WORMFOOD is a Progressive Metal act from Rouen, France. The band formed in 2001 and plays a dark and gritty style of Progressive Metal, sung in French, and with influences from Doom, Gothic and Black Metal. On the recent albums, the Progressive Metal traits prevail, with epic songwriting and a theatricality in vocal delivery that recalls ANGE. The bands latest album Posthume could in fact be described as a mix of ANGE, FAITH NO MORE and early EVERGREY slowed down to a crunchy Doom pace. Line-up / Musicians El Worm/Vocals,Guitars Fred Patte-Brasseur/Guitars Romain Yacono/Bass Efflam/Drums Discography(Album) France 1971
1.Leçon de Français/French Lesson 2.Bum Fight 3.Ecce Homo 4.TEGBM (Fantaisie galante du Grand Siècle) 5.Daguerréotype 6.Mirroir de chair 7.Comptine 8.Vieux pédophile 9.Dark Mummy Cat 10.O = Ø 11.Love at Last
A new young quartet playing an instrumental prog close to PENDRAGON coming from the north of France. The French guys are offering here all that the heart desires: Mysterious chords envelop strong guitar riffs, melodies on which we can dream and all kinds of varieties, that results in the listening of demo there is no boring. The guitar playing recalls very strongly Steve HACKETT and bass and keyboard players let themselves be inspired by MARILLION. It's complex, sometimes quiet, sometimes loud and always very intriguing, like a mix between ARENA, DREAM THEATER, FLAMBOROUGH HEAD, GENESIS, IQ, LANDS END, RUSH and SPOCK'S BEARD, but all instrumental. Line-up / Musicians Manu Delestre/drums Antoine Duhem/guitars Vincent Hooge/keyboards Mat Hooge/bass Discography(Album) The Last Of The Lasts 2007
1.Sacrifice 2.On Leave 3.Verdun 4.Sons Of The Empire 5.Mud 6.Roommates 7.Trenches 8.Gas
1980 is an instrumental progressive jazz metal quartet hailing from France. After a first experimental project that included Armand, Pablo (guitars), and Mathieu (drums), the band was reborn in 2003 in its current form with Ben joining on bass. 1980 started composing and working on what they described as “Brutal Jazz”: instrumental music build on the duality between a free-minded approach from jazz, mixed with brutal sounds and constructions from modern metal. The results were a music sounding like Meshuggah and Weather Report, with dramatic influence from Angelo Badalamenti .1980 released their full-length and self-titled debut in April 2007. Line-up / Musicians Pablo Daninos/guitar,keyboards Armand Féret/guitar Mathieu Bordanel/drums Ben/bass Discography(Album) 1980 2007
1.Intro 2.Sagaie 3.O Me Oh 4.Meshuggreich 5.Amicalement Votre 6.1980 7.Il Se Fait Tard Mon Ami, Il Faut Rentrer
Formed in late 1969 by brothers Christian Descamps (vocals) and Francis Descamps (keyboards) and later joined by guitarist Jean-Michel Brézovar, bassist Daniel Haas and Gérard Jelsh on drums, this French symphonic progressive rock band, similar to contemporaries such as Genesis and King Crimson, is undoubtedly France's most important prog band. Marrying prog rock influences with French folk and theatrical vocals à la Jacques Brel (Ange covered Ces Gens-là from Brel, and it turned out to be their first hit in 1970), Ange's music, but mostly their lyrics, are second to none. Thirty years later, after multiple lineup changes, charismatic and theatrical frontman Christian Descamps leads the new Ange generation alongside his son Tristan on keyboards, Hassan Hajdi on guitars, Thierry Sidhoun on bass, Caroline Crozat on vocals and Benoît Cazzulini on drums.The classic line up (except for the drummer which changed often) recorded many cult classics, such as « Caricatures », « Le Cimetière des Arlequins », and a series of masterpieces like « Au-delà du Délire », « Émile Jacotey », « Par les Fils de Mandrin » and « Guet-Apens ». 10 years after « Guet-Apens », the same lineup would reunite and release two albums, « Sève qui Peut » in 1989 and « Les larmes du Dalaï-Lama » in 1992. While being modern, these albums nevertheless captured the main ingredients unique to Ange. Line-up / Musicians Eric Bibonne/vocals Jean Michel Brezovar/guitar,vocals Christian Decamps/keyboards,vocals Francis Decamps/keyboards,vocals Daniel Haas/bass,guitar Gerald Jelsch/drums Michel Lefloch/vocals Henry Loustau/violin Discography(Album) Au-delà du délire 1974
1.Godevin Le Vilain 2.Les Longues Nuits D'Isaac 3.Si J'etais Le Messie 4.Balade Pour Une Orgie 5.Exode 6.La Bataille Du Sucre 7.Fils De Lumiere 8.Au Dela Du Delire
