A HISTORY OF MADNESS

The intrumental arrangements show a development from previous albums - more subtle, more diverse; however, the score for voice lacks the inspirations we find on the previous albums; at the end of the album I get a sense of "dullness" because of this, end therefore I do not get that often back to this album in comparison with "This life" or "In Extremis". Excellent addition, but not essential.

Blown apart - blown away.

That's what I felt when I came to know this album, a couple of years ago. (This review is edited in August 2009). I was thrilled by the contemporary music ideas and techniques assimilated in a wonderful rock creation, I was entranced by the sheer beauty all over, and I was deeply moved by the subject and the whole atmosphere.

This is one of those albums which listening to, you are into a spiritual experience. One of the albums that takes the listener to a journey, into places, into a specific time, and deep into the soul.

The time: the 10th century. The place: south of France. It deals with a 10th century Christian religious sect, named Cathars, which believed in ideas that weren't aligned with the mainstream church, therefore was destroyed. (This information apears only at TP website, not on the album cover). The lyrics tell about the destruction, Cathars ideas, life, death, and life after death. The music is rooted in avant/contemporary classical music, and on the other hand, as I learned later on, also relate to music from 10-12 centuries. The melodies are not as atonal as some might think. Most of them are just modern. Very complex, yet beautiful. Vocalist Deborah Perry's delivery helps a lot to get into the melodies, sung with grace and delight. The music itself flows wonderfully. There is always something coming out: rock riffs, great solos, diverse rhythms, and some calmer moments, less modern and more tonal.

I will try to describe the tracks and the whole album:

Right after a short gibbering and a snare roll, comes the first track melody, "Blown apart" that enter the listener straight to the point with a bouncy, uplifting melody. Surprisingly, it developed into another moods and styles, so it ends with a short piece of contemplative, jazzy style.

Than comes the 2nd track, "Consolamentum". This is a ceremony of the Cathars sect that is performed before ones death. The atmosphere is ritually and mystical. The word "consolamentum" is repeated many times. The drums emphasize it very well. Shivering. Suddenly there is a break that comes out to a stunning guitar solo.

Everything is cut off immediately and we come to the 3rd track, "Rapture of the deep". This is a beautiful song with modern melody, accompanied guitar arpeggios, which creates an absolutely flowing, dreamy atmosphere. But that's not all: near the end, it breaks through a slow steady 4/4 rock style, giving the bass the main role. It is very powerful.

After such strong, diverse tracks we have to calm down and rest a little bit. We get this with the 4th track, "Gudmay", which is an ethnic one. The influence comes from the Balkan. It played by few acoustic instruments.

Now comes the second part of the album, which is much more modern, with demanding parts to go through. There comes the first march. The marches are short pieces for pianos and harmoniums, modern and Atonal. Then comes "Way of life": it starts with short, strong and repeated guitar chords. The melody seems to be understood, but soon stars the first soundscape in this album, electronically performed.

Another march, now we get to the 8th track, which is the most demanding track: "Least aether for saxophone", 9 minutes Length. It start as a complete modern classical composition: a long, slow modern atonal tune for sax, which moves to hands clapping, turns to water, turns to the second soundscpae in this album, that performed just by saxophones. This very unique composition is written and performed by Mark Harris, the woodwind player. (The whole rest is written by Mike Johnson, guitarist and composer).

Fade out "Least aether" with it's tortured saxophones, fade in Track 9, "The underground stream", with its gentle guitar. Its starts much more calmed and acceptable, even though after the calm part comes a piano solo improvisation, in impressionistic style.

Another march, and we get to the last track, "Lux lucet": an absolutely amazing composition, encompassing wide range of influences, from jazz rock through south American compositions, which can be heard at the nylon guitar riffs, modern classical melody, all melted together, astonish developed, stirring, rhythmic. In fact the development features polytonal methods, Stravinsky - like. 'Rite of spring' comes alive in rock at last, in so enchanting and convincing way.

Toward the end, the lyrics say, "push ahead chasing the fear, and never a tear shed for old endings, beginning again". After all this suffering (that's described all over the album), there is a place for hope and optimism. (Even if it comes after death). To illustrate this, Mike Johnson uses a slide guitar, sitar like, that sounds like Indian Music, which let us think about ideas of the remaining of the soul.

It could be end this album with this unique, meditative moment, but the sadness has to be kept, so comes the four and last march, and that seals the whole album. Actually the last sounds before the end of this very deep and unique creation, is the sound of closing the piano cover, and children playing, far, far away.

