Artist/ Band: Gazpacho
Title: Night
Label: Intact Records
Year of Release: 2007
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Norway�s own Gazpacho returns with their fourth studio album, Night. Just as previous releases, the band consists of Jan Henrik Ohme (vocals), Jon Vilbo (guitars), Thomas Andersen (keyboards) and Mikael Kr�mer (violin) along with Robert Johansen (drums) and Kristian Torp (bass), Joining the band this time is multi-instrumentalist, Kristian "The Duke" Skedsmo, who adds flutes, whistles, accordion, didgeridoo, banjo, mandolin, you name it. To me the end result is their best album to date.

This time around there are songs in long play format, starting with the opening track Dream Of Stone which clocks in at 17 minutes and the closing track Massive Illusion at just over 11 minutes. These are the band�s longest songs they�ve recorded and by far shows the maturity of their sound. Also a small tidbit, this album was meant to be one long song but it was broken into 5 parts. It�s amazing how much the band has evolved from their demo cd from 2002 I reviewed called "get it while it's cold".

I also noticed while the band keeps the music low key like Marillion and Radiohead, they break out more on this release and in my opinion are on the right track with forging their own sound. In fact I find �Night� to be what Marillion�s last album should have sounded like. I know that�s a bold statement but I stand by it.

I've read that two songs are referenced to the murders of famous people of the past, Valerie's Friend (Andy Warhol) and Massive Illusion (John Lennon). These two songs are by far the darkest themed songs the band has ever done. I could be wrong but I think I can stand to be corrected. You�ll have to listen for yourself to draw your own conclusions. I would recommend this cd to the fans of the band as well as Marillion, Radiohead and similar bands. I even read they've been compared to latter day Talk Talk. I wouldn't know that reference but I'm sure it's an important description.

Even though the album was intended as one song, it's still best listened to in one sitting. So set aside some down time and relax to the sounds of the Night! Oh and "listen to it loud, with the lights off" for the full dreamy effect. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on August 24th, 2007

Tracks:

1. Dream of Stone (17:00)
2. Chequered Light Buildings (6:34)
3. Upside Down (9:41)
4. Valerie's Friend (6:29)
5. Massive Illusion (13:37)

Reviewed Discography

Related reviews by this artist/band at ProgNaut.com.

Contact Us Back

Copyright 1998-2012, ProgNaut.com, All Rights Reserved.