LAMPIÃO REI

The Brazilian act PAPANGU made quite the splash in 2021 with its eccentric and eclectic metalized zeuhl contributions to the prog universe. "Holoceno" embraced all the workings of a 21st century prog act forging ahead in a crowded room with the entire history of prog, metal and Brazilian homegrown influences to stew in a cauldron of its own making. The album was an amazing blend of over the top brutal prog and sludge metal all kept nice and orderly with the bubbling rhythms of Magma inspired zeuhl. The prog and avant-metal world has anxiously awaited a proper followup and in the calendar year 2024, this João Pessoa based band has unleashed its newest stylistic approach on its sophomore release LAMPIÃO REI, uh, Portuguese for "Lamp King?" Hmmm. No, don't worry this isn't a concept album about electrical apparatuses but rather the name LAMPIÃO refers to the nickname of the 20th century Brazilian bandit Virgulino Ferreira da Silva who could fire a rifle so lightning fast that the gun release made a fire that resembled a lamp.

This album while in Portuguese actually narrates the dark history of Brazil's underclass and socio-political activism but lyrics and storytelling set aside for those who comprehend like zero Portuguese, LAMPIÃO REI is quite a musical departure from its predecessor with less focus on the sludgy Mastodon styled metal and much more emphasis on knotty avant-prog, jazz fusion and local Brazilian folk musical styles ranging from udigrudi and forró to other local flavors of Northeastern Brazil. While the hardcore metalheads will scratch their heads with this one, the hardened proggers will absolutely love the wild mix of styles that permeate each and every one of the album's nine varied tracks which seamlessly blend moments of avant-prog, jazz fusion, zeuhl and Brazilian cheerfulness as they hop, skip and jump through varying styles. That includes a few moments of metal as well since the band has not abandoned the metallic oomph altogether however the addition of moments of Canterbury jazz and more demanding time signatures certainly gives LAMPIÃO REI a completely different vibe.

Add to that the production is much clearer this time around. If "Holoceno" was all about crafting darkened soundscapes that were murky and gravelly as to amplify the effects of the metal mojo, this second offering is more about crafting a warm inviting feel for the most part although the tracks differ so much in style that often it sounds like a completely different band. While "Boitat? (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos)" features a loud and obnoxious growled vocal style with heavy guitars and busy psychedelic atmospheres, the track "Sol Raiar (Caminhando na Manh? Bonita)" exhibits Canterbury jazz warmth with Mike Ratledge styled keys along with cheerful traditional Brazilian musical accompaniments. A very strange mix and not one that i've ever heard! The band also offers touches of Gentle Giant knottiness ("Ruínas") and pure samba jazz moments reminiscent of the late great Antônio Carlos Jobim. For all its wild experimentalism though, unfortunately the album fails to find a cohesion of any sort as it seems like a free-for-all which is something that may alienate a lot of fans who lapped up the debut album (such as myself!)

I'm never one to diss a band for experimenting and moving onto something out of its comfort zone but perhaps for PAPANGU the bold change of style on LAMPIÃO REI may have come a little too soon as the fanbase was most certainly expecting a similarly styled followup to the more metallic "Holoceno," at least i was! Musically this album is quite brilliant and the musicians clearly have demonstrated their ability to pretty much tackle the entire prog universe in one sitting however as an album this one just doesn't seem to jive well from beginning to end as the continuity is out of whack and it just seems unfocused in so many ways. It's definitely an interestingly unique album with many interesting prog hybridization going on and i've been told by the band personally that this album is somewhat of an anomaly as the more familiar metal sounds will return on album #3. While i've tried to embrace this one at the same level of "Holoceno," it just doesn't come across as an album that actually can convey a concept from start to finish. Definitely a really good album but just not as much so as "Holoceno."

3.5 rounded down for inconsistency

A few years back I reviewed an album from a new act within the zeuhl space of progressive rock, or more accurately, progressive metal. That album was Holoceno by Papangu, and it is still shaped to be one of my favorite albums within the zeuhl music scene by how they effortlessly melded sludgy, heavy metal with the weirdness of zeuhl music. Now, three years after their stunning debut, Papangu seem to have changed directions with their sophomore effort of Lampião Rei.

Lampião Rei is definitely quite the shift in terms of ideals when it comes to the music that the band promoted with their stellar first record, going less metal and more into a more traditional progressive rock sound. This album kind of reminds me of Pale Communion by Opeth in a way, being an album that moves away from the metal that the band once had in favor of. Now, unlike Opeth, I feel that Papangu sort of jumped the ship of intense zeuhl metal way too soon in their careers. They still have got it in some regards, especially with the stellar third track of Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos), but it does feel as though they abandoned a ship that wasn't even crashing yet.

Though, while the biggest fault of the album is the band abandoning the more metal aspects from their first that made them really unique, I think they combined some extra elements that really work very well for this record's more rocking sound. The most notable of which is the expansion of the more jazzy substance that was admittedly a little missing from Holoceno. Zeuhl did originate as a more jazzy genre of prog rock music, especially when you consider Christian Vander's inspirations being a good deal of jazz musicians like John Coltrane. So, I think seeing the more jazzy elements of zeuhl be pushed into more of a limelight here is really nice. The last two tracks of Ruínas and Rito de coroação certainly showcase more of that fusion sound more prominently, sort of sounding like more intense versions of some Herbie Hancock songs. I think it's really great that they're expanding their sounds into some new and fun directions.

Another musical genre they are also starting to explore, at least in small doses, is more Brazilian genres such as forró, udigrudi, and MPB. It's really only noticeable in one track, that being Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita), but even then that track is amazing. I have been getting into more Brazilian music as of late, like Os Mutantes, Milton Nascimento, and Secos & Molhados, so hearing Papangu go into a more MPB sound for one of their songs was certainly a treat! I guess where Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos) was the stellar offering of zeuhl metal for this album, Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita) is the stellar offering of more traditional Brazilian music that the band wanted to try out upon here. Kind of makes me want a Brazilian pop rock record from Marco Mayer now.

Still, while the new sounds shown here are very great, I still think they should've upped the metal aspects way more. That is definitely my main problem with this record, and it is the fact that they struck gold on their first record, but seemed to move on from it way too quickly that kind of irks me. I think the jazzier sound this record has would meld extremely well with the more brutal metal that Holoceno showed, but I guess that just isn't in the cards yet.

I still really like this album despite its shortcomings, but I do hope Papangu doesn't abandon their metal aspects in future releases. Lampião Rei shows lots of promise for the future of this still cool new band.

Best tracks: Acende a luz: II. O encandeio / III. Sagüatimbó, Boitatá (Incidente na pia batismal da Capela de Bom Jesus dos Aflitos), Sol raiar (Caminhando na manhã bonita)

Worst tracks: Acende a luz: I. Alquimia, Mulher rendeira