ROUGE CIEL

Individual elements from this one tour de force are explored further on the rest of the album. "L'Occupation" and the beautifully intricate "Flocons De Son" go even further in on the baroque vibe: here, the band lays down their rock instruments and instead jams out on violin, piano, trumpet and mandolin in an AltrOck-esque chamber prog style. On the other hand, "Teuteuta" and the lengthy, chaotic "Névréalité Postparapsychophysiologique" venture more into jazz fusion territory, with the latter especially serving for the most part as a launchboard for fascinating, aggressive guitar and piano solos on top of a riff in an uneven meter. And interspersed between all of these songs is a series of free improvisations which focus on percussive and mostly non-tonal extended techniques ("Bond Précisionnel").

While the album isn't free from filler, this band delivers when they're in form and the overall experience is a highly positive one. This is a must-listen for avant-prog aficionados.

''Rouge ciel'' is a demanding journey through RIO,improvisational Jazz and Progressive Rock.Highly complicated,the band twists from dissonant parts to groovy passages and even folk touches here and there.Complex interplays are constantly present with violin (fantastic performance by Del Fabbro),trumpets and electric piano leading the way,while there are also plenty of individual solos,even with a heavy use of mandolin.The complex grooves are paused by sudden breaks and the listening becomes sometimes really haunting.Unlike many groups of the style,Rouge Ciel often use dynamic electric guitars to add another dimension to their sound,yet the tracks alternate between acoustic and electric ones.But always there is something to like in each one of them,either the rich grooving parts,the smooth jazzy passages or the earth-shattering interplays.

This is a band to keep an eye on.Some melody around wouldn't hurt,but fans of RIO and the jazzier side of Progressive Rock will find this album particularly challenging but ''Rouge ciel'' comes recommended also for those into adventurous listenings in general.

This album does not give itself easily either, even more so if you are not an expert on this type of music and the rather ugly artwork (looks like medicinal computer images of viruses) does not help either. The spectrum is wide and goes from abstract music Parenthese Hypnotique to mid-tempo Eastern-European semi-jigs (the closing Brivichuse >> WTF??). But before reaching the end of the album, Rouge Ciel (red sky in Anglais) will have taken you through a fascinating trip from jazz-rock reminding you of Reinhardt/Grapelli days (Campagne) through heavy dissonance ala Univers Zoyd (Mathilde) and a lighter one mixed light Can-like Krautrock (the amazing Abricotabricole) to the fascinating Flux D'Energie (intense violin exchanges with a sweet piano) and complete organized chaos (Etude Dissonante).

The only slight remark I will say is that the album is a little unfocused, because a bit wide- spectrum-ed. Outside of that we have a stunning debut album (which will take unfortunately almost four years to follow-up) with no weak tracks, which allows us to think Quebec's second wave of prog (started in the late 90's) is worthy of their late-70's ascendancy.