Missa Atropos --- Gazpacho --- 2010 (Kscope)
Yes, admittedly it's a somewhat overused topic, a theme countless rock bands have explored in hundred of albums, and everyone seems to have their take on it, but Gazpacho still decided to have a shot at it. So here we are, with yet
another album about a guy who's trapped in a lighthouse, waiting to die and writing his will in the hope of seeing Atropos, one of the Greek Fates. I know, I know, you've heard it all before...
What? No, seriously.
This is the kind of thing these guys from Norway get up to. I mean, it's cold up there, maybe it helps their creative juices crystallise or something, but who would ever think of such a subject for an album, even a concept album? Well, firstly you're probably guessing that Gazpacho are a progressive rock band, and insofar as labels can be stuck conveniently on music, yes, they would fall into that category. Their music has been compared to, among others, Radiohead, Marillion and a-ha (?), but are Gazpacho anything like any, or all, of the abovementioned?
“Missa Atropos” is their seventh album, but this is really the first time I've come in contact with them (again, thank you “Classic Rock Presents Prog” magazine!), and it's the first that's been commercially released on a proper label, their previous six having all been self-financed and released, to allow the guys to keep their day jobs. Judging by the quality on this album though, and by the overall positive reaction of critics and fans alike, those jobs may very well be advertised soon, as Gazpacho find themselves catapulted into the realm of true prog rockstars.
Opening on what sounds like a radio signal (you remember radio signals, don't you?) then a piano intro with chanting or praying in the background, “Mass for Atropos part 1” certainly catches the attention, despite its being less than two minutes long. Thomas Andersen is the man behind the keyboard, and there's a very brief spat of percussion from Lars Erik Asp, before “Defence mechanism” introduces the rest of the band, particularly vocalist Jan Henrik Ohme and guitarist Jon-Arne Vibo. Ohme's voice is soft and gentle, but clearly audible even when his bandmates break loose. I can certainly hear the Marillion comparisons here, with deep, progressive style keyboards and lovely guitar passages supplemented by violin from Mikael Kromer. It may not have the hooks required for a single --- it's too long anyway, at over six minutes --- but this song will impress you and remain with you for some time.
As in many concept albums, the plot is a little hard to follow, but even apart from that, well, the plot is a little hard to follow. What I mean is, it's an odd story. As I mentioned at the beginning, “Missa Atropos” (Miss Atropos in Norwegian) concerns the main character who is dying, but retires to a lighthouse to write --- something, I don't know. The Wiki entry says his will, but although the guy has done his best on the entry there, his grasp of English is not perfect and I'm not entirely certain he has it right. Atropos is, or was, or was said to be, one of the three Fates in Greek mythology, known as the Morae. They spun the lives of men on threads, one beginning the thread, one spinning it out and one, Atropos, cutting it, thereby ending the life. Of course, this is where we get the word atrophy.
But in many ways the plot is secondary to the music, and you don't
have to fully understand the convoluted story to enjoy this album. “I was never here” is a slow, melancholy ballad with lots of sparkling piano and keys, where I swear Ohme sounds just like Steve Hogarth from Marillion! It's uncanny. One thing I do admire about Gazpacho is that they all play to their strengths, or indeed their one strength, concentrating on the single thing they do best. So Ohme sings, and only sings, while Andersen plays keyboards, Vibo looks after guitars, and so on. No-one tries to doubletask, or show off that they can do more than one thing, and it works perfectly, with each song sounding like it's exactly as it should be.
“Snail” is a song featured on Stacey-Lynn's “Random Track of the Day” some time ago, and it's a powerful little track, with a great sense of longing, desperation and acceptance, with perhaps the slightest traces of hope buried in there. Why snail? I don't know. The guy who wrote the Wiki article says that it's because the protagonist asks a snail to tell the world how beautiful Atropos is, but he places this event as taking place near the end, and this is only track four, so I have my doubts. Either way, it's not important. What is, is that it's a great little track which helps to showcase Vibo's expert guitar method, then we're into “River”, with attendant sounds of birds, wind, and so on, nice piano and delicate percussion, Ohme's vocal again soft and gentle but with a harder edge, as indeed the piano also takes on as the song develops until Vibo's guitar punches in at just the right moment, raising the anticipation level and the drama a notch.
