DEMON

If someone ever tells you that this is not a good record, he's probably a soulless creature from outer space! Things are really simple my friends, Gazpacho's ''Demon'' is a work of absolute, crystal clear, breath taking beauty. It's not about a specific genre or scene, this band firstly serves art as a whole. It reminds me very much of the aesthetics of a Tornatore film, where art and melancholy are always the main characters. One may wonder: is it prog? Well, don't expect complex parts, weird grooves or solos here. You may find a distant relation with the melodic side of Porcupine tree, Marillion or Radiohead but worry not, Gazpacho is one of a kind. There is a prog mentality, concerning very lengthy compositions and richful, amazing arrangements. Many instruments are used (violins, piano, choirs, accordions, mandolins, whatever!), only to emphasize the poetic tale that's being narrated. Musicianship is excellent, every one plays like drawing, like adding colours and expression to a wonderful painting. Just sit back and enjoy ''Demon''. Four dramatic musical odysseys, guided by Ohme's sentimental voice (a mix of Yorke, Wilson, Mercury and Jeff Buckley) will make you imagine, feel, weep and dream like you are witnessing a perfect theatrical play. You will not be rewarded only if you don't like mid tempo, atmospheric, melodic music. I' m feeling enchanted once again by a Norwegian band, this will definitely be one of my 2-3 favorites for 2014. Waiting to see how many people will recognize Gazpacho's brilliance. Very easy five stars, friends!

A Tantalizing Trudge Amid the Mists and Midnight Cyprus.

Gazpacho's Demon continues to weave haunting textures and sublime, earthy music into the progressive realm, creating a soundtrack that could appease most twilight vultures. This reviewer was inducted into Gazpacho through P.A.'s highly rated, Night, and though the musical technicality of Gazpacho never quite satisfies the shredder's palette, their song crafting does create a hypnotic atmosphere, fronted by a vocalist that could draw comparisons to a restrained (less nasally) Billy Corgan, who's confined to an Aslyum, and sedated on horse tranquilizers.

Demon is a short album, consisting of only 4 songs clocking in around 45 minutes, with less-than-gleeful titles. Is it prog? Alternative? Indie? Shoegaze? Dark cabaret, perhaps? You'll have to answer that yourself. When compared to their previous work, it's definitely a skosh more uncanny... a touch more bizarre (in a good way). There are enough twists in the arrangements to keep it interesting, especially when attention is focused on the tones of the instruments within the spacious music. Interludes of interesting stringed instruments pair with accordion (or bandoneon?) and middle eastern percussion like a finely crafted malbec pairs with blood red meat. Demon could be to prog what Beck's Sea Change was to pop. A subtle, subdued powerhouse of melancholic delight. If you're new to Gazpacho (and in the right mood) Demon is a good place to start as most of their albums maintain a strong consistent identity, but this one has the added dark magic. In the quiet depths of the music you'll swear you can feel the breath of a vampire on your neck.

In this day and age of musical ADHD, where albums are digested at an alarmingly fast rate, Gazpacho reminds us why it's important to take the time to smell the gravestone lilies and slow dance in a rain shower.

With all the bombast available today, sometimes I just need a quiet, delicate album full of consistent melody and crystalline beauty. Gazpacho's new album "Demon" is one such album that has captured my heart more than my rapt attention. It is serene, fragile, and moving; but it also has some surprises up its sleeve.

Gazpacho hails from Norway, which is a surprise for some reason. To me, they sound a bit like Coldplay mixed with Muse and Radiohead. This is just an attempt to explain their sound, as the sound is completely unique to them. The music, as I said, is very quiet. The first few tracks are especially mute and peaceful, as Jan Henrik Ohme's beautiful vocals play the major role. However, this album is intensely eclectic in its subtlety. Accordions, banjos, and mandolins join the array of atmospheric keys, surprisingly dark guitars, amazing bass, and light, yet somehow technical, drums. This makes for an experience unlike any I've had for the past few years at least.

With this array of instruments, the band crafts subtle songs full of feeling and a brooding intensity. Soft, slow rhythms join low instrumentation: Serene vocals smooth the mixture to perfection. Even the inclusion of a choir at points is done delicately. Indeed, "Demon" is elegant in its simplicity, but amazingly complex when you least expect it.

The album is made up of four songs, some of them multi-track. "I've Been Walking", both parts of it, are slow and easy-going. They are ponderous and very mature. "The Wizard of Altai Mountains" is a more upbeat affair with plenty of foot-stomping accordion and mandolin work. It's so beautifully simple, but no one else does this sound! The last song, however, is definitely my favorite. The three-part "Death Room" is sheer genius, and the bass player really shines here. On part 2, especially, the bass player crafts a bass line unlike any I've ever heard, and it's a masterwork and will probably be my favorite of 2014. Slight electronic elements make their way into this song that almost feels like post-metal at times. The third part of "Death Room" opens up with dark riffing that, although never heard in the album beforehand, seems so appropriate and satisfying.

