MÖRGLBL
Back for another outing to showcase their instrumental prog-jazz metal prowess are Mörglbl, with 'The Story of Scott Rötti', their follow-up to 2015's 'Tea Time For Pünks'. And this innovative and inherently batty French power trio, led by the virtuosic guitar maestro Christophe Godin, alongside his equally virtuosic comrades, bassist Ivan Rougny and sticksman Aurelien Ouzoulias, have delivered another musically majestic work that succeeds in topping both '...Pünks' and its predecessor, 'Brütal Römance'.
First things first, though. What's all this Scott Rötti nonsense? Who be he? What looks like the world's worst police photo e-fit adorns the album cover... so I believe therein resides the clue. This Rötti geezer is merely a product of Godin and Mörglbl's delightfully delirious humour. The usual wordplay and puns in track titles consolidate such. BUT... the music, this time around, is a little at odds with the battiness of the concept, generally speaking. While there are all kinds of quirks and innovative twists and turns in their tracks, compositions have more of a 'serious' feel for large amounts of the album's playing time. In fact, it's not until track six, 'La Lèpre à Elise', where the first real unhinged passages appear.
'Panzer Kökötier' is, perhaps, the album's most varied track, with particular parts sounding rhythmically and melodically like 'Answers' from Steve Vai's seminal work, 'Passion and Warfare'. However, the composition branches off in all kinds of innovative ways, with shifts and transitions between styles and moods that are both emphatic and more subtle. Just like the album as a whole, I guess, which varies between the light and the heavy throughout, in all kinds of engaging guises, and with Godin's playing conveying the usual array of emotional expression. This man is such a talented fretboard widdler. One of the very best.
And let's not forget Godin's proclivity to place a period of silence at the end of the majority of his albums, before hitting you with some truly weird randomness. Here, 'Cor à Cor' has just over a minute of silence before bird noises are introduced (my cat enjoyed these), and then some sort of fucked up trumpet/kazoo dissonant cacophony. Fantastic!
I stick by what I've always said about Mörglbl albums - they're fantastic in their own right, but you really need to see the trio in live action to fully appreciate all the quirks and unhinged divergences in their tracks, as their interaction between each other and the audience, while performing, are truly where their compositions come alive, with a heightened sense of goofy entertainment. I've been privileged to witness to such, so I'm talking from experience. Looking at the photo of the band in this digipak, with their kooky expressions... brings it all back... brilliant... I love these nutters! Virtuosos? Yes! Deranged? Oh, definitely, yes! What a great combination! And it's a delight to have 'em back.
First things first, though. What's all this Scott Rötti nonsense? Who be he? What looks like the world's worst police photo e-fit adorns the album cover... so I believe therein resides the clue. This Rötti geezer is merely a product of Godin and Mörglbl's delightfully delirious humour. The usual wordplay and puns in track titles consolidate such. BUT... the music, this time around, is a little at odds with the battiness of the concept, generally speaking. While there are all kinds of quirks and innovative twists and turns in their tracks, compositions have more of a 'serious' feel for large amounts of the album's playing time. In fact, it's not until track six, 'La Lèpre à Elise', where the first real unhinged passages appear.
'Panzer Kökötier' is, perhaps, the album's most varied track, with particular parts sounding rhythmically and melodically like 'Answers' from Steve Vai's seminal work, 'Passion and Warfare'. However, the composition branches off in all kinds of innovative ways, with shifts and transitions between styles and moods that are both emphatic and more subtle. Just like the album as a whole, I guess, which varies between the light and the heavy throughout, in all kinds of engaging guises, and with Godin's playing conveying the usual array of emotional expression. This man is such a talented fretboard widdler. One of the very best.
And let's not forget Godin's proclivity to place a period of silence at the end of the majority of his albums, before hitting you with some truly weird randomness. Here, 'Cor à Cor' has just over a minute of silence before bird noises are introduced (my cat enjoyed these), and then some sort of fucked up trumpet/kazoo dissonant cacophony. Fantastic!
I stick by what I've always said about Mörglbl albums - they're fantastic in their own right, but you really need to see the trio in live action to fully appreciate all the quirks and unhinged divergences in their tracks, as their interaction between each other and the audience, while performing, are truly where their compositions come alive, with a heightened sense of goofy entertainment. I've been privileged to witness to such, so I'm talking from experience. Looking at the photo of the band in this digipak, with their kooky expressions... brings it all back... brilliant... I love these nutters! Virtuosos? Yes! Deranged? Oh, definitely, yes! What a great combination! And it's a delight to have 'em back.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Free Electric Sound
Album
THE STORY OF SCOTT RÖTTI
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
59:33
RELEASE DATE:
15th February 2019
TRACK LISTING
1) Flics Amis Amish
2) Anarchytektür
3) Les Légions Du Rhum
4) Dar Vädim
5) Döner Dörgazm
6) La Lèpre à Elise
7) Crime Minister
8) Panzer Kökötier
9) Prog Töllög
10) The Story of Scott Rötti
11) Cor à Cor
2) Anarchytektür
3) Les Légions Du Rhum
4) Dar Vädim
5) Döner Dörgazm
6) La Lèpre à Elise
7) Crime Minister
8) Panzer Kökötier
9) Prog Töllög
10) The Story of Scott Rötti
11) Cor à Cor
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
France
"Virtuosos? Yes! Deranged? Oh, definitely, yes! What a great combination! And it's a delight to have 'em back."
