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General => Reviews => Topic started by: Zantera on July 14, 2010, 06:02:53 AM

Title: [Music] Gazpacho - Night
Post by: Zantera on July 14, 2010, 06:02:53 AM
Artist: Gazpacho
Album: Night
Genre: Neo-Prog/Art-Rock
Year: 2007

Tracklist:
    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

First of all, i would just like to point out that this is one of my hidden gems.
A band not many have heard about, and hopefully by doing this review and telling others about them, more people will get to hear this amazing music. :)
Gazpacho is a Norwegian-band, described by one critic as being "classical post ambient nocturnal atmospheric neo-progressive folk world rock".
If that is too long for you, then i guess "art-rock" or "neo-prog" works, even though the music itself is very hard to put your finger on, with influences from many genres.
The band's influences includes Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and Marillion for example.
Another special thing about the band, is the fact that they're not on a record-label, instead they utilize the internet.

Night is the 4th album by the band, displaying big changes to the sound.
The album is darker then the earlier ones, and theme-based on the subject "dreams".
As some of you might know, i'm a true sucker for dark/atmospheric albums with themes, and this album should be right up your alley if you enjoy albums like "Fear of a Blank Planet" by Porcupine Tree, or "Rapid Eye Movement" by Riverside, just to name a few.
Got you interested there? then good. ;)
This is also an album where the expression "a journey" would fit, because it's really progressive in that way; that it always goes somewhere else.
The album has 5 songs, all being not only fantastic, but linked together in a wonderful way.
Listening to it in headphones during the night, in your dark room is recommended, and enhances the experience even more.

The album opens with the 17-minute long epic entitled "Dream of Stone", a song that could be compared to "Anesthetize" by Porcupine Tree.
It's very progressive and atmospheric, and it builds up pretty much for every second.
There's so many great passages during these 17 minutes, and when you've gotten a bit familiar with the song, those minutes just fly by, because you're too busy enjoying it.
Personally it took a few listens for me to realize how amazing it was, but in the end i knew it was one of those perfectly crafted epics.
"Chequered Light Buildings" comes next, and brings your thoughts back to Fear of a Blank Planet (the album) even more, because as the second song, it is keyboard-based.
Softer, atmospheric and beautiful.
"Upside Down" and "Valerie's Friend" makes the center-piece of the album, and probably my favorite part of the whole thing.
2 amazing songs, both very different from each other, but the way they're crafted together.. probably one of my favorite examples of when songs "melt into" each other.
The first features some beautiful flute-instruments (among many other instruments), and the latter has some of the heavier guitars on the album.
"Massive Illusion" closes the album in a great way, and it has a little more folk-ish touch then the other songs.
Clocking in at almost 14 minutes, the album closes with an epic just like it opened with an epic.
The outro is fantastic as well, just leaves you thinking. :P

Overall it's a fantastic album, and i would easily put it in my top10-15 albums somewhere.
Who would i recommend it to?
Everyone who likes progressive music, but especially if you like the combination between a bit darker sound and atmosphere.
I've compared it to REM and FOABP earlier in this review, but it isn't a heavy album, it's more based on the lyrical-theme and combining many instruments into atmospheric, dark and beautiful music.

Points: 5/5
Highlight: The last 2 minutes of "Upside Down", and the fading into the intro on "Valerie's Friend".

(https://home.planet.nl/~nomzamo/albums/gazpachonight.jpg)

Reviewed by: Jimmy O. (Zantera)