MEKANÏK DESTRUKTÏW KOMMANDÖH

Since I'm listening MAGMA, I understand less the Prog listener, when people talk about the genre being pretentious, bombastic and even self indulgent, they use ELP, probably one of the most common bands in Symphonic, but nobody mentions MAGMA, for God's sake, MEKANÏK DESTRUKTÏW KOMMANDÖH sounds as an adaptation of Carmina Burana for an epic movie in the vein of Conan the Barbarian....This is pretentious, self indulgent and bombastic.....And what's the problem? In Prog this can be seen as a virtue and I like it.

Now, even though the album is divided in songs, the reality is that we are talking about a multi part epic, because all the tracks are united, so we have almost 40 minutes of uninterrupted music., but lets try to review it song by song.

The opener "Hortz Fur Dëhn Stekëhn West" is like a dream for a classic Proghead, all the wonderful excesses we learned to love are present in this song, from the strong vocals in the fictitious language Kobaian to the excellent chorus and pompous arrangements, I can't stop listening this and don't understand how I could spend so many years ignoring this excellent music.

"Ïma Sürï Dondaï" follows in the mood of the previous track with an excellent opening by Christian and the feminine choir, the music is brilliant with almost no Jazz connections contrary to what could be expected, more like a combination between Neo Classical and Symphonic Orchestral Prog, not a weak second.

"Kobaia is de Hundin" is a direct continuation of "Ima Suri Dondai", this time the piano intro is simply delightful and the chorus adds that bombastic sound that's so preeminent in this album. The radical changes don't change the mood of the song, but the increasing speed creates some sort of claustrophobic feeling due to the lack of silent spaces, no time to rest. "Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanïk" starts with a mysterious chant but now the keyboards add some sort of electronic sound that reminds a bit of Vangelis, but almost instantly returns to the main chorus that reminds as a constant until the end of the track.

"Neber Gudahtt" keeps the main tune but this time with a soft piano and a repetitive guitar in he vein of MIKE OLDFIELD, the vocals are almost a narration, with Christian Vander showing his versatile range, this song leads with no pause to "Mekanik Kommandoh", would dare to say that both songs are heavily influenced by Wagner's Operas.

"Kreühn Köhrmahn Iss De Hündïn" is by far the most dramatic track, Vander exploits his vocals to an extreme nut sadly he goes to far reaching annoying ranges and that final ring simply destroys my timpani, a good track ruined by the vocals and the final effect, a bad way to close an otherwise outstanding album.

The bonus track is the 34 minutes "MDK alternate version" which is simply magnificent, but as usual I will not comment a song that doesn't come with the original album. Loved the album almost in it's integrity but I consider "Kreühn Köhrmahn Iss De Hündïn" offensive because that sound at the end is physically painful for the listener

Before that track I was ready to rate the album with 5 stars, but after three hours of ear pain, will have to go with 4 stars.