1001° Centigrades - Magma

1001° Centigrades - Magma (1971)

1. Rïah Sahïltaahk - 21:45
2. "Iss" Lanseï Doïa - 11:46
3. Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk - 8:23

French progressive band Magma stands alone in the annals of rock music. Founding member and primary composer Christian Vander (drums) sought to tell an epic tale, spread over ten albums, about the destruction of Earth, the assimilation of humanity into an alien race on the planet Kobaïa, and the conflict between the Kobaïans and the remnant of humanity left behind on Earth. Since human culture ultimately does not survive, the story is told by the alien overlords, in their own language. The fact that the albums are sung in Kobaïan, a phonetic language invented by the band, is just one of many other-worldly elements of the music.

The three lengthy pieces on Magma's second album are stylistically rooted in jazz, but they also feature many of the musical elements the band would make their trademark: rhythmic repetition, complex song structure, creative chord changes, chant-like melodies, and (of course) Kobaïan lyrics. I believe the story centers around the Kobaïans returning to an almost uninhabitable Earth to search for other human survivors, but I can't prove it... The jazz focus lightens the sound of an otherwise intense album, with plenty of adventurous horn and woodwind charts decorating the complex structures. The opening "Rïah Sahïltaahk" is a veritable cornucopia of styles, encompassing up-tempo (almost danceable) Kobaïan party songs, symphonic instrumental vignettes, creative jazz arrangements, and menacing monotone war chants, punctuated by percussive blasts from Vander. The whole forms an organic and entrancing journey - impressive in its own right, but also a noteworthy warm-up for the band's later album-length song suites.

The two other songs offer musical treasures of their own. "'Iss' Lanseï Doïa" starts with mercurial bass, piano, and fluttering woodwinds before picking up into a horn-led modern jazz madrigal replete with intertwining harmonies among the many instrumentalists. When lead singer Klaus Blasquiz comes in, he lurches back and forth between a sunny theme and a guttural, amelodic vocal over chilly Fender Rhodes piano and haunting xylophone. Fascinating. The closing "Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk" features some more traditional musical elements, including an impressive piano solo from Francois Cahen, but it too cycles through a fair number of styles, alternatively invigorating and spooky.

Perhaps a bit more inviting than later Magma albums, 1001° Centigrades is an impressive opus in the realm of creative rock and jazz. Though jazz never disappears from the band's palate, the sound would morph drastically with their next album...

Arbitrary rating: 4.5 out of 5 modern jazz madrigals