You see, Gazpacho has composed an album that never feels tired. It never overuses any element. Every instrument is used to full effect and never outwears its welcome. There is so much space in "Demon", space that creates a beautiful vacuum for music to live and breathe. As this album progresses more and more in different territory, you will even long for some of the earlier melodies to return. They do not, but this gives you all the more reason to revisit the album again and again.

Gazpacho has offered an album unlike anything you will hear this year, for sure. "Demon" is scarily introspective, beautifully wrought, and surprisingly inventive. The band has taken a stand against bombast and showboating, and I applaud them for it. I hope to see more bands take that plunge.

Gazpacho have been on a roll ever since the excellent Night caught the attention of the prog community, but in retrospect I don't think any of their subsequent releases have quite matched the standards of that one - not until Demon, at any rate. There's really two ways you can go to match the promise of a title like that - take the overt route and go for a more ostentatiously sinister and evil sound, or you take a more subtle path. Wisely, Gazpacho choose the latter option (can you really imagine Gazpacho doing extreme metal? No, nor can I...); rather than energising their music, they produce one of their quietest and most contemplative albums yet.

Indeed, it's a rather bold move all told. Prog is a genre which prizes technical ability, often expressed through soloing and showboating, and whilst Gazpacho have never quite entirely embraced that, here they seem to deliberately turn away from it, producing mood pieces in which all the performances blend together rather than having the individual members make a bid for the spotlight. They'd previously taken steps in this direction on Night, which accounted for the dreamy atmosphere of that album, but here they fully embrace it, producing a style of music which is clearly built on a prog foundation and which is obviously produced by a technically capable group, but at the same time displays this in a holistic manner through the overall sound the group are able to make rather than through individual performances.

On top of that, the band's command of atmosphere has always been one of their strong suits, but it has never been as complete as it is on here except on Night. The titular Demon is not some gore-slick monster from hell, it's the darkness which comes when introspection and contemplation turns in on itself and starts to chew on its own innards, and Gazpacho capture this mood masterfully. Gazpacho is a band with many great albums in their discography, but until now I'd have said they had only one full-blown masterpiece in the form of Night. Now there are two.

Being a huge Gazpacho fan I was rather excited about this new release from the Boheme styled Norwegian band. What could eclipse the magnificent Tick Tock or Night? Or even the excellent Missa Atropas?

Demon is a fine piece of music but herein lies a problem for me, in any event there is nothing new on Demon that makes it stand out from any of it's predecessors. The album seems to just tread water carefully. They have introduced more folk passages to help the dark theme, the violin and mandolin threading in and out, yet this is not enough and I cannot but feel that Ohme's vocals are lethargic or uneventful. No risk taking as such except on ' Death Room'. ' The Wizard of Altai Mountains' sounds like a watered down instrumental with Ohme's vocals from 90's electronica band Deep Forest. The weakest tracks are the ' I've been walking' suite that just never seem to take off, however the album does improve markedly from this juncture.

So in summary a great album from Gazpacho. You can always be guaranteed quality musicianship and attention to minimalist detail, I just feel the album falls a bit short in that no new risks are being taken by the band and we have another safe rerun from them. A solid three stars. Note Gazpacho albums can be very slow burners so give it plenty of time.

Norwegian band GAZPACHO was formed back in 1996, and ever since they started releasing material of their own in 2002 they have quickly established themselves as a popular band both inside the progressive rock environment as well as among those with a taste for sophisticated rock in general that doesn't have a special interest in progressive rock as such. They have been signed with prestigious UK label Kscope for a few years now, and have a total of eight full length studio albums to their name. "Demon" is the most recent of these, and was released in March 2014.

A key element in the music of Gazpacho are the lead vocals of Jan Henrik Ohme. He's got a voice that in terms of vocal approach, delivery and tonal range kind of force comparisons to the likes of Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame, and to some extent towards Marillion's Steve Hogarth as well. He's got the frail, vulnerable part of that vocal approach covered to perfection, albeit without touching grounds with the more extreme angst-ridden delivery that Yorke in particular has been known to utilize. Still, it's a distinct vocal approach that does add a distinct atmosphere to Gazpacho's musical endeavors, and one you need to have a soft spot for to be able to enjoy their music.

