BOILING FOWLS

First album of the nutty band Cheeto's Magazine, 'Boiling Fowls' is a blend of humour and pastiche. In fact, although delivering a progressive music, they stay far from the cliches of bands that take themselves too seriously by playing a complex music just to answer criteria specific to the genre. Here, technique serves humour. In this album, the will to set free from the codes of classic progressive rock is very strong. The opening epic is a good example of this state of mind. A pastiche of Heavy Metal (filled with zappaesque shouts that match perfectly the image of the hen crying for help on the album front cover) is indeed sandwiched between two punchy sections in the vein of Spock's Beard, mixing cheerful voices, catchy rhythms, anthemic guitars and alarmed synths. The transition to a ballad in the second Beard-like slice, together with strings, come as as salvation sign to the hen's fate. Other elements support the humorous aim of the band. First, the pastiches of electro music "The driver and the cat" and its little sister-song "Driver French" are very surprising as they contrast sharply with the other songs, and mark a risk taking that can only be acclaimed for a band that produces a music targeting an elitist audience. Then, synths also were arranged to add to the humour. They are wriggling in the very catchy "Volcano burger" with its big drums, and in the eclectic "Octopus soup" and "Fat frosties". Synths can also be hilarious, as in "Four Guitars" and "Fat frosties". Moreover, winks to videogames are apparent in "The driver and the cat", and once again in "Octopus soup" and "Fat frosties". The voices also delve into many territories, and as with synths, humour is always present. Put an ear to "Teddy Bears" and its chant turning from rock pastiche to gospel. But listen also to the canon voices that our four lads from Spain "butcher" maliciously (yet with elegance) in the epic and in "Octopus soup". And it's not all, as one can enjoy a tribute to Dave Vanian of The Damned in "Octopus soup", but also take delight in the pastiche of opera choirs on "Naughty Boy", a track where lead vocals are very close to the universe of Mike Patton at the time he was with Faith No More. In a nutshell, if you were looking for the answer to Frank Zappa's question "does humour belong in music?", Cheeto's Magazine brought it to you !