Short Reviews [Abacab - 2004 - "Les 3 Coleurs"]

This group consists of two singing guitarists, two keyboardists, bassist, and drummer. These Frenchmen have been together since the early '90s and are well known in their motherland, especially for their histrionic live shows. They have released five albums under the vehicle of Contresens before they decided to change their Genesis-inspired style and, consequently, the name of the band. So, "Les 3 Coleurs" is the first release by Abacab, but the musicians' huge experience is striking immediately. The band's new name isn't original, unlike the music where there is nothing in common with "Abacab", Genesis, and anything else in general. Two out of the five tracks are very short (about 30 seconds in duration each) and are synthesizer intros to the following compositions. The songs are with French lyrics. Most likely, they represent the three different colors implied in the album's title, though the style that they are done in is unified. This is an exceptionally fresh sounding modern symphonic Art-Metal (yeah, just so, to my mind) with several different vocal parts and instrumental interludes on each of them, all filled with remarkably diverse and intriguing arrangements. The vocals are also original, and only the way of delivering them isn't a novelty and is typically French. All in all, Abacab's 'three-color' album is very good. In fact, only its brevity has prevented me to rate it higher.

Vitaly Menshikov: April 19, 2005