On "Demon" Gazpacho have crafted a fairly sophisticated musical foundation as the platform for Ohme's vocals, alternating between sparse, frail passages with standalone careful piano with or without dampened violin support, dampened but sweeping symphonic oriented passages and harder edged, dark guitar driven constructions where the guitar riffs have the occasional organ support creating those majestic, somewhat pompous atmospheres fans of progressive rock in particular tend to favor encountering. The transitions between the various moods flow nicely, freely and naturally, even when the shifts are sudden and unexpected, and the songs all come across as very well developed and cohesive. Some instances of vocal effects enrich the compositions, especially on the second part of I've Been Walking, and I'll add that an impeccable production throughout should please all audiophiles out there. If you are the kind of person that have invested heavily on a top scale music system, this is one of those albums you will appreciate highly on those grounds alone.

Particular features on "Demon" are the use of textured instrument details that adds a slight post rock vibe to the proceedings, both when they explore territories of a more mellow nature as well as when they hit upon grounds of a more layered and elaborate kind, and liberal use of mandolin, violin and accordion gives the compositions and album a distinct folk music flavoring too. Combining the frail, angst-flavored vocals and the stylistic variations previously described with folk music elements gives this album a nice and compelling atmosphere, most often melancholic, more often than not with an underlying feeling of darkness. Concluding epic Death Room is the most intriguing of the compositions in that context, where futuristic, industrial sounding details are used to good and occasionally magical effects to conjure a fairly unique mood, of the kind where you might envision seeing ancient creatures of legend placed in a dystiopian futuristic setting.

I've heard quite a few people raving about this album already, and while I'm not quite as taken with this disc as many others seem to be, this is an extremely well made production. If you enjoy bands that explore dark, melancholic progressive rock of the more sophisticated variety, and especially if you have a soft spot for vocalists who have a style and approach comparable to people like Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Marillion's Steve Hogarth, Gazpacho's eighth studio production "Demon" is a CD you will enjoy, especially if you are a fan of the kind of music the bands of said vocalists explore.

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

Prog rock doesn't guarentee that the music is objectively good, but if the music is progressive I am rather sure that the music is interesting in some way and therefore would draw attention to itself. Today I encounters the group Gazpacho, and their record "Demon" from this year a couple of times. Well perhaps I heard some progressive and unfamiliar beats and thoughts but they were not in my taste. I find the total experience and the sound of this record not ugly but depressing.

Gazpacho, which is a Norwegian band made their first record 2003 and "Demon" is their eighth one. I read somewhere that the band has connections to alternative rock and that should be a warning for me, I have not until now find any alternative rock that I like.

If the compostions on this record had been more sweaping and varied, more happy instead of very depressing could I have liked it more. Now it was like I heard the same notes and the same mourning vocals going around and around for the whole record. The music is protracted and I got a feeling of listlessness. It is too modern and too squeaky. Tecnically and artisticly this is a well done record but I did not like my experience with it. I could stand the first track but the last one did I find terrible. I could have given it one star to show my dislike but that wouldn't be fair. I hear and see the qualities but they're not for me. Two stars!

"A sycamore tree as sick as can be" -- from the lyrics

"Sycamore tree is existing on the earth for more than 100 million years, can grow as tall as 40m (130ft) and can reach up 2m (6.6ft) in diameter. Another amazing fact is that on average this tree can live six hundred years. It is believed that the tree has got its name "Sycamore" because of the peeling flakes of its bark which make it look 'sick' all the time." -- from the article

Sycamore tree, which you can see on the front cover, is a symbol of this album.

Before to review this album I went to Gazpacho's back catalog and tried 4 last albums again to compare... Demon tops them all. Basically it's the same formula: the mix of Prog and Alternative Rock with traditional Scandinavian melancholic flavor. However, in Demon they elevate everything to the next level, sometimes close to perfection. The balance shifts to symphonic prog, music became more complex and accessible at the same time.

The Artist can paint small pictures so nice and cute that everybody will likes them, but he also can create a big canvas, where he can put so much details that people will stay hours to get into them to try understand and accept the picture as a whole piece of art.

The same with Demon. Gazpacho put on three big canvas and one small picture so much details inclusions and insertions from choruses to crying violin solo, from mandolin and accordion to operatic vocals of vintage gramophone records and rocking piano on a top of it. I was listening to the first song for less than 5 min, but it feels like 15 min has gone. From this song to the very end, the album has some theatrical feel. Second song transformed me to Middle East. It's a small picture of everyday life there with uplifting folk melodies, but, as a contrast, I caught in the lyric: "I was there when bomb exploded" - something serious was going on. From the beginning I thought that song 4 'Death Room' would be my favorite song, but when I found Live version and very nice video with lyric of song 3 'I've been Walking P.2' on youtube, I think they are equally great songs.

