Halloween - Le Festin

Year of Release: 2001
Label: Musea Records
Catalog Number: FGBG 4365.AR
Format: CD
Total Time: 53:45:00

Halloween has been going strong for quite some time now. Since the early eighties they've tried to deliver a captivating and original whole, which sees the violin of Jean-Philippe Brun playing a very important role. Often compared with international giants such as VDGG, UK and a bit of Kansas, the violin together with the dissonant sounds of Gilles Coppin's keyboards tries to uplift the dramatic feel. It's no easy meat these French musicians offer us this time around, yet in their own way they once again try and make it a "festin" (a feast).

Singer Géraldine Le Cocq, who marvelled on albums such as the concept based Merlin and the crystal-clear live album Silence Au Dernier Rang, this time lends her voice to five songs, whilst the rest of the vocal input comes courtesy of Brun. Whilst the French language often seems to be a big handicap within this music, the female singing seems to solve this problem. The music of Halloween often contains a dark atmosphere that certainly comes by means of the long sounds of the violin. In "Shéhérazade" I have to think of the way Jean Pascal Boffo incorporates world music into his own style. Strangely, here Boffo has done the mix of the album. The song "Araignée" (French word for spider) tells the story of the cleverness of the spider which seems like creating a web inside the music. It's all done with an ear for high detail and technical craftsmanship yet I do miss the soul of the music which results in Le Festin being a long way from the likes of Merlin and Laz.

Tracklisting:
L'Autre (6:37) / Le Retour Du Bouffon (6:26) / Neurotic (4:54) / Shéhérazade (10:23) / Coma (5:06) / Araignée (5:25) / Le Festin (7:55) / Carnage (6:55)

Musicians:
Jean-Philippe Brun - violin, vocals
Gilles Coppin - keyboards, backing vocals
Philippe Di Faostino - drums
Stéphane Kerihuel - guitar, vocals
Emmanuel Martre - bass

Guests:

Géraldine Le Cocq - vocals

Discography:
Part One (1988)
Laz (1989)
Merlin (1994)
Silence Au Dernier Rang! (1998)
Le Festin (2001)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin FR

Added: July 18th 2001
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

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Language: english