahnt'. That was one of the first songs I heard of Magma (before I had the album), and the fun weirdness I loved. I guess it relates to the first Magma song I loved, which is ""Iss" Lanseï Doïa" off 1001° Centigrades, as it is also fun and put a big smile on my face. "Hhai" was another early favourite, and it makes me feel good. For me, Attahk is feel good, uplifting music, and I can move to it. When the record ends, I usually feel great, despite that irritating high frequency noise. Kobaia, 1001° Centigrades, Retrospektïẁ (Parts I+II) and Attahk are the album I tend to return to the most.

Going to share "Nono" for those that haven't heard the album.



Thanks for all the responses -- it's a pleasure to read your posts. It's really great to hear opinions on both albums.

Mortte wrote: Not big Attahk-fan (I think it´s Magma´s worst album right after Üdü Wüdü) but it´s still better than Tormato, so my vote goes to it.

That is an unusual opinion, not that there's anything wrong with unorthodox opinions of course. Most people, as I'm sure you're aware but at least in the interests of a larger audience that may not know Magma well perusing this thread, put Merci lower than both Üdü Wüdü and Attahk (I haven't heard Magma's latest). I like Merci particularly for the B side. Üdü Wüdü has never been a favourite of mine -- been years since I last listened to it. I like the particular energy of Attahk.

Holy Attahk of the Captcha: throws rotten tormatoes at it (try, try, try, try, try, try, try again).

Logan wrote: ^ For me it's Nono, that one just really gets to me, but Dondai is great. I like the whole album. At first the track I loved was "Liriïk Necronomicus Kahnt'. That was one of the first songs I heard of Magma (before I had the album), and the fun weirdness I loved. I guess it relates to the first Magma song I loved, which is ""Iss" Lanseï Doïa" off 1001° Centigrades, as it is also fun and put a big smile on my face. "Hhai" was another early favourite, and it makes me feel good. For me, Attahk is feel good, uplifting music, and I can move to it. When the record ends, I usually feel great, despite that irritating high frequency noise. Kobaia, 1001° Centigrades, Retrospektïẁ (Parts I+II) and Attahk are the album I tend to return to the most.

Although they are so much more than just fun (including very, very dark) - Magma to me is really the most fun band in the universe. More often than not there's something fundamentally joyous to their musical bombastic arrangements, use of voice and general theatrics. The out there wickedness of some of their early stuff such as Stöah, Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk mm... (including the ones you mention) makes me smile and even laugh a lot more often than most "funny" Zappa-songs. 

I rate Attakh pretty highly on the Magma scale. I love most everything they did, but that one hits the spot like none other when I’m in a certain mood. Tormato isn’t bad (underrated in my view) but Magma wins easily for me.

Logan wrote: Mortte wrote: Not big Attahk-fan (I think it´s Magma´s worst album right after Üdü Wüdü) but it´s still better than Tormato, so my vote goes to it. That is an unusual opinion, not that there's anything wrong with unorthodox opinions of course. Most people, as I'm sure you're aware but at least in the interests of a larger audience that may not know Magma well perusing this thread, put Merci lower than both Üdü Wüdü and Attahk (I haven't heard Magma's latest). I like Merci particularly for the B side. Üdü Wüdü has never been a favourite of mine -- been years since I last listened to it. I like the particular energy of Attahk.

Attahk was the first album I heard from Magma, just because it was the only their album in the local library and that was time when I didn´t have spotify, also in youtube there wasn´t then whole albums. I thought about Attahk then that it was really personal album, but it just didn´t hit me, I believe because it´s quite fusion nature. Because I had long loved 1966-1972-albums, I thought I should listen at least their first album from 1970. Some years ago someone put it into youtube and I loved it immediately. But it was last year, when buying ticket to Magma gig about half years before the gig, I started to listen their whole discography. About Üdü Wüdü I know also one friend who wasn´t very excited about it, I recommended the first album and he also liked it much more. I don´t put Merci very high, but I think it´s much warmer album than Attahk or Üdü Wüdü. I think their after Merci-albums are all great, well maybe Rïah Sahïltaahk loses the original, but on the other hand it´s also so short that easily not be called album. Felicite Thösz & Sl*g Tanz are also really short, but anyway new material and love them a lot!