Sunday, October 15, 2006

Eskaton - ''4 Visions'' {France} [1979] @320 (Zeuhl)

To put simply, it's a mind blower. The most obvious comparison would be to fellow Frenchmen Magma. (magma's music: Wagner-esque grandeur with Eastern European rhythms and melodies, Germanic-like chanting (keep in mind that MAGMA sang in a made-up language), and almost ritual-like repetition. (slowly building grooves to a frenzy) In fact, imagine Magma with much of the superfluous stuff stripped away, less experimental, with French female vocals, and perhaps a more accessible, consistently ass kicking approach, and you might have a good idea of what Eskaton sounds like. Indeed, taken on a purely musical level, it rivals the best of Magma's classic middle period. Of course, it doesn't have that same ground breaking experimental attitude, and the originality factor could certainly play into the individual mileage of any listener. Still, I'd have a hard time believing any Magma fan who didn't at least dig the album on a visceral level. I mean, the record smokes from beginning to end. There are no weak moments at all throughout the album, no filler. Pop it in, turn it up, and simply revel in growling bass, crushing drum rhythms and utterly intense synthesizer flourishes. The band builds into explosive, thundering climaxes that literally send shivers up and down my spine. The lead vocalists certainly help differentiate Eskaton from their influences. All the lyrics are in French, and a male counterpoint a la Klaus Basquiz is absent. Both female vocalists are tremendous however, though I have a hard time differentiating between the two. Their eerily melodic contributions factor heavily throughout all of the album's compositions.

The opening of "Attente", with its thick synthesizer riff, just before the band falls into thundering march with a chant of "Soleil!", has to be one of my favorite moments. "Ecoute" has bass riffs so menacing, and a climax so overpowering that it drove my colleague Mike Prete to "prog orgasm", as he so eloquently put it. "Le Cri" changes the pace of things at the very end of the album, slowing things down and presenting a fantastic extended synthesizer solo. Mesmerizing.(reviewed by Greg Northrup.)

Eskaton - Eskaton:

Link in comments.

18 comments:

EelaFree said...

Eskaton - 4 Visions
a

EelaFree said...

Track2: Attente

Anonymous said...

Great album!!! definately a kick*ass hehe, thx for all the music

greets from Guatemala

Anonymous said...

I've heard so much about this, but was not able to get it. Until now, that is.
Thanks a lot.

Cheers,
Tommy

Anonymous said...

just awesome!, thx for this one!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! thank you for Eskaton and the "tons" of other excellent music you have been shareing with us.
I love you blog and I love you infectious enthusiasm.
Thank you again

MZ
Sydney, Australia

(I think the second track on the Eskaton album is missing.)

EelaFree said...

Hello!

glad you like Eskaton. Thanks for comments.

~~ MZ: Track 2's link is in second comment. look once again. : )

Anonymous said...

track 2 is dead

Anonymous said...

can you put the track 2 again please ? ;-) great discover this record !!!

Laruchis said...

Hi!
Can you please upload thack 2 again please?
Thx in advance.
Laruchis.

Anonymous said...

Great album, but unfortunately track 2 is still missing, can anyone help?? thanks a lot. best wishes!
(car313car@hotmail.com)

Anonymous said...

The file was not found. Is it possible to post again? This would be appreciated quite a lot I'm sure

Anonymous said...

Excellent blog. If possible I would like to see this album posted again. The file is not found in the Rapidshare DB.
And thanks a lot...

Anonymous said...

please repost this pearl,
because RAPIDSHARE shows
"FILE NOT FOUND"

CONGRATULATIONS AND

TAHNKS A LOT

GOD BLESS YOU

MARCO |(Brasil)

Anonymous said...

the link is gone :(

Anonymous said...

Here is new link that I found.

http://rapidshare.com/files/158296503/Eskaton.rar

Enjoy this gem!

Marcel Trucmuche said...

This other one is lost too...
So bad

isabelbc said...

http://www.munju.net/search?q=eskaton+

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