More info: www.indrazor.fr.st
Verdict (& Rating): Avant-garde progressive music (60%)
This French outfit started life in 1997 as Weeping Silence playing 'atmospheric Death Metal'. Since then they endured a few personnel changes, released a few demos and have taken a musical journey that now sees the band playing progressive rock. 'Cocoon To Butterfly" is the band first proper CD release with reworked version of songs from earlier demo releases. The current lineup consists of Antoine Cailliez on keyboards (also songwriter), Clement Cailliez on lead guitars, Sylvain Masure on rhythm guitars, Erwan Lombard on bass, Julien Debus on drums and Julien Tartar on sax, tambourine and backing vocals. The bands influences for this album range from Floyd, Frank Zappa, Bowie, King Crimson to Porcupine Tree to Depeche Mode to Tori Amos.
Opener "Medieval Life" is busy track. The closest I can think of as a comparison is King Crimson. This sets the tone for the majority of the tracks on the album. When I was listening to the album just after it arrived my wife walked in and her passing comment was that the vocalist sounded like a bit like Neil Hannon from pop band The Divine Comedy. I haven't been able to come up with a better comparison. On a couple of ocassions, "First Meeting" and "Darker Than Ever", the band goes for jazz-blues sound. They take this a step further on "Knocking On The Door" which is fully fledged bluesy barroom boogie. "On The Highway" features some 'fuzzy' guitar work that reminds me of Neil Young's electric style.In the midst of the busy song arrangements sits a medieval acoustic ballad called "Wild Winter".
Overall I found the album a bit too 'avande-garde' for my tastes. When I look over their influences such as Zappa, Bowie and Crimson, this maybe isn't too surprising as I find the output of those artists only ocassionally matching my tastes.
