GAZPACHO - MOLOK (2015 ALBUM-MEDIABOOK/24-PAGE BOOKLET)

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Follow-up to acclaimed 2014 ‘Demon’ album & continuing to push boundaries creating the most complicated and strangest concepts for their records!

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About ‘Molok’…
Across this album there are religious themes going head to head with modern day new science ideas and theories, GAZPACHO’s Thomas Andersen states, “the album itself is about a man that sometime around 1920 decides that wherever anyone worships a God they always seem to be worshipping stone in some form. Whether it is a grand cathedral, the stone in Mecca or Stonehenge. God seems to have been chased by his worshipers into stone never to return. This harkens back to Norwegian folk myths where if a troll was exposed to sunlight it would turn to stone but it also reflects the way God has been incommunicado for a very long time.”
On ‘Molok’ GAZPACHO make a direct connection with history. Norwegian music archaeologist Gjermund Kolltveit appears on the song: ‘Molok Rising’ playing his reconstruction of stone-age instruments and making an educated guess at what the early songs of worship must have sounded like. This includes small stones, moose jaws and an assortment of flutes and stringed instruments. He also plays the Skåra stone, a singing stone that has a strong possibility of having been in use since the last ice age ended 10.000 years ago. Technically this means that the album uses the oldest original instrument ever recorded on an album!

About GAZPACHO…
GAZPACHO is one of the finest and most unique Progressive Art-Rock bands I have come across in many years!
Formed in Oslo in 1996 by childhood friends Jon-Arne Vilbo (guitars) & Thomas Andersen (keyboards), along with Jan-Henrik Ohme (vocals) and later joined by Mikael Krømer (violin / mandolin / guitar), Lars Erik Asp and Kristian Torp (bass), and Robert R. Johansen (drums / percussion), GAZPACHO have honed their unique sound over a string of eight critically acclaimed studio albums, three ‘live’ albums and numerous tours, including several with long-time supporters MARILLION.
Considering that the core member of the band are MARILLION fans, I guess it would be safe to say that GAZPACHO albums were always going to be influenced by them to some extent, and especially the later Steve Hogarth era, but they are much more that that!
GAZPACHO is different – in a fantastic way – and not very easy to pigeonhole. They are not a clone-band in any way – these guys very much have their own expansive sound built on a creation of subtle sonic shades, intelligent arrangements and gripping atmospheres, using emotion fuelled melody, thematic progression and building crescendos to dynamically create music that can only be described as thought provoking and unique.
As far as influences go, references have been made to quite a few names in almost every article or review I have read about them: PORCUPINE TREE, RADIOHEAD (but not so weird!), MUSE (but not so intense!), NO-MAN, PLACEBO, SNOW PATROL, PINEAPPLE THIEF / LUNATIC SOUL and of course (Steve Hogarth period) MARILLION, and I can substantiate virtually all of these claims in some way or another.
Jan-Henrik Ohme is a wonderfully talented vocalist who has a fantastic, pure voice and an immaculate sense of timing that is so easy on the ear. There is not even a hint of any other accent other than English (which is amazing really) and he has an appealing soft tone to his voice – You have to think somewhere along the lines of Steven Wilson at his most melancholic – Morten Harkett (A-HA) - Steve Hogarth for delivery and phrasing, Tim Bowness and a fair bit of Thom Yorke (RADIOHEAD).
The guitars and keyboards create an atmosphere of restrained power and play equally important parts in the band’s overall sound. Like PORCUPINE TREE, the keyboards are used to create subtle melodic leads and atmospheric backdrops as opposed to running off into strident, self-indulgent solo work, and to a certain extent the same could be said for the guitars. The band feature a fair bit of Mellotron - which I know pleases many - but they also use other instruments like violin to help create this brand of magical ethereal rock music that uses its restrained power to soothingly wash over you as opposed to cracking open your skull.

Needless to say, GAZPACHO come highly recommended by us at CDS Towers, so give them a go with this new 2015 album. Alternatively, if you want to dip your toes in the water first and discover this incredible band with a cheap sampler, then try this amazingly priced DOUBLE DISC 12-TRACK ‘INTRODUCTION’ SET… and prepare to be amazed! * * * Copy & Paste the following link into your browser and go directly to the 2CD sampler * * *
http://www.cd-services.com/product_info.aspx?id=12709&qry=1766783&key=&genre=0&pi=0&status=0

‘Molok’ is also available as a 180gm Vinyl LP – Stock # 1800912

‘Molok’ is released on 23rd October 2015.

GAZPACHO: MOLOK CD Track List:

01. Park Bench (6:54)
02. Master's Voice (4:08)
03. Bela Kiss (2:43)
04. Know Your Time (6:09)
05. Choir Of Ancestors (4:48)
06. ABC (3:20)
07. Algorithm (3:09)
08. Alarm (3:53)
09. Molok Rising (9:35)

TPT – 43:39