French band formed in the 70's by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Richard Pinhas (sometimes called the 'French Fripp'), synth player Patrick Gauthier, drummer François Auger and scores of other musicians dropping in and out over the course of six albums between '74 and '79. Their sound could best be described as a mixture of Frippian guitars with the cold, icy prog of KING CRIMSON and the hypnotic drones of CAN over a harsh, aggressive electronic background.Their six first albums range from fairly spacy and quiet ("Allez Teia") to brain-searing sonic attacks ("Interface"). The easiest one to get into and most recommended to neophytes is "Stand By", their strongest effort to date. It is the least chaotic and most CRIMSON-like of the lot yet still features Pinhas' frenzied/tortured guitar play that verges on heavy metal in spots, complete with growling bass and guttural vocals. In 1998, Pinhas has tried to revive the band with an album called "Only Chaos Is Real", featuring French SF-writers Maurice Dantec and Normand Spinrad (their voices digitally treated) as well as trash singer David Korn. This album isn't quite in tune with the rest, sounding more like 'punk meets techno'. Overall, the music of the original six albums is dark and cold, yet fascinating and intense. It combines the elements of the French and German schools of electronic into something uniquely. Line-up / Musicians Richard Pinhas/synthesizers,guitar Alain Renaud/guitar George Grunblatt/synthesizers Patrick Gauthier/piano,synthesizers Coco Roussel/drums Pierrot Roussel/bass Gilles Deleuze/vocals Discography(Album) Electronique Guerilla 1974
1.Zind 2.Back to Heldon 3.Northernland Lady 4.Ouais Marchais mieux qu'en 68 5.Circulus Vitiosus 6.Ballade pour Puig Antich
Carpe Diem was a rather short-living French band with (unfortunately) not more than two albums and though they are considered in general by Prog fans of minor significance compared to i.e. Ange, Clearlight or Pulsar. Actually they’re quite difficult to categorize because they revealed elements of symphonic Prog, jazz-rock fusion and space rock. Their debut opens with the short “Voyage du Non-Retour” in a rather quirky and up-tempo vein and here in fact the jazz-rock classification still fits quite well. But “Reincarnation” reveals already very obviously a sound typical for this band starting with slow e-piano which reminds of harpsichord, gentle flute play and spheric synths. The composition continuously gains momentum and develops into an excellent and wonderful symphonic Prog piece with both a jazzy touch (due to the saxophone) and a slightly spacey one (due to tone modulated vocals). “Jeux du Siecle” reminds much more of classical music than of jazz and offers a very warm, gentle and harmonic sound dominated by saxophone, tasteful keyboards and Camel-esque guitar play (actually the only element this band comes to mind) with nice contributions by flute. Most of the track is kept instrumental, only in the final minute there are some vocals. The closing all instrumental one “Publiophobie” is like the introduction again more lively and represents a highly appealing hybrid between symphonic and jazz rock. Especially in its second half there are nice sections where the guitar’s coming more to the foreground for the first time. Carpe Diem presented on their debut a felicitous mix of traditional Prog and jazz fusion in a very dense and highly intriguing sound that fascinates the prone listener in a mesmerizing way. Line-up / Musicians Christian Truchi/keyboards,vocals Gilbert Abbenanti/guitar Alain Berge/bass Alain Faraut/drums Claude-Marius David/flute,sax,percussion Discography(Album) En regardant passer le temps 1975
1.Voyage du Non-Retour 2.Reincarnation 3.Jeux du Siecle 4.Publiophobie