If you were to describe Gazpacho as a band who paint fantastic dreamscapes with imaginative but ultimately obscure lyrics by virtue of their accomplished musicianship, you would not be all that far wrong. It really doesn't take from your experience of the album --- at least, for me --- that you haven't really got a clue what Ohme is singing about. I should make clear at this point (probably should have earlier really) that it's not a question of a language barrier here: Gazpacho sing in English, so you can understand the lyrics; it's working out what they're about that confounds me, at least. But it really doesn't matter: you just listen, and get lost and drift away on Ohme's voice, and on the gentle tsunami of the band. “River” gets more insistent and urgent as it comes towards its conclusion, and suddenly you're thrust into the sepulchral (yeah, I know: I like that word!) instrumental passage “Mass for Atropos 2: You're going to die up there”, featruring some lovely guitar but mostly deep, sonorous keyboards from Andersen, with more of that tannoy stuff that was going on in part 1. This time it seems to consist of a female voice reading out sequences of numbers. I know, don't ask me, I'm lost too. But happily.
The title track is up next, and it's the second-longest, by virtue of only a few seconds, mind. It starts on introspective piano and guitar, Ohme's voice like that of an angel as he sings almost
sotto voce (that's under his breath, for those of you too young to know latin, or who aren't smartarses like me!), the synth rising behind him like a slowly-building wave that begins to tower over him, slow drums punctuating the rhythm and ushering in Kromer's gorgeous violin, as well as choral vocals. The song speeds up in tempo, the drums getting a bit more forceful, then dropping back to allow Vibo to add in a few inspired touches on the guitar, and the song builds to a really powerful keyboard and guitar ending.
After all that drama and intrigue, “She's awake” opens on fragile piano and soft lush synth, then Ohme's feather-soft vocal drifts along the melody like a man walking a tightrope made of gossamer, drums coming in slowly to fill out the song, the synth getting a little more solid and adding choral vocals, with the final piece of the puzzle the reintroduction of Kromer's crying violin. “Vera”, then, comes in on a Vangelis-like instrumental passage, turning into a dramatic, heartfelt, emotional song that proves to be the heaviest --- for want of a better phrase: none of this album is heavy, at least not so far, but this is the, well, least soft song. Oh man, you know what I mean! --- track on the album so far. I can actually hear the reasons why Gazpacho are often compared to a-ha here, something which had not been apparent up to now. Great urgent organ on this, and some powerful and strong singing from Ohme, possibly the strongest I've heard his voice all through the album to this point.
Some very powerful and almost heavy guitar work from Vibo here, too, then it breaks back down to a soft piano ending, ushering in the nursery-rhyme melody “Will to live”, a melody which soon gives way to proper piano and synth. It's almost amazing how little Ohme raises his voice and yet can not only be heard above the music, but commands the attention on just about every song. Star quality, indeed. This guy could teach some established vocalists a thing or two. “Mass for Atropos 3” is another short intermezzo, as it were, consisting mostly of synth and choral vocals, and then the longest song on the album, by only eight seconds, “Splendid isolation” is the
piece-de-resistance of the album, a delicately crafted half-ballad with somewhat doomy drums as, presumably, death approaches and the hero gives his last performance.
Not surprisingly, the song becomes urgent and passionate as it goes on, the keyboards getting stronger and more insistent, Gilmouresque guitar from Vibo, and Ohme's vocal taking on a tragic, almost desperate timbre as he realises time is running out, that the end is near. That end comes with “An audience”, another delicate little ballad with tinkly keys and lovely guitar, which turns sharp and hard as the song reaches the midway point, and as Arthur Dent said in “The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, we're left with a vivid and profound insight into... into … into whatever the song was about!
Yes, it's hard going if you try to follow the story. Well, maybe not, but I certainly found it next to impossible. Let's face it: it's a tricky enough premise if you can actually understand it, without having to try to work it out for yourself. But unlike my recent review of “Christ 0” by Vanden Plas, here the story really is secondary, and you don't lose anything by not being able to follow the plot. The music is at all times beautiful, fragile, expressive and to prove the old adage, it does the talking. This is not an album you listen to if you want to rock out, but if you're in a contemplative mood, or if you just want to listen to some damn fine music, then you are going to enjoy “Missa Atropos”.
Yes, I definitely foresee a bright future for these five guys from Norway. I just hope that their next album is more accessible in terms of lyrical content, because while this is close to perfection, I think the combination of the two could very well achieve that state.
TRACKLISTING
1. Mass for Atropos 1
2. Defence mechanism
3. I was never here
4. Snail
5. River
6. Mass for Atropos 2: You're going to die up there
7. Missa Atropos
8. She's awake
9. Vera
10. Will to live
11. Mass for Atropos 3
12. Splendid isolation
13. An audience