1001° CENTIGRADES [AKA: 2]

The second Magma is a lot stronger then I anticipated after being slightly disappointed with the debut. It's still very much rooted in jazz-rock, but over the course of the album it gradually develops into a full blown Zeuhl attack, featuring heavy war-like rhythms, unconventional vocals and crazed theatricals.

The first piece is the most traditionally jazzy, mainly due to the jazz drumming, the keyboard chords and extensive horn section. The singing is very unusual though and originally it made me think of recitative parts from operas. Now I'd rather say it sits somewhere between jazzy, operatic and avant-garde. While I'm usually very fond of Magma's non-conventional approach to vocals, they do not entirely satisfy me here. Also the music is not Magma's best yet, it's swinging, original and adventurous but it doesn't convince me as much as the following two tracks on the album. It seems to lack the coherence, power and purpose of later Magma works.

Also Iss is a dominantly jazzy piece, but this time with a dreamy lounge atmosphere. The mood is occasionally broken by a threatening section with low rough vocals, sounding as if Captain Beefheart poked his nose into the recordings. The second half of the track is dominated by a repeated loop on piano, a typical Zeuhl feature that Magma has further explored ever since: the art of making a repetitive phrase into an entrancing one. I think Iss is one of Magma's best studio pieces, certainly when looking at their first few years.

The closing Ki adds a few more Zeuhl elements, especially the solemn main theme and the more warlike rock drumming brings it closer to the sound Magma achieved on MDK and Köntarkösz. But the jazz presence is still very strong as well, after the threatening and cacophonous bits in the opening section, the track mainly operates in soft dreamy jazz textures.

Based on the excellent second side of the album, 3 stars feel rather short. But this is Magma and I need to establish some margin to be able to distinguish between the many masterpieces they would continue to create. Had this been from any other band I would certainly have given 4.