Norweigian proggers Gazpacho have for a long time now been one of our world’s most consistently intriguing and underrated gems, fusing the minimalist near somber tones of Radiohead with subtle electronics and folk like instrumentation. They also have a penchant for macabre tales about the paranormal and the mystic, so the true story of a book found in a Prague apartment in which the author tells of his search for The Demon (Kscope) is tailor made Gazpacho fodder. Which is where their latest opus, Demon, comes in.
Lyrically, Demon is a piece which both takes in the point of view of the book’s author and that of an outsider reflecting on the protagonist’s mental conditioning. Despite the understandably morose lyrical subject matter, musically Demon shows a warmth and safety in some of its more delicate parts. Throughout the albums four pieces however it shifts from such through to almost Black Sabbath levels of heavy, accompanied by excerpts of vintage film reminiscent music and crackled vocal passages the likes of which you’d picture emitting from a classic pre-Second World War wireless radio. Each song in turn continuously swerves in its dynamic; only the shorter track ‘The Wizard Of Altai Mountain’ maintaining its consistent, folk driven pattern.
Those already familiar with this remarkable of bands already know the beauty and serenity that Gazpacho are capable of in their music and the diversity at their hand, but Demon shows an even darker and more powerful side than before and is possible their most sinister of works yet still encapsulates that feel of splendour that they are renowned for. Demon is a modern masterpiece which should find its way in to the collection of anyone who has an affinity with progressive music.
9/10
Chris Tippell