From Record Heaven comes another album to take note of. Gargamel can best be described as playing some sort of canterbury fusion prog rock. First in line of the 5 long (6 to 17 min) tracks on “Watch for the umbles” is the eight and halve minute one and only instrumental “Ties”. Intense rock with some jazz and baroque influences, dominated by keyboards and guitar, and brilliant, complex and sometimes chaotic instrumental passages. The instruments work in a sort of call-and-response mode, but when they play all together the complexity is astounding, with each instrument playing a distinct role in creating a tapestry of interweaving sounds. On “Into the cold”Gargamel spread a sometimes dreamy, sometimes intricate mixture between rock and jazz enriched with a thorough portion of flute, violin, saxophone and glockenspiel. “ Agigitated mind” is very Bo Hansson-like multi-faceted. Sweeping from pretty, rough parts with synths to slower passages with delicate flute, hammond and acoustic parts, which takes up a whole set of different styles. This album needs intense listening, and even me, though being absolutely persuaded by this band, sometimes felt a bit exhausted from its many rhythm changes and the rather boring vocals. I can't really figure out what I don't like about their singer, but he just sort of irritates me. I think it's a combination of his voice and the vocal melodies that he chooses .. Though I have a strong distaste for the voice, I really enjoy all 5 songs from their 1st album ‘Watch for the umbles”.

Besides prog rock bands such as Yes, ELP, Genesis, Gentle Giant and Focus, other useful comparisons would include Jethro Tull, Nucleus, Bo Hansson, Eloy, Amon Duul II,…

85/100

Cosmicmasseur.