Before I finish this review, I'll add few words about the execution and production: Thinking plague does not sound here exactly as a band, but more of an ensemble, executing a composer creation. It link to a classic execution, more than a rock band. Each TP member, as well as guest musicians, does remarkable job in deliver this creation. Since I can't praise them all, I'll mention particular the new faces: drummer David Shamrock provides a very stable drumming, and each drum hit is clear and right in its place. However this is not just a technical drumming, it could be very moving and contribute a lot to each track. Previous drummer Dave Kerman is a guest musician here, playing some percussions, and contribute his regular furious and hilarious mood. And Matt Mitchell on pianos and keys is a genius. Simply that.

It took me long time before I fully understood the sound concept: The sound of the album is most of the time blurry and not clear and sharp. This is done on purpose. Many colors, instruments and effects are hidden, and the listener won't discover them at first listens. But this beauty will be exposed at last. Yet, this very original and complicate production attitude requires more than achieved eventually IMO.

But this is not so important when you're blown away.

A true masterpiece of RIO and progressive rock.

I'm afraid "A History of Madness" doesn't reach the heights of 'In Extremis' in terms of consistency and overall compositional quality - although one might argue that it doesn't really aspire to. After all, despite a similar cover, this is quite a different work, mostly due to the considerable amount of experimentation. A good example of this are the four 'Marching as to War" tracks: these were originally intended as part of "Kingdom Come" from the previous album, but remained unrecorded until new member Matt Mitchell rearranged them for a piano ensemble. The result is an interesting collection of haunting atonal piano pieces that gets darker as the album progresses. Matt Mitchell is, in fact, an excellent addition to the band and is responsible for some of the album's best moments - for instance, the piano improvisation in the middle of "The Underground Stream". Meanwhile, longtime TP member Mark Harris contributes a sax solo piece titled "Least Aether for Saxophone and Le Gouffre", which was recorded live at a university recital, and which , to be honest, I don't like at all. It might be because I'm not very familiar with the sax, (apparently, a lot of the weird sounds heard on this track were created by using unusual techniques on the instrument), but this number doesn't captivate me at all - if anything, it annoys me.

Picking out the best track here is quite easy. That's "Rapture of the Deep", which happens to be one of the Plague's most melodic songs, while maintaining their inherently complex brand of composition. The song is based around an excellent guitar theme that, despite it's challenging harmonic nature, outlines a very satisfying progression. The band also uses their sense of dynamics during the build- up and the ensuing "release" section, where Deborah Perry piling her trademark vocal harmonies over plodding, bass-heavy rhythm work. "Lux Lacet" isn't far behind with it's own display of harmonic fireworks, featuring a lot of acoustic guitar, tinkling keyboards, and occasionally breaking into catchy fast-paced atonal sections. These two songs also happen to be most reminiscent of the "In Extremis" sound. The rest of the tracks are less so: the rock element is slightly subdued (it's absent altogether on the experimental tracks mentioned earlier), and the arrangements are not as dense as before. That doesn't make them weak of course: opener "Blown Apart" has nice, melodic piano work, and "Consolamentum" includes memorable harmonic progressions. But there are also unnecessarily repetitive segments which detract rather than contribute to the album.

Nevertheless, I'll give "A History of Madness" 4 stars to highlight the fact that it's still a strong album, albeit not a flawless one. If you like "difficult" music, be sure to pick it up- it ain't flawless, but the standout moments make up for that.

3.5

I think, Thinking Plague (what a great name!) is a merger of the concepts of Relayer-Yes, Western-Culture- Henry Cow, Interview-Gentle Giant, probably a litte Gravity-/Speechless-Fred Frith and of ... only mastermind and master guitar player Mike Johnson could explain. And what develops from this ground is pure sonic adventure. Your ears as well as this mind-emotion- vision-machine in between could be fed for years and years with this extraorinary music. No doubt, 5 stars! (Yes I know, I allmost wrote the same words for "In Extremis")

In terms of score this is a 4.5. Much as I like it it's not a masterpiece, but it's very close.

This is the first Thinking Plague album I heard and whilst many people said get "In Extremis" first, and which I ordered first, but "A History of Madness" arrived first, I figured I'd listen to it minus any introduction to the band. I must say that I'm pleased to a great degree! There are some familiar nods to Henry Cow, Univers Zero and Frank Zappa somewhat, but for all it's similarities the music is quite original and Thinking Plague are very much what I hoped they would be. Throughout "A History of Madness" there is a pervading dark ambience which many describe as scary or frightening. However you wish to call it, Thinking Plague seem to 'own' the description on this wonderful album.

