Stangala - Boued Tousek Hag Traou Mat All (CD)

Review
Metal.de
6/10
14.01.2012

Ich bin benommen, mehr noch regelrecht berauscht von diesem Album! Was diese drei Burschen aus Frankreich hier darbieten, kommt für mein Dafürhalten nämlich eher einem einzigen, über eine Stunde anhaltenden Trip näher, als konventioneller Musik.

Durchwegs psychedelisch und in Richtung "Stoner" (wohl im wahrsten Sinne) legen es die Jungs an, verbreiten dabei aber eine spannungsgeladene Atmosphäre und verstehen ihre Handwerkskunst, die sich schlicht und ergreifend "elegische Langsamkeit" nennt, durchaus. Es "doomt" also im zumeist unersten Tempo-Bereich, lässt aber dennoch eine gewisse Leichtigkeit erkennen.

Diese stammt zum Großteil von den vereinzelten Einsprengseln aus dem keltischen und irischen Kulturkreis, auch wenn diese wohl eher den Trip unterstützend und integrativ angewendet werden. Hinsichtlich der instrumentalen Komponente ist "Boued Tousek Hag Traou Mat All" also über jeden Zweifel erhaben. Nur durch Abstriche in Sachen Sound klingt die Chose dann allerdings doch ziemlich verwaschen.

Genau darin aber sehe ich wieder eine der Stärken von STANGALA, denn eben dieser "Schmutz" lässt das Album zu einer "Klangmauer" werden. Psychotische, verstörende und wabernde Sequenzen im Sinne von ELECTRIC WIZARD oder auch RAMESSES sind ebenso Bestandteil dieses Gesamtkunstwerkes wie selbstredend auch Einflüsse der "Ursuppe" jeglicher Langsamkeit: BLACK SABBATH.

Als "Würze" verwenden die "Franzeln" auch noch herzhafte, wenn auch fast schon auf manische Weise repetierte Fragmente, weshalb ich mich auch nach mehrmaligen Versuchen immer wieder dabei ertappte, keine Ahnung mehr zu haben, welchen "Song" ich eben höre. Der Umstand, dass ohnehin gleich vier Instrumentals enthalten sind, macht diese "Suche" zudem nicht einfacher. Aber "Songs" sind hier ohnehin Schall und Rauch (hüstel). Anhören und sich auf den Trip einlassen!

Author: Walter.Scheurer

Review
Alternative Matter
17.01.2012

Hey there kids, how’s your Breton? Let me have a wager: not that great, yeah? You may therefore be a little cautious when you learn that Stangala play their doom rock entirely in Breton. However let me ask a follow up question: when has understanding exactly what the singer has been singing been entirely central to whether we like a band or not? I seem to recall that it hasn’t been a massive problem for the likes of Rammstein or Alcest so put aside any initial misgivings you may have about this not being an English language record (does anyone really care about this anyway?) and have a delve into the doom rock delights of this strangest of bands.

The psychedelic cover, featuring the group in mad monk cowls encircled by classic acid laden sixties typography is a much better sense of the aural delights that lie within this unassuming yet beguiling record from our Gallic cousins.

Hailing from the town of Kemper, France, Stangala have been plying their drug-fuelled, occult-drenched doom rock since 2007. Their latest record is more of the same but with the emphasis on the MORE rather than the SAME, if you will. Their PR biography suggests that theirs is a Celtic tinged work. I’m not so sure whether the odd bagpipe or traditional musical instrument constitutes Celtic but there is an undoubted earthiness and organic sense to their occult rock that is both credible and compelling.

Opening track “Doom Rock Glazik” gives you a solid idea of what I’m talking about. The vocals are slightly ethereal, otherworldly, the influence of early Queens of the Stone Age obvious and, in this instance, welcoming. This is no desert rock epiphany though. It’s melodious, off beam and slightly obtuse; the background playing of the bagpipes reminding one of AC/DC’s ”It’s a long way to the Top” (If you wanna rock n roll) : that is, if AC/DC had been raised in a forest by a coven of abstruse witches.

“Al Lidou Esoterik An Dolmen Hud” is much weirder, but in a thoroughly agreeable way. More Iron Butterfly than Iron Maiden, it has a queasy guitar part that is indulgent but satisfying over a riff that is all occult rock with a soupcon of spacerock thrown in for good measure. “Kalon An Noz” hurtles around your cerebellum like a benign, woodland incantation; Sorcerezed sounds more druggy than your local pharmacy, the production mix so low you think it’s been recorded underground- which, let’s face it, it may very well have been. “Longoliers” ,by contrast, is a hard driven instrumental blast straight out of the stoner rock top drawer. It has a drive and a- ahem- oomph- that would not go amiss were you driving your flatbed truck down an open highway. Josh Homme would be proud. As he would with the quirkiness of “Bigounded An Diaoul” which has all the druggy oddness one loves about stoner rock but without any of its crass self-indulgence masquerading as creativity.

It’s not until the end of the record, however, that things turn really, really weird. ”Mij Du & Tri Mortolod” is an eighteen minute epic- in the truest sense of the word. This is a deliciously odd and inventive sprawling mess of a track with occult rock interspersed with (one assumes) drug addled conversational narrative, odd time changes and proggy influenced shredding. Despite the clunkiness of my description it’s pretty laid back and easy to listen to and finishes the record if not in a Grand Guignol style, then certainly one with a huge amount of devilment and chutzpah.

Stangala are a weird mob- but one that I have a certain amount of endearment towards. There is a vintage feel to their rock, a real earthiness. This is a record where you can still hear the playing, still imagine the creative process and one where the invitation to join the eccentric gathering is one that will be hard to refuse.

Author: Mat