No, this is not a French wine tasting blurb from Bourgogne or Bordeaux but a new band that I heard recently on the splendid Progzilla Radio Lazland show and was sufficiently intrigued to fetch it into and inserting it into my list of reviewable material. Essentially a trio of Jean-Joseph Bondier on guitars, hyper bassist André Marques and drummer Bruno Chabert, this stimulating new band incorporates deep and direct bass lines that really pack enormous clout, garnished with wicked guitar assaults spanning the wide panorama of effects for good measure, while the rhythmic pace is often tectonic, with or without a Richter scale handy.
The whole has a sense of menace, and of deeply rooted sonic exploration, especially on the raw opening track “Jean-Michel Le Peruvien” where the excoriating bass has a highly distorted /electric tone, with Bondier utilizing that a king of all psychedelic effects, the wah-wah pedal to maximum levels to counteract the electro-modernism on full display. The masculine riffing seems to revel in strangling the pace with incredible noises, like a derelict steamroller paving a highway to the stars. As per the recent new-fangled fad of kicking off with the longest piece off an album, shows me a bold confidence that reeks of progressive bravado, putting up a ferocious challenge to the last 30 years of commercial pooh.
As if channeling a Prog version of the famed Le Mans race, “Socrus Fungus” slams the accelerator to the floorboard with impudence, that ripping bass carves massive slices of terrifying tremor, bent on unconditional sonic surrender. The deviant swerves verge on criminal, any prim or proper care and maintenance overtly disregarded for the sake of keeping the mood lubricious, salivating and nearly lewd. I had to check my heart rate twice in fear of tilting over way too young at 69 years of age. LOL
The French also pride themselves on their sense of humour, what with such a rich and diversified culture (the one I was schooled in, if you want to know) and the wheels stay barely on the road, the hubcaps flying into the ditches on “Discret Comme un Cabri de 100kg”, a zany Russian roulette meets a roller coaster managed by a Coluche-like clown. Its certainly not your standard ‘steak frites’ prog, its Wack ‘n Roll but close. The belching bass throughout easily overcame all the sonic foie gras thrown about on their plate.
Next up, Path of Ilya do a Prince meets “I am going to Burn Your Playhouse Down” ( Paul Young) introduction, Marques absolutely impressive on the slap technique made famous by funksters from yore. Except here, its quirky/jerky, manic but fun. The electric guitars phrasings are out of the classic school, the drums suitable using the entire kit, cymbals akimbo. “La Fameuse (se fait attendre)” has a final stretch slams so hard the concrete foundation in my building is cracking at the seams, ZZ Top meets hard rock. I am stunned. You would be too.
You wanna da Blues? ’’Grésillement du Terroir Altéré’’ dives headlong into Robin Trower meets Led Zep with a screeching guitar display that sounds like puppies running on broken glass, acerbic rants of unmitigated pain, yet that snarly electro-bass just keeps on giving like an abyss of charity. It segues into another extended punch in the gut “Le Canard” keeps the fire lit on the fretboard, the axe flailing with a rocking vengeance, blazingly destructive, wiping out an entire row of rubber mallards in the process. It’s incredible how a singular bass guitar tonal innovation can alter the flow of classic expressions of musical fury. Marques makes his instrument quack like a duck, talk like a duck, and walk like a duck. I guess it’s a duck. This is not just original with classic overtones but an utter revelation. Where did I leave my white flag of surrender.
“Fin du Voyage” is the track I heard that had me bite the bait and it is “la cerise sur le gateau” (cherry on the cake) , after all this was a degustation, a tasting menu of the very highest pedigree, those dammed French chefs really know how to cook with passion. Like a soufflé au chocolat just out of the oven, calculated with meticulous accuracy and perfect temperature, Voila et bon appétit!
A band to watch , this needs a follow up. Sadly, all good things must end, albeit until the next album, n’est-ce pas?
5 Merde alors