Band : Gargamel
Album Title : Descending
Label : Transubstans Records
Distributor : Clearspot
Release Date : 2009
Review : CD
Pretty interesting dark prog from Norway, which borders somewhere between symphonic rock and King Crimson/Jethro Tull-ish 70s rockformat. This is probably not a band you'll really like the first time you hear them (unless you've heard their debut Watch For The Umbles before), but they grow on you.
My fave “Labyrinth” (17.40) with Diagonal-grooves and searing solowork, “Descending” (9.59) and “Prevail the sea” (14.00 ) with an Ennio Morricone-melodyare prog epics, combining lengthy King Crimson(Lizard-era)/Pink Floyd (Ummagumma-era) /Jethro Tull(A Passion Play-era) passages with more psych-influenced sections highlighting imaginative guitar harmonies and jazzy hammond arrangements. Some of the guitar patterns in the title number recall Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, but that by no means defines the Gargamel sound. There is a clever usage of mellotron, horns, trompet and flute, performed flawlessly. The band is really good, although it may take some time for some people to get used to their way of singing. The best way to describe their vocalist it would be that he sounds like Peter Hamill from Van Der Graaf Generator.

Maintaining an otherworldly, claustrophobic mood throughout, this Norwegian outfit excel at keeping things at all times thought provoking, interesting and exhilarating.

90/100

Cosmicmasseur.