DEBILE MENTHOL

See the separate album reviews for the majority of the contents, but the two bonus tracks on the first album are well in the spirit of this Avant Prog, often approaching the grotesque and absurd. The release's booklet contains a number of image & text collages, which apparently have no link with the original albums, but reinforce the absurd and nonsensical side of their music.

Most likely, this is the only Debile Menthol CD release (it says the vinyls are still available) that is still available in the second half of the 00's, but it always better than nothing. If you enjoy weird Dadaist European folkloric music, this release is really aimed at you.

The vocal bits are often grotesque, inducing a sense of lack of seriousness, but this does not affect the music too much, a bit as if Zappa's crazy vocals would've stopped you from enjoying the rest of his music. Only the closing Cul De Sac seems to stand a bit out of the rest of the album as it sounds like early Univers Zero somber acoustic modern classical music. While this album is probably more complex, it seems that in the long range, it was less influential than its predecessor. Probably best to start with their debut, rather than this one;

While Debile Menthol's music is a rather crazy pot-pourri of musical influences and borrowings, they often remain fairly accessible, fun, often going into the bombastic and grotesque folkloric fair music (like the Oktoberfest beer-bingeing music or circus music for example) and I bet you that if she was still alive today, my grandmother could find some of these pieces amusing and might just be tapping her foot along. The album is fairly acoustic (just some synths and electric guitars) and mainly instrumental, with only a few weird French rather-funny vocals in off-voices, but they can get demented as well. In the album highlight A Nos Mamans (To Our Mothers), they sound for a small minute like the Sranglers, if you can believe it. Other tracks can sound like some crazy Devo or Talking Heads (Regarde Par La Fenêtre and Crash Que Peut), but the whole thing being much more complex and as much fun.

Most likely one of the most influential album in the "Avant Prog" genre, given its early release date, and a fun one too. Only for progressive nutheads with a few loosened bolts above the neck level.

Right from the opening moments of this album, we know we are in for quite a ride. Bim-Bam is about as condensed as energy gets, and, as I pointed out earlier, it is combined with great ideas, resulting in an amazing opening song that truly sets the tone for the album (and what a tone it is). The vocals that come on top are as frantic as if not more frantic than the music. Their vocalist, like with Topi Lehtipuu of Hoyry Kone and especially Damo Suzuki of CAN, has the ability to make the music itself make more sense. Sure, he sings in French, but language should not matter when it comes to music (and I happen to like the sound of French, though there really aren't any languages I don't like). The rest of the album is in a generally similar vein as Bim-Bam, but without sounding repetitive. For example, the song A Quoi Pensent-Ils (what are they thinking?) is generally subdued (on the surface), relying more on subtle bass work rather than pounding drums, but it is equally as strange and effective as Bim-Bam. Avalanche takes a new direction altogether, focusing more on combining avant-garde ideals with great melody, similar in nature but not in sound to Frank Zappa's work.

What all of this results in is an album where we are presented with a diverse selection of music sure to give everyone something to enjoy (and, for RIO/avant fans like me, a whole lot to enjoy). They have managed to successfully create a unique sound, one that is enchanting and enticing, always engaging, never boring, and quite rewarding. If you like adventurous music, and don't mind if, at times, it seems strange and "out there," this is the perfect album for you. It probably won't ever be regarded as a defining RIO/avant prog album, but it certainly deserves to be in every prog collection. A very fun album, and highly recommended.