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Gazpacho - Demon CD (album) cover

DEMON

Gazpacho

 

Crossover Prog

3.83 | 421 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

arcane-beautiful
4 stars I have to admit, Gazpacho are a band I have let slip past me these past few years. Maybe it's because I have a bit of a dislike to soup, and especially if soup is cold (typical Spanish, making food which I already hate and making me hate it even more). So I decided to bite the cold and disgusting bullet and try it. I hated it. So then I thought, well maybe the band is better than the food. And it turns out I was right.

If someone asked me what this band sounded like, the best description that I could possibly give would be an amalgamation of Marillion, Radiohead and The Decemberists. But I have to admit that the style that these guys do create is very unique. Their songs can span out into very long compositions with a lot of open space. The band aren't overly technical but focus more on certain emotional sections and minimalism to create a very beautiful and melancholic sound. But I do have a slight criticism with these guys and that would be the choices for some of their arrangements. At times the tracks on this album can seem rather directionless meaning that the songs can go in some random directions. Now this can make the music rather exciting at times, allowing for the listener to be completely surprised by what's coming next, but it does affect the longevity of the material slightly.

One of the real selling points of the band and this album would have to be the beauty in Jan's voice and the lyrics. With a tone similar to a hybrid of Steve Hogarth and Duke Special, Jan's vocals show off a great range and have a lot of emotion behind them. The artwork for this album is pretty cool too.

The opener 'I've Been Walking' is a pretty great way to start of the album. With many different flowing musical sections flowing into each other the song has some interesting moments. I do feel part 2 completely knocks it out of the water.

One of the oddest tracks on the album would have to be 'The Wizard Of Altai Mountains.' A slight folky interlude the song fades out with some odd accordion sections.

The real highlight on the album would have to be 'I've Been Walking (Part 2).' This is probably one of the best songs from a prog band I have heard in a long time. Starting off with a beautiful piano riff with multi layered vocals the song continues to build up but then breaks down into a creepy old vinyl recording of an old war time song. The song continues to burst throughout and shows absolute beauty along the way.

One of the weakest moments on the album can be seen in the albums longest track 'Death Room.' Starting off with a pretty cool sounding electronic beat mixed with some evil strings the song starts off in a pretty great way but I do feel it can drag on a bit (being near 20 minutes long is a bit of a stretch). It does have some pretty cool moments throughout with some nice nods to the themes of the album.

The bonus track on this album 'The Cage' is actually one of the most cohesive songs on the album and I'm surprised the band didn't have it on the actual album itself. More of a ballad it shows of the bands songwriting more clearer than the other tracks on the album.

In conclusion, I do enjoy a favourable amount of this album. I do think the sound these guys make are incredible and their approach to music and songwriting is very unique. I do think that a more cohesive structure to their music

8/10

Genres: Progressive Rock, Art Rock, Neo Prog, Crossover Prog, Avant Garde, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock

Country of origin: Norway

Year of release: 2014

arcane-beautiful | 4/5 |

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