French drummer Jacques Thollot started playing with jazz bands at an early age towards the end of the 1950's, being recognized as a prodigy child. One can find clips of him from 1958 playing the drums at the age of 13 in a night club with a jazz band (Barney Wilen Trio). He would pass his teenage years in this surrounding developing his musical vision which would be much wider and more experimental than what he used to play during that time. His first release, which is also the most striking one, released on the Futura Records in 1971, is called "Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Giraffe A La Mer"; it is a splendid example of spacey-like, fragile and imaginative compositional style fusing jazz, electronic experiments, psychedelic elements and rock together, culminating in a blissful listening experience and it has earned Thollot the place in the NWW list. Thollot went on to release 4 more albums, "Watch The Devil Go" (1975), Résurgence (1977), Cinq Hops (1978) and most recently Tenga Niña (1996). Whereas the first album is the one of most interest to those looking for the avant-prog/experimental side of his, the others are more jazz-oriented and include vocals. Of these the most notable and recommended is Cinq Hops with its more structured and direct approach (compared to Quand Le Son.) and contains and female-vocals fronting in a chant-like style with the rest of the band providing an ethereal atmosphere, making this a very pleasant album to listen to with a touch of Magma-like zeuhl elements and style. Line-up / Musicians Jacques Thollot/drums,percussion,piano,organ,effects Discography(Album) Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Girafe A La Mer. 1971
1.Cecile 2.Position Stagnante De Reaction Stationnaire 3.Enlevez Les Boulons, Le Broiseur Se Desagrege 4.Mahagony Extraits 5.Qu'Il Se Fassent Un Village, Ou Bien C'est Nous Qui S'en Allons 6.Aussi Long Que Large 7.Quiet Days In Prison 8.De D.C. Par J.T. 9.Virginie Ou Le Manque De Tact 10.N.G.A. 11.Aussi Large Que Long 12.Quand Le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter La Girafe A La Mer 13.Marche 14.A Suivre
Andre Fertier's Clivage released 3 albums from 1977 to 1985. The sound Clivage portrays might bring to mind, Italian band Aktuala for their similar use of eastern influence. Clivage fused together jazz, eastern and Indian influences creating a mesmerizing instrumental mixture. Listening to the music can offer the listener the opportunity of going into trance-like state with the droning atmosphere. With such instruments as tabla, saxophones, violin, acoustic guitar and synthesizer they deliver a compelling and rich sound, gentle melodies and magical mood. The music will please those looking for a meeting of musical cultures. Mixtus Orbis is Clivage's unmistakable awesome release. Definitely a reminiscence of best things ever offered in fusion jazz but all the elements are sublimated into a high class ethno-epic symphony. This is almost exclusively instrumental, making a large part to a brass ensemble. Technical, jazzy felt piano playing also have a great mention. Andre Fertier's keyobards parts are very similar in style to Cyrile Verdeaux's (Clearlight) in his most symphonic moments. This musical adventure is divided into different movements but composed as one long title, without transitions. It starts as a structured, catchy epic symphonic, majestic composition (with classic piano playing, almost medieval brass sequences) then it carries on an obsessed, uncontrolled jamming session, including ethnic percussions, splendid, grandiose oboe / sax combinations, always in a very symphonic, prog-y jazz mood. Some "spectral" female voices are added to the mix during the last movement. Line-up / Musicians Armand Lemal/perucssion Patricio Villaruel/tablas Andre Fertier/guitar,keyboards Jean Pierre de Barba/saxophone Claude Duhaut/bass Mahmoud Tabrizizadeh/violin Jean Querlier/oboe,sax,flute Michel Delaporte/tabla Claude Salmieri/drums Brigitte Toulson/vocals Discography(Album) Mixtus Orbis 1978
1.Mixtus Orbis 2.Eudjal 3.Fatoum Astris 4.Youssoufia
Born in Quimper, France on January 15, 1949, guitarist Dan Ar Braz is one of Brittany's most influential and internationally successful recording artists. While his musical lineage is decidedly celtic, during his long career he has fused the tradition with a variety of contemporary styles and even diverged into other territories such as jazz and acoustic folk, while retaining an unerring melodic gift and sense of place. At the age of 18 he encountered the legendary Breton harpist ALAN STIVELL who provided him with a solid grounding in modern vs ancient music but also with a career boost, and Ar Braz eventually played guitar on no less than 7 Stivell albums in the 70s, including many of his most venerable recordings such as "Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique" and "Concert a L'Olympia". In 1976 he briefly joined FAIRPORT CONVENTION although he did not record with them. In 1977 he embarked on his solo career already a seasoned veteran, and produced a stunning instrumental progressive folk epic "Douar Nevez" to kickstart this new phase.The 80s were a darker period for the folk rock revival, but Ar Braz kept busy and self-produced a number of quality efforts showcasing his prowess with all manner of guitar including "Acoustic" and "Septembre Bleu". In the 90s he assembled a cast of hundreds for a serious of smash successes under the banner of "Heritage Des Celtes" which occupied the man and many a bean counter for most of that decade. He has since returned to more intimate solo work, and he continues to record regularly and make live appearances including at FAIRPORT's Cropredy Festival. Line-up / Musicians Dan Ar Braz/guitars Patrig Molard/Flutes,Uillean Pipes,Biniou Braz Benoit Widemann/pianos,Synthethizers,organ Dave Pegg/Bass Michel Santangeli/Drums Marc Chantereau/Percussion Discography(Album) Douar Nevez 1977
1.Intro 2.Retour de Guerre 3.Naissance de Dahud 4.Mort et Immersion de Malguen/Fin du Voyage 5.Naissance de La Ville 6.Morvac'h (Cheval de Mer) 7.Orgies Nocturnes 8.L' Ennui du Roi 9.Les Forces du Mal 10.L' Appel du Sage 11.Submersion de La Ville 12.Douar Nevez (terre Nouvelle)
The Orient Express is a multinational project born in the late 60's. It features three versatile musicians: Guy Duris (from France), Bruno Giet (From Belgium) and Farshid Goleshorkhi (from Iran). The Orient Express' sole LP from 1969 stands today as an early experiment in world fusion -- and a pretty successful one at that, at least artistically. Guitarist Guy Duris is a Frenchman who became enamored with the oud, a classical Arabian guitar. Belgian Bruno Giet is a bass player with a rock background. Iranian Farshid Golesorkhi is an award-winning percussionist in the Persian tradition. As a trio, they only left 35 minutes for posterity, but these minutes are filled with interesting ideas and kitschy songs, all originals. All three men sing in English, with an accent so thick most lyrics become undecipherable (and, from the bits you can make out, they don't seem worth deciphering), but the songs are quite good and very positive: "Dance with Me" features greatly ornamented vocals Arab-style, while "A Little Star" and "For a Moment" are straightforward pop songs of their time, albeit with dumbek battling the drum kit for percussive prominence, and sitar providing a background texture. Duris and Golesorkhi get solo features ("Layla" and "Impulse (Forty-Two Drums)" respectively), and "Azaar" is a canon song. The other tracks are instrumentals ranging from Indian-tinged psychedelic tunes to crosses between French pop and Middle-Eastern classical music. The Orient Express uses a lot of the clichés associated with Middle-Eastern music, except that these were not cliché yet back in 1969 and they are being used here in good faith. Line-up / Musicians Bruno Giet/vocals,guitar Farshid Golesorkhi/Drums, percussions,vocals Guy Duris/Oud,sitar,vocals Discography(Album) The Orient Express 1969
1.Fruit Of The Desert 2.Dance For Me 3.Layla 4.Birds Of India 5.Train To Bombay 6.Caravan Of Silk 7.Azaar 8.For A Moment 9.Impulse (42 Drums) 10.A Little Star 11.Cobra Fever
Trol played quiet folk music comparable to various albums released on the Stoof label. They wrote their own material, but performed them much like traditional folk music. Fairly good albums, although they contained nothing extraordinary. Line-up / Musicians Johan Waegeman/vocals,harmonica,accordion Mark Dickens/guitar,vocals Mark Vanden Bremt/bass,vocals Jan Cool/cister,guitar,mandolin,vocals,flute Geert Waegeman/synthesizers Discography(Album) Trol 1977
1.Gekwezel 2.Zwarte steen 3.Klappeie-Meidendans 4.Restitutie 5.Island 6.Trolblokfloeten 7.Hei,‘t was in de mei 8.Keer van je berg 9.Molenaar 10.Boerenknecht 11.Lierse vlaaikes
