Eskaton - ''4 Visions'' {France} [1979] @320 (Zeuhl)

To put simply, it's a mind blower. The most obvious comparison would be to fellow Frenchmen Magma. (magma's music: Wagner-esque grandeur with Eastern European rhythms and melodies, Germanic-like chanting (keep in mind that MAGMA sang in a made-up language), and almost ritual-like repetition. (slowly building grooves to a frenzy) In fact, imagine Magma with much of the superfluous stuff stripped away, less experimental, with French female vocals, and perhaps a more accessible, consistently ass kicking approach, and you might have a good idea of what Eskaton sounds like. Indeed, taken on a purely musical level, it rivals the best of Magma's classic middle period. Of course, it doesn't have that same ground breaking experimental attitude, and the originality factor could certainly play into the individual mileage of any listener. Still, I'd have a hard time believing any Magma fan who didn't at least dig the album on a visceral level. I mean, the record smokes from beginning to end. There are no weak moments at all throughout the album, no filler. Pop it in, turn it up, and simply revel in growling bass, crushing drum rhythms and utterly intense synthesizer flourishes. The band builds into explosive, thundering climaxes that literally send shivers up and down my spine. The lead vocalists certainly help differentiate Eskaton from their influences. All the lyrics are in French, and a male counterpoint a la Klaus Basquiz is absent. Both female vocalists are tremendous however, though I have a hard time differentiating between the two. Their eerily melodic contributions factor heavily throughout all of the album's compositions.

The opening of "Attente", with its thick synthesizer riff, just before the band falls into thundering march with a chant of "Soleil!", has to be one of my favorite moments. "Ecoute" has bass riffs so menacing, and a climax so overpowering that it drove my colleague Mike Prete to "prog orgasm", as he so eloquently put it. "Le Cri" changes the pace of things at the very end of the album, slowing things down and presenting a fantastic extended synthesizer solo. Mesmerizing.(reviewed by Greg Northrup.)

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