Philippe Luttun - The Taste Of Wormwood (Voices From Chernobyl) - review
Philippe Luttun - The Taste Of Wormwood (Voices From Chernobyl) - review
Band
Philippe Luttun Release date
March 14, 2014 Tracklist
01. Prelude To A Disaster02. The Ghosts Of Pripyat
03. Reaktor #4
04. The Day After
05. Red Forest
06. On The Roof Of Hell
07. Tha Macabre Pilgrimage
08. Heroes End
A review by
Ivor October 12, 2014
Have you ever heard of Philippe Luttun? I'd be surprised if you have, unless maybe you're trying to listen to every single band on Prog Archives. It turns out Monsieur Luttun is a French musician, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose creative output I feel glad to have discovered with this album. He states that music is not his job but a huge passion and, judging by how this album feels, this statement sounds just about right. For in Taste of Wormwood there is an unpretentious prog concept album if there ever was one.
I always feel cautious when an unknown or new musician tries to tackle a topic of huge significance. The end result often sounds overstretched despite the best efforts, the artist having tried to jump over their own shadow. Not this time, though. Instead of trying to match the dreadful grandeur of the Chernobyl catastrophe with a hugely technical take on prog metal with a complicated or heroic back story, Philippe Luttun rather tries to paint episodic scenery of the event where atmosphere, details and little shifts in the music do the work. Listening to this album is like watching a collage of pictures; the imagery and the theme is there, as is the fear of the unseen, the horror and the silence of the knowing. You become part of it but aren't told the full story.
Musically, The Taste of Wormwood is bordering prog rock and metal. While atmospheric and detailed, it is heavy when it needs to be. However, progression and heaviness as such are not the primary tools to telling the story. The album obviously makes a nod in the direction of the greats of the prog genre, thus sporting its fair share of "dreamtheaterisms," and other "isms," but the outcome stands proud without needing any support.
Rather surprisingly, considering the topic, most of the sparingly used vocals are female, but since they go alongside the quieter parts of the album they make a nice fit. While every other song is an instrumental that each help to develop the over-all theme, it doesn't feel like there's anything missing in the mix. A lot of contemporary real-world TV, radio and (often industry related) additional sound and noise samples have been included as an aid to creating the proper atmosphere. This works even better if you take a look at YouTube videos for the songs.
Philippe Luttun has surprisingly created an album that is extremely well balanced musically. Its quality lies not in pushing boundaries, but in being strikingly well executed. Trust me, it is one of the strongest and most complete prog albums released this year.
Comments
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Pretty decent, but those DT-esque moments are rather boring.
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| mz
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| !J.O.O.E.!
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Finally got round to this, I was really rather impressed by it. Both when it was more focussed upon atmosphere, and when it became more standard prog-technical, I found it suitably compelling. I definitely got an Ayreon vibe a quite a few moments (although I'm not hugely familiar with Ayreon so it might just be me) but I found myself digging this more than I've previously appreciated Ayreon. Not sure I truly dug the saxo-ma-phone on 'On The Roof Of Hell', but I was fully into the rest of it.
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