* En anglais uniquement
This is the second of two French bands that have chosen to name themselves after a monstrous beast created out of the pit of hell that was author H.P. Lovecraft's imagination. The actual location of hell was where
Yog Sothoth supposedly guarded the gates, but apparently while walking the streets of France this monster engages in fairly mainstream musical interests. Another of Lovecraft's fancies was a composer and violinist whose music exerted a powerful supernatural control over others: nothing so strange here, the '90s
Yog Sothoth being a brilliant and fairly commercial world music outfit, the monster's name having been used in the previous decade by progressive rockers in the style of
Gong and
Can.
Guitarist Lionel Mauguen is one of the founding members of the second musical incarnation of the hellish gatekeeper, drawing together a blend of instruments and themes from different cultures that, like the menu in a French restaurant, is a reliable checklist of the typical interests and desires of this generation -- if every diner were an eclectic French musician. Jazz, klezmer, Turkish music, Eastern European rhythms and melodies, North African percussion, and fine vocals in Arabic by Sofiane Saidi are among the goods offered in a typical set. ~ Eugene Chadbourne