Jan Ohme vocal has always been a trademark of Gazpacho sound, but in Demon it reached, at some places, extraordinary soul penetrating ability. I've got multi 'eargasm' - first at 10min song #3 and couple times at song #4. It's hard to get into mostly metaphorical lyrics, but big sadness and pain are radiating from stunning Jan vocal. Beautiful digibook design and illustrations of Antonio Saijas are as an icing on the cake.

If Frequency Drift Over is my female fronted Crossover album of the year, then Demon is my male fronted one. Beautifully crafted Masterpiece of Crossover Prog. 5 Bright Northern Stars.

Gazpacho's new album Demon is a monster of a record. March of Ghosts was good, but this is something else altogether, reaching a level of depth and maturity that is beyond what they've done in the past. It's evident from the first moments of the album, "I've Been Walking." It's in the way that, for example, the way the piano ritards between chord changes, creating long breaks in the vocal lines and delivering maximum tension, only to be juxtaposed later by an elegant string section all the while the singer delivers a passionate performance. The record is really built off of simple melodies that really count and carry their wait. "I've Been Walking (part 2)" carries the first motifs even first, this time over swelling, powerful synths that grow into something quite powerful. The variety on the album is always careful and nuanced, never just a gimmick. This is evident in the use of the old gramophone style recording that's used for uncanny effect, building into an eventual climactic ending. "Wizard of Altai Mountain" and the closer, "Death Room" both pull in folk elements, the former moving from a very modern piece to a full out folksy accordion dance. "Death Room," on the other hand uses it to lead into a haunting heavy section, a mood that dominates this piece through and through with the constant sense of uneasiness, beginning from the repetitive syncopated descending pattern in the intro right through flanked by ghostly ambient sound effects, right up through the plodding, dirge-like march that oozes beauty. Demon is one of those 2014 albums that you don't want to pass up. Don't make the mistake I did the first time by listening to it quiet in the background. Put it on loud and you'll be wowed.

. . . In my not so humble opinion . . .

Gazpacho has released another album.

I was a huge fan of The Cure back in the eighties, I think I first picked up 'Disintegration' then 'Staring at the Sea' and loved them both, then I picked up 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' and was mildly appreciative of it. Then I picked up the album after that and was so tired, they pretty much did the same thing over and over again.

Gazpacho has gone into that same category for me. If you love atmospheric emotional melancholy, then you should really listen to Gazpacho. Here's the thing, if you enjoy this type of music, then pick an album from 'Night' to 'Demon' and you'll love it, may even give it a five star rating. Then the next one will be good as well, though not quite as fresh. Now keep in mind, it doesn't really matter which one you chose, maybe 'March of Ghosts' is your first exposure to them and you love it. Maybe 'Demon' is the second one and you don't get to 'Night' until well down the line. Either way, the more you listen, the more it sounds the same. My Uncle coined a phrase that fits here, 'It's never too late to stop reading 'Dune' books'. For me, I've put the book down, Gazpacho just isn't doing it for me anymore.

For me, 'Demon' is kind of like 'Night' without the delicious atmosphere. I listened to it at least five times, trying to like the album, but it got harder and harder to listen to each time. I'm not going to go into a track by track analysis of this album because one morphs into the next one and it's hard to differentiate one song from the next. Again, this concept worked for me on the first couple of albums that I heard from them, but after the fifth in a row, I just get tired.

I'm sorry, but I can only give this a two star rating with the caveat, if this is your first Gazpacho album, you may love it, it's worth the listen. If this is your fifth Gazpacho album then don't expect anything innovative on this one.

I fell in love with Gazpacho's Tick Tock and subsequently acquired their other outputs which all excited me, however none, as much as Tick Tock.

With their latest release "Demon", I for the first time felt let down. For me it is a Gazpacho's weakest output so far. The atmosphere is more dry and sombre, the compositions don't gel and some of the tracks don't seem to get to the point. The longest track: Death Road is plain boring and keeps dragging on ... 18 Minutes and 46 seconds wasted. The other tracks have a bit more to offer but all fall short of being really memorable or exciting.

Moody melancholy, with some fun folk elements. My version of the CD has just four tracks; the Spotify version shows a total of 8 shorter tracks, with the longer songs being broken into multiple parts. Either way, total time is under 46 minutes, so it's a short album. The music itself, despite the wide range of instruments and the variety of genre influences, carries with it a sense of sameness. Most of this is due to the restrained vocals, which contribute to the mood but which don't do much more. I don't dislike the vocals, but they tend to get a bit boring as the album progresses. Comparisons to Radiohead are accurate.

The strongest part of the album is the first track, "I've Been Walking" (Part 1). The music and vocals are less restrained here, more interesting, more variation, more mix of hard and soft. It's a very good song, with some fantastic piano and and violin sections, and the vocals are much more crisp than on the rest of the album. Had the rest of the album been of similar quality, it would have earned four stars. As it is, though, a very solid three.