Mike Johnson's world vision is at once bleak and at times shocked, the way one might be if they saw a Lion capture and gore a Zebra while the person was waiting for a red light in the middle of the business district where they were going to work. There's a lot of that disreality in the sound and lyrics sung by Deborah Perry. What is especially interesting about her vocals are Johnson's odd counterpoint and heavily effected sounds below the clear lead voice. It is at once beautiful and oddly disturbing and that also is a good part of the mood of this album. As the listener you are in these odd dreamscapes that lull you into a quiet mood and hit you with a King Crimson like riff-o-rama with dueling instruments to hold the melody while none command it and find themselves in a merry-go-round of lead, counterpoint, second theme, and so on.

As you can imagine from what I've so far mentioned this is not a simple collection of happy fun-tunes. There is ordered confusion, interesting, and at times seemingly cheesy sounds which challenge our conception of what unique or good sounding instrumentation is. The ensemble playing is excellent and the varied timbres are often unique, and possibly something that some listeners might need more time getting used to than the sometimes atonal and jarring music bouyed by equal amounts of beautiful sounding and quietly passionate segments.

The lyrical content deals with alienation from various views, from one's self, from their government to the lies they grow up to accept yet realize what they are being asked to accept is in fact not sane. In this interesting way, and not at all cheesy or poorly presented in term of lyrics or the emotions or lack thereof, we witness the faces of madness.

Conceptually it's extremely well executed. Musically it is great to listen to with the sonic and playing being equally excellent compared to the lyrical themes.

There are a few compositional choices made that I can't figure out. That wouldn't make me drop it half a star on it's own, but the choices don't seem to necessarilly serve the song or segment the songs are ordered in. For example, there are some instant finishes that make me wonder why the instruments didn't even fade naturally. And I say this because almost everything else about this album is perfect, so when something seems out of place on such a killer set of songs and concept, that small issue gets (unfairly) amplified.

How do you decide whether to buy? Do you know and like bands like Univers Zero or Frank Zappa's less comic work? If yes, you'll be disposed towards liking "A History of Madness" Will you have the 55 minutes to sit with this album or are you conditioned to "songs?" If so, you may have problems as the structure here is album format and while certain parts organized into a "song" may be more appreciated than other sections, the concept of this work is listening, uninterrupted. If atonal or unusual (in rock music) type harmonies and timing annoy you be aware there are important sections of this album that feature such elements. If none of this bothers you get this CD. If some or all do it's between you and your maker, though I a strong believer on risk taking and this is an album worth taking a chance on.

Unreasonably difficult and stinking of something gone bad in the corner is Thinking Plague's fifth... it's only later you begin noticing the strong jazz underpinnings easily missed, the high level of musicianship masked by odd moods and settings, and clear if stark visions of a music liberated from even its own Avant Garde origins. Mike Johnson plays acoustic and electric guitars for these gypsys and also handles bazouki and various light percussion, carried just right by Matt Mitchell with his buggy piano and synths, Mark Harris on reeds, Dave Willey's bass and ants-in-your-pants accordion, Deborah Perry's unstable and brainsick soughing, and of course the drums of Dave Shamrock. Plus six others handling everything from trumpets and fiddles to bass, samples and percussives. 'Blown Apart' with its jazz lines, Perry's unglued triplets and Mike Johnson's irritated plucking breaks into a great monster of a jam for the second half of this 8-minute opener. 'Consolamentum' and 'Rapture of the Deep' are pure nut house, and 'Gudamy Le Mayagot' shreds, wriggling under your skin with a mad fiddle from Jean Harrison. More of this in 'The Underground Stream' and pianist Matt Mitchell outdoing himself with a tremendous opera seria piano passage, and 'Lux Lucet' is a standout, edging this distraught record past typical avant prog. Faint influences from the Crims and Univers Zero but not much like either and though it contains a lot of hidden beauty, this is one bad acid trip of modern experimentalism and will surely piss you off.

This one is a lot different then their last one "In Extremis". I really enjoyed "In Extremis", in fact it's one of my favourite Rio / Avant albums. "A History Of Madness" isn't as melodic, it's sombre, melancholic and more acoustic. This was a little difficult to digest actually but there are some passages I love. Even Deborah's vocals are more serious and monotone. Unfortunately Dave Kerman is reduced to a percussion role, but at least we have former SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM drummer David Shamrock taking his place behind the kit.

