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Mekanik destruktiw kommandoh

by

Magma

 
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Mekanik destruktiw kommandoh
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Avg: 4.0 (64 ratings)

French prog giants invent their own language, record masterpiece.

  • We Say...

    Review by Mark Paytress

    Several notable prog-era groups utilized choirs and orchestral instruments — but none made music that sounded anything like this. Formed in Paris in 1969 and fronted by visionary drummer Christian Vander, Magma took the progressive ideal of infusing rock with the classical sensibility to unlikely extremes. Horns, xylophones, piano and a small but often rowdy choir augment the post-psych rock sound, but it's the cyclical format, with motifs recurring opera-style, that lends this 1973 set its pseudo-classical status. Epic in the right sense of the word, Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh is at once heavy and Wagnerian and as fashionably loopy as Burt Bacharach's score for Lost Horizon, released that same year. The subject matter — hippie types flee Earth for the planet Kobaia — was no less preposterous. But you'll not glean that from the lyrics, which are sung in Vander's bespoke Kobaian. Unlike most prog, there is little emphasis on individual virtuosity, though as befits the commune-dwelling combo, it was the whole rather than the parts that mattered. And how!

  • They Say...

    Review by François Couture, All Music Guide

    There is definitely quite a large step from Magma's second LP, 1,001 Degrees Centigrade, to this one, their third. At the same time, MDK represents a transitional period: drummer/composer Christian Vander has definitely abandoned the jazzier leanings of the previous opuses and has now dived head first into martial hymns and a new form of progressive devotional music -- extraterrestrial gospel. But he has also chosen to retain the brass section that gave Kobaïa and 1,001 Degrees Centigrade their signature sound. Therefore, the music has yet to become the relentless rhythmic kaleidoscope that the future would promise. MDK was introduced in the LP's original liner notes (an illuminated delirium by Vander, who rechristens himself Zebëhn Straïn dë Geustaah -- his text, the essence of which is a revelation transmitted to him by the Prophet Nebëhr Gudahtt, is the key text in Magma's mythology) as the third movement of Theusz Hamttaahk, but it was the first one recorded. The previous two movements are "Theusz Hamttaahk" itself, often performed live but not recorded at the time, and Würdah Ïtah, which would become the group's next album. All three album-length pieces share elements (some lyrics, rhythmic cells, and chord sequences), but they are individual stand-alone pieces. MDK showcased for the first time the incredible range of singer Klaus Blasquiz and introduced the ground-moving work of bassist Jannick Top, with and for whom Vander will develop an increasingly rhythm-heavy style, already present here. Between the meticulous developments of "Hortz Fur Dëhn Stekëhn West," the possessed free-form screams in "Nebëhr Gudahtt," and the hymnal chorus of "Mekanïk Kommandöh," MDK is one giant creative blow to the guts, and unsuspecting listeners will be left powerless at the end of its onslaught of mutated funk, pummeling gospel rock, and incantatory vocals in a barbaric invented language. It remains one of Magma's crowning achievements (together with Kohntarkosz) and the best point of entry into Christian Vander's unparalleled musical vision. And if the literary concept bothers you, just ignore it: the music has more than enough power to do without it.

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