| The
Review |
Musical inspiration can be a funny thing. You never know
where it comes from sometimes. And certainly when it comes
to progressive rock, musical inspiration can take some unusual
twists and turns tackling everything from C.S. Lewis to child-abuse.
So when I saw that the new Xang CD entitled The Last of the
Lasts was themed around World War I, I probably shouldn’t
have been surprised. Here the concept explores the inhuman
conditions on the battlefield and the all too prevalent disconnect
between the political leaders and the soldiers on the front
lines. ***
Xang is a French quartet formed in 1996 and The Last
of the Lasts is their second CD release. The band consists
of Matt Hooge (bass), Manu Delestre (drums), Antoine Duhen
(guitars) and Vincent Hooge (keyboards). The band has called
upon four additional musicians to help on specific tracks;
Sonia Rekis (accordion), Alexis Therain (guitar), Thomas Duhen
(acoustic guitar) and Simon Godley (voices on the track “Sons
of the Empire”). With all the talk of this being a concept
recording about World War I, did I mention The Last of the
Lasts is an instrumental recording? That’s right, the CD booklet
contains illustrations and text relating to each song’s theme
and then the music is left to convey the emotion. The music
for a project like this, as you might imagine contains many
varied moments. It will go from soft and acoustic one moment
to more aggressive heavy guitar the next. The music shifts
time and tempo as well as texture as each piece attempts to
convey the emotions of the composition. There are eight tracks
ranging in length from three and half minutes to just over
twelve minutes, but interestingly the length of the songs
are kind of meaningless because even in the shorter songs
there is a fair bit of variation. For most of the tracks the
guitar infuses the rockier sound while the keyboard-leads
tend be more in a soft-jazz vein and then for a few of the
tracks the background is an orchestrated keyboard-wash simulating
strings. Given the subject matter it’s to be expected that
much of the music will be chaotic, aggressive or sad to reflect
the mood of the fighting but there are also moments of tender
poignancy that stand in stark contrast to the heavier emotions.
***
This is one of those recordings that’s particularly tough
to pigeon-hole or stick in a slot. In many respects it’s everything
a progressive rock recording should be, varied and moderately
complex. The fact that it’s instrumental will appeal to many
prog fans that dislike vocals and want to listen to the musicianship.
It’s all there to be heard. The guitars provide a real edge
and give this a very modern sound. I wouldn’t call it progressive
metal, because there is much more going on, but when the guitars
are the focus there are certainly moments where you get that
prog-metal feel. But then the band rarely stay in one place
for very long so the music changes moods constantly. Xang
are to be commended for tackling such a difficult topic. The
Last of the Lasts provides a varied and satisfying listening
experience that should appeal to a wide range of progressive
rock fans. ***
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