WORLD RECORD

The echoes of "Still Life" had not finished resounding, and once again VDGG comes out with "World Record", the band's seventh album and one of their most experimental, and in which they continue to scrutinize the complexities that the course of life brings with it. Peter Hammill on this occasion partly cedes his usual protagonism, having as a counterpart a greater instrumental development of the rest of the band.

And so it is that Guy Evans' percussion sets the pace and is even encouraged to go a little beyond the natural accompaniment, both in the vulnerable "When She Comes" and in the persevering "A Place to Survive", well supported by Hugh Banton's keyboards and David Jackson's intense saxophone. Hammil participates more actively in the cadenced half-time of the chameleon-like "Mask", briefly interrupted by an instrumental interlude, to end with an unbridled shriek, the singer's trademark, before giving way to the extended "Meurglys III, The Songwriter's Guild", and although the first part is among the best of the album, including a surprising electric guitar, atypical in VDGG's universe, the second part is unnecessarily extended with an unexpected reggae instrumental, which does not add much to the song.

The curtain of keyboards and a luminous chorus are the framework for the emotional "Wondering", the most harmonious of the songs on "World Record", to give it a jubilant ending.

Although "World Record" is a good album and is still impregnated by the sparkles of VDGG, it does not reach the brilliance of its predecessors, and it is rather beginning to be seen on the horizon that the gas tank is starting to show signs of exhaustion...

3.5 stars