Art Zoyd uncompromised
Santa Dog | Norfolk, VA United States | 06/24/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the second (and still the most recent) recording by Art Zoyd since the departure of Thierry Zaboitzeff and like Ubique, it has few moments of ease or lightness. I'm sure that many fans of the group are still missing "Dr Zab" since he added a bit of humor and playfulness while still maintaining a very high level of compositional excellence.
Having said that, I really like this recording!
With Patricia Dallio (check out her CD "L'Encre Des Voix Secretes")and Kaspar T Toeplitz as co-composers, Gerard Hourbette has created something akin to a soundtrack for the movie Metropolis. In fact, that's exactly how this music is performed in concert. The band play live to support the showing of the film. As fans of the band may be aware, Art Zoyd has been doing this for some time with movies such as Nosferatu, Faust and Haxan. Unfortunately I've never seen the band perform so I can't comment on the effectiveness of this as a concert event, however there is a DVD available of Nosferatu which features their soundtrack music as one of the options. (You can perhaps judge for yourself whether the audio enhances the video or not. I like the music in either case.)
The music on Metropolis is very evocative of the Machine Age updated to the present. The attention to detail in the orchestration of the sounds is staggering. There are many layers to the sound which open up on repeated listenings and - despite the overall "darkness" on the surface, the music crackles with a kind of brilliance.
The propulsive opener (composed by Dallio) piles one mechanistic rhythm on top of another until the whole thing is grooving like a train with a genius for polyrhythms! Each piece uses many interlocking meters to create a very complex polyphonic texture with multiple layers of activity going on simultaneously.
This is the sort of recording you're likely to either love or hate - it's difficult to imagine not being affected by it one way or the other. If you're a fan of Art Zoyd's previous soundtrack music, you can't go wrong with this one. If you're unfamiliar with this type of intersection between "serious" composition and "rock sensibility", you may well find this music to be a tonic for intentional listening. If you want something guaranteed to drive the uninitiated from the room (or irritate your neighbors), look no further!"
Track Listings (3) - Disc #1