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EN CHEMINXaalRIO/Avant-Prog3.69 | 31 ratings |
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Cesar Inca
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Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator |
Xaal's first album was quite a revelation for the prog scene in the early 90s. The
mixture of Crimson trend, jazz-rock and regular melodic symph prog that the band
developed across this album's repertoire felt really amazing, regarding that it was really
mature for a debut and for such young musicians. Also, you will find lots of energy in
the trio's performances and a clever use of complexity in the arrangements: at times,
that complexity is enhanced by the use of some RIO-inspired tricks, like dark ambiences
and subtle dissonant textures. "En Chemin" is really great, from beginning to end. The
opener 'L'enfant' is related to the KC-meets-Camel aura that Shylock recreated and
mastered some time ago. 'Ballade' goes to the fresher vibes of funky-jazz, with the
added intervention of a duet of sax and trumpet that helps the basic trio to fulfill
properly the joyful demands of the basic jam. 'Hkunk's Garden' retakes the path of
track 1, only including some exotic flavors in the main theme; just to keep the logic
working, I guess, the title track, track no. 4, displays a predominant jazzy colorfulness
just like track 2 did, but this time, including some disturbing adornments in the interlude
that may remind the listener of some sort of accessible RIO. 'Talisman' is driven softly
and tastefully through the trend of fusion, portraying a patently modern sound, like
some sort of Tribal Tech without a background of digital synths. After a mysterious and
subtly dense guitar-synth intro, 'Le Vieux Chasseur de Papillons' follows a similar path to
that of the title track: the energetic climax that is built up before the closing reprise of
the intro theme shows how powerful this trio was. 'Ascension' finds the band exploring
seriously and deeply their taste for accessible RIO: the darkness of the motifs and
counterpoints is elegantly achieved, although perhaps a little more strength could have
been used here. But strength is what is not missing at all in the 11-minute 'Byblos',
which installs a "Red"-era KC vibe on a solid jazz-rock basis during the first part. Then
comes a languid interlude based on aleatory guitar and synth layers, from which the
dissonant fire of the second part emerges in a majestic way. This time, the use of
guests on brass instruments serves as a vehicle for RIO mannerisms, helping to build up
a climax. This is the richest number in the album. The frenzy of the 1-minute 'Finale'
sounds like a funny impersonation of the release of inner demons: a surprising, joyful
way to end a great album.
Cesar Inca |
4/5 |
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