"Blown Apart" really has it's focus on the vocals that are at times mechanical-like and at other times used to sing melodies. There is some good guitar, drums and percussion in this one that turns pastoral for the last 3 minutes. "Consolamentum" features vocals that are both soft and reserved, while heavy drums pound. The tempo picks up with some aggressive guitar towards the latter half of the song. ""Rapture Of The Deep(for Leslie)" has some beautiful acoustic guitar melodies with gentle vocals coming in. The vocal melodies are great and some heaviness is added 4 minutes in. Amazing tune. "Gudamy Le Mayagot" is a mixed bag with tempo changes, accordion and harmonium. "Marching As To War, No.1" along with the other four "Marching" songs that make up that suite, are made up of piano melodies and are around a minute in length. They make up songs 5, 7,10 and 12.

"Our Way Of Life And War On Terra" is divided into two parts, the first "Our Way Of Life" being dominated by vocal melodies and angular guitar. While the second half "War On Terra" is really a soundscape of eerie sounds. "Least Aether For Saxaphone & Le Gouffre" opens with these sombre sax melodies that are slowly played. There is an applause as it ends after 3 1/2 minutes. Next is the sound of running water and then we get a haunting soundscape of eerie sounds that reminded me of "Saucerful Of Secrets" . "The Underground Stream" is a top three for me on this disc. Gentle guitar, vocals, horns and accordion all create such a fine sound. It seems like there is so much going on. Piano comes in after 3 minutes sounding like a stream. A full sound arrives 5 minutes in as drums and vocals lead the way. "Lux Lucet" is the other top three track for me. It changes and evolves throughout with different moods and tempo changes. A good beat at times with some angular guitar. Just a feast really.

This really is a trip. Where do these guys come up with the ideas ? Amazing album

I am suprised by the relatively low rating for this album, I thought it would be well over a 4. This album isn't necessarily heavy, and would probably suit an audience that prefers Gentle Giantisms and Henry Cowisms as opposed to King Crimsonisms. You can kind of chill out to this album, if having haunting nightmarisms in your music is soothing to you.

TP's 2003 opus 'A History of Madness' is probably their most difficult album thus far, not only in complexity but the fact that the songs are more subtile in contrast to the previous avant-rock apex 'In Extremis', featuring slower, darker and more acoustic oriented compositions. The tension is intruging, but requires a few listens to catch it all due to all the messed up clues within the music. Of course, the music is enteriely atonal, but the clever orchestration of the songs and rhytmic syncopations are throughoutly exciting, with some really impressive musicianship, notably from former Sleepytime Gorilla Museum drummer David Shamrock, which lays down some of the most creative avant grooves I've heard so far. The first part of the album is fairly dark and jarring, the opener "Blown Apart" sets the tone instantly and takes you through a brain-scrambling rollercoaster ride into a house of horrors, while the next track sounds like a ritualistic nightmare reminiscent of earlier Plague tunes like 'Malaise' and 'Moonsongs' from their earlier years. Apart from some nicely done atonal piano interludes, the mid-section of the album is more ambient oriented which I feel fits nicely to the brooding mood of the whole album, though it might not be to everyones taste. The last proper tracks "Underground Stream" and "Lux Lucet" are two of my favorite TP tracks ever which really sums up the progression the band have made since the early 80's, these tunes are intense, uncomfortable (in a good way) and features some of the best ideas from Mike Johnson's mind. I would absolutely rank this album up there with 'In This Life' (my other favorite TP album) but this one definitely nedds more time to sink in to you. The music ain't pretty at first, as TP is indeed one of the strangest bands out there, but the rhythmic cleverness and multiple musical details are so cleverly constructed that you'll be left confused, scared and highly impressed by the whole thing. I can't go under 5 on this one, albums like this need to be explored by any avant-rock enthusiast!

Thinking Plague's History of Madness demonstrates that a little thinking goes a long way. Often cited as being difficult, the fact is that none of the Plague's output has exactly been simple and accessible, and the avant-jazz stylings of this album don't feel like an enormous departure from past precedent. To my ears, each Thinking Plague album since the debut saw a fairly major development of their sound, but by this point they are more evolutionary than revolutionary, and this evolution takes them a little too far into the realms of complex technical execution without a distinct and strong idea behind it. Competent, but not classic.