The name Verto is the name under which the French guitarist Jean-Pierre Grasset created his musical vision. To this end he collaborated with several musicians and other bands. One such band which he met before, while working in Tartempion (which helped bands setting up concerts) was Potemkine which also appear in side one of the the first Verto release from 1976, Krig/Volubilis. The second album called Reel was released in 1978 on Fleau records and has a different lineup. Krig/Volubilis, released on the Tapioca/Pôle label, is an instrumental album (with some ethereal voices) with a strong spacey, psychedelic and electronic sound which is remarkable given that there are no keyboards on it. It is a dark and gloomy sounding album, which goes very well with the cover art and experimental in nature which puts it in the avant-garde realm. Line-up / Musicians Jean-Pierre Grasset/guitars,drums,sounds Gilles Goubin/bass Xavier Vidal/violon Michel Goubin/piano Dominique Dubuisson/bass Charles Goubin/guitar Serge Soulie/drums Michel Depalle/drums Philippe Goubin/drums Okamoto/voice Alain Thomas/bass Francois Artige/guitars Discography(Album) Krig/Volubilis 1976
Dashiell Hedayatt is a weird cult figure from France that was more known as a poet and a general counter culture activist. His first album released under the MELMOTH pseudo was called "La Devanture Des Ivresses" and was long recitals of texts accompanied with music. He actually won a prize for that album and received critical acclaim. A second album was produced under his real name and he called it "Obsolete". This album over the years became a real cult object because of the general freakiness, the presence of the almost complete GONG (many GonGheads consider this album the best they did), and the participation of beat poet and general activist of the counter culture Willam Burroughs going along reciting on of his text. Gong will then return to their career (taking a huge step up as they will do the famous RGI Trilogy and the Camembert thing) and Dashiell Hedayatt will sink into oblivion. Line-up / Musicians Dashiell Hedayat/vocal,guitar,keyboards Daevid Allen/guitar Didier Malherbe/saxophone,flute Christian Tritsch/bass,guitar Pip Pyle/drums,guitar Gilli Smythe/vocal Discography(Album) Obsolete 1971
1.Eh, Mushroom, Will You Mush My Room? a.Chrysler b.Fille de L'Ombre c.Long Song for Zelda 2.Cielo Drive
Alain Markusfeld is very unique French guitarist/multi-instrumentalist. His albums blend multi- layered acoustic guitars with fiery leads, piano, ethereal female voices, throbbing bass and percussion. His guitar style could be described as early Larry Coryell (acoustic) meets Randy California (electric) with a strong middle-eastern influence. Le Desert Noir is a heavier guitar album which features drums on almost every track, overall very hendrix influenced. With Platock, there is more maturity in his sound, combining delicate acoustic guitars and more piano to his trademark sound, with less reliance on drums. Contemporus attempts to continue in the same vein, but fails to reach the same energy level, except possibly on the sidelong "Contemporus" suite. Start with Platock, which most will agree is his best. First two releases are very rare. Line-up / Musicians Jean-Claude Michaud/bass Jean Schultheis/drums,vibraphone,organ,piano Bernard Duplaix/flute,saxophone Denis Lable/guitar Alain Markusfeld/guitar Rolling/guitar Tommy Brown/drums Discography(Album) Le Monde En Étages 1970
1.Musique fatidique pour nuages fatigués 2.Dans la glue moyenâgeuse 3.Dors ! Madère 4.La terre se dévore ! (partie 1) 5.La terre se dévore ! (partie 2) 6.Les têtes molles 7.Actualités spatio-régionales
Despite having a stable career for almost the whole 70's decade, Spheroe remained widely unknown to the public for a long time. The band was formed in 1972 and consisted of Patrick Garel on drums/percussion, Gerard Maimone on keys, Rido Bayonne on bass and Micheal Perez on guitars. Spheroe had a good live activity, but had to wait until 1977 for their first official release. The self-titled LP was originally released on Cobra, later to be presented on CD format by Musea Records. Obviously influenced by Return To Forever and in a lesser extent Brand X, the band delivers highly-energetic jazz/fusion rock with tight performances and impressive musicianship. The pieces associate fever, nervosity, sometimes serenity but always musicality. Spheroe is into delicate, smooth, contrasted and impressionist music, based on melodic and harmonic research. Especially keyboardist Gerard Maimone had to be a great Chick Corea fan, his electric piano work is very solid and professional, but he also delivers strong doses of moog solos. Apart from the typical groovy and filled with interplays parts of the album, there is also lots of space for Michael Perez to show his talent with nice solos and decent melodies, while in some moments the music gets really dark with obscure guitar chords and massive ''in your head'' synths, creating a haunting atmosphere. This is a quite good release from a lesser-known band with both enjoyable and well-arranged jazz/rock music, fine interplays and always an intensive delivery. Line-up / Musicians Patrik Garel/drums,percussion Gérard Maimone/vibraphone,synthesizer,piano Rido Bayonne/bass,percussion Michel Perez/guitars Discography(Album) Spheroe 1977
