Detailed Reviews [Absurd - 2003 - "Dernieres Sommations"]

Prolusion. "Dernieres Sommations" is the second album by the French band Absurd. According to the CD press kit, their first full-length output, "Pour un oui ou pour un nom" (2001), was very well received by the lovers of Metal and those into Art-Rock as well, and the band's current style is "Iron Maiden meets Ange".

Synopsis. However, "Dernieres Sommations" does not concern Art-Rock almost at all. In fact, the music here is both inspired by Classic Hard Rock of the 1970s and heavily influenced by Iron Maiden. There are only the three songs on this album (no instrumentals here), the contents of which correspond to the conception of Progressive Rock: De la magie sur les tapis, Tout seul dans mon slip, and L'albatros (3, 4, & 7). The first of them, featuring Ange's Christian Decamp on vocals and representing a real Progressive Hard Rock with elements of music of the East, is the most diverse and interesting song here. The presence of the parts of saxophone and bagpipe on the second and third of the said songs respectively enriches their overall sound, so the talk of the availability of elements of Art-Rock on each of them is at least admissible. The music on all of the other tracks on the album isn't progressive and is mostly about a blend of Hard Rock and NWBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal). However, the main drawbacks of this album are the lack of originality in general and the use of the solos taken directly from the repertories of Deep Purple and Iron Maiden and those from Classical Music in particular. All of the 'borrowed' solos sound baldly in comparison with the originals and look here really absurd, if not ridiculous. Among a few of the positive aspects of "Dernieres Sommations" is the dense, energetic sound, the frequent use of complex meters, and the mastery of bassist, drummer, and vocalist, each of whom is a great musician.

Conclusion. I think that potentially, Absurd are more than capable to perform a real progressive Hard Rock. They only should follow their own stylistics and avoid any cliches, not to mention the use of the other's musical parts. First however, they should be open to apprehend any constructive criticism.

VM: May 21, 2003