1.Black Hill Samba 2.Contine 3.Vendredo Au Golf Drouit 4.Chattanooga 5.Pu Ping Song 6.Deconnection 7.Ballade For Wendy
The French outfit MYHYBRIS was founded back in December 2003. In 2006 their first effort was issued, the EP "Pretty Scares". Late in 2008 their full length debut was released, titled "The Sweet Melody of Resilience". This is a concept album - one piece of music divided into eight parts - and by the sound of it it's a good concept too. The album is mostly instrumental, a varied constellation of tunes; from atmospheric mood explorations to jazz-tinged workouts, from majestic symphonic creations to powerful progressive metal of the slower variety. The band moved back and forth between these style variations to create compelling as well as disturbing sonic images; and apart from a production that a few times lets the band down in terms of mood creation this is a beautifully crafted effort. Line-up / Musicians Morgane Falaize/keyboards Sylvain Mazeau/bass Nicolas Pascal/guitars Olivier Riva/drums Amelie Festa/vocals Christophe Denhez/vocals Jean-Pierre Riva/keyboards Patrick Quartenoud/sax Aurore/vocals Caroline/vocals Clelia/vocals Dorothee/vocals Laetitia/vocals Discography The Sweet Melody Of Resilience 2008
1.Intro 2.Chapter 1:Children's Games 3.Chapter 2:The Pursuit 4.On The Edge Of Madness 5.Chapter 3:The Sweet Melody Of Resilience 6.Only A Path 7.Chapter 4:The Shining Truth 8.Outro
Taï Phong is a bit of an oddity, as it is a French band founded by Vietnamese brothers Kahn and Taï Ho Tong. The sound is comparable to Camel, and Novalis, but the most telling description is 'France's answer to Barclay James Havest.' The first incarnation came together in 1972, and included an American and a German (keep telling yourself this is a French band). They were in the process of recording, when contract disputes broke out. Because the brothers refused the terms (thus leaving them without a deal), the other two members left. Soon after, they would be replaced by keyboardist Jean Alain Gardet, and Jean-Jacques Goldman. In 1973, they again entered the studio. However, more artistic disputes, and contract haggling, with recording executives would keep them from releasing anything for the next couple of years. By 1974, they had a contract they could live with, but still needed a drummer. They chose 17 year-old Stéphan Caussarieu. The classic lineup of Taï Phong was now complete, and would remain intact for the first two albums. This was also a potent combination of talent and ego.After the release of 1976's "Windows," some of the members branched out. Jean-Jacques dabbled in some solo work, and Gardet recorded an album with Alpha Ralpha. It is during this period that trouble started brewing. "Windows" did not sell very well, and the band spent all the money from the first album on a new sound system. Goldman did not wish to perform live, which was a serious problem considering his contribution to the band's sound. This disheartened Jean Alain, causing him to exit. The band went on tour in 1977 with bassist Michael Jones also taking over lead vocal, but it just wasn't working. They decided to cancel any remaining shows, and just concentrate on studio work. This is the moment when brother Taï left. After much turmoil, they released 1979's "Last Flight," but the magic was gone. By 1980 interest in the band was waning, and they were in yet another contract dispute. Rather than push ahead with a fourth album, the band broke up. Line-up / Musicians Khanh Mai/guitar,vocals Tai Sihn/vocal,bass,guitar,Moog Jean-Jacques Goldmnan/vocals,guitar,violin Jean Alain Gardet/keyboards Stephan Caussarieu/drums,percussion Discography(Album) Taï Phong 1975
1.Going Away 2.Sister Jane 3.Crest 4.For years and Years 5.Field of Gold 6.Out of the Night
