01	Emehntehtt-Re I						06:54
	02	Emehntehtt-Re II						22:24
	03	Emehntehtt-Re III						13:07
	04	Emehntehtt-Re IV						03:54
	05	Funehrarium Kahnt						04:13
	06	Sehe						00:25

Emehntehtt-Re
Studio album by Magma
Released 2009
Recorded 2009
Genre Zeuhl
Length 51:04
Label Seventh Records
Producer Christian Vander


Emehntehtt-Re is the tenth studio album by French progressive rock group Magma. It was released on November 5, 2009. Parts of it have been played live since 1975 and can be found on various albums as extracts or live versions. Emehntehtt-Re I combines Emehnteht-Re (Announcement) (from Live/Hhai) and Rinde (Eastern Song) (from Attahk). Emehntehtt-Re II combines Emehnteht-Re (Extrait n' deux) (from Udu Wudu), Hhai (from Live/Hhai), and Zombies (Ghost Dance) (from Udu Wudu).

Included with the CD is a making-of DVD called Phases.
Tracklist

1. "Emehntehtt-Re I" – 6:53
2. "Emehntehtt-Re II" – 22:25
3. "Emehntehtt-Re III" – 13:06
4. "Emehntehtt-Re IV" – 3:54
5. "Funehrarium Kahnt" – 4:19
6. "Sehe" – 0:27

Legacy

Emehntehtt-Re is the third chapter of the Kohntarkosz trilogy. It is supposed to tell the story of Emehntehtt-Re. But since Emehntehtt-Re was murdered in Antiquity and Kohntarkosz supposedly found his tomb in the '70s (and had a vision of Emehntehtt-Re's life) the album can be seen as the third and final chapter of the trilogy and a prequel as well.

Personnel

* Stella Vander — Vocals, Percussion
* Isabelle Feuillebois — Vocals
* Herve Aknin — Vocals
* Benoit Alziary — Vibraphone
* James Mac Gaw — Guitar
* Bruno Ruder — Fender Rhodes
* Philippe Bussonnet — Bass, Piccolo Bass
* Christian Vander — Drums, Vocals, Piano, Fender Rhodes, Keyboard, Percussion

Also featuring :

* Emmanuel Borghi — Piano
* Claude Lamamy — Vocals
* Marcus Linon — Vocals
* Pierre-Michel Sivadier — Vocals
* Himiko Paganotti — Vocals
* Antoine Paganotti — Vocals





Review by Jordan Cronk: Stay with me, earthlings, as our Kobaian ambassadors have returned yet again, and they come bearing gifts.


Christian Vander is certainly no stranger to long-winded, labyrinthine musical concepts. Magma itself is arguably the longest running concept of the rock era, though the band’s wildly convoluted yet consistently intriguing marathon-length narratives deserve a dissertation in and of themselves. And though these albums have rarely been bound to any sort of linear structure, Vander has gone so far as to stretch his ideas and theories across multiple full-lengths, not to mention the fact that it’s all rendered in Kobaian babble-talk, upping the pretension to near unheard-of levels, even by prog standards. And now, the French legends’ second post-reunion album, Emehntehtt-Re, completes their second official trilogy, which has now stretched across 35 years, two full-lengths—1975's classic Kohntarkosz and 2004's monstrous K.A.—and multiple dead-end narrative strands, which have up until now only popped up on a handful of peripheral Magma releases. So if K.A. felt like a confident reinstatement of purpose and a boldly uncompromising continuation of their pioneering zeuhl style, then Emehntehtt-Re appropriately enough feels like the closing of a chapter, the finale Vander has been working toward for over three decades now. That, and it’s about as close as they’ve come to ripping a hole in the time-space continuum.


The Emehntehtt-Re narrative is actually somehow more elaborate than this back story would even imply, but allow me a few contextual threads for the Kobaian-obsessive’s out there (who, in all probability, need no such enticement to dive back into these heady waters). Long story short, ambitious archeologist Kohntarkosz Anteria stumbles across the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Emehntehtt-Re, has a series of hallucinatory visions, and thus devotes his life’s work to furthering the teachings of Emehntehtt-Re (this chapter is detailed on the aforementioned Kohntarkosz). K.A., then, doubled back on this story, outlining Anteria’s spiritual journey to the tomb through a series of prophecies and youthful anecdotes. So now, after two albums devoted to Anteria, Emehntehtt-Re returns to the root of the narrative, telling the story of the pharaoh and his inevitable fate as the martyred legend of Antiquity. Of course, this being Magma, this is all very veiled and open to interpretation, but as far as modern fusion and symphonic prog is concerned, Emehntehtt-Re works both as obfuscated revisionist history lesson and ingratiating avant-rock music.


Opener “Emehntehtt-Re I” can originally be found in primitive form under the name “Rinde (Eastern Song)" on 1978's Attahk, but here—coupled with Vander’s dire introductory incantations, the rising piano chords, thundering percussion, and triumphant choral vocals—it sounds more like the start of a new journey, as opposed to the crude, relegated “deep cut” status of its infancy. It’s also doubled in length and fleshed out on all sides, effectively announcing the arrival of our main character, who's set to do battle across a two-part, 35-minute centerpiece which reconciles just about every technique Vander has utilized over Magma’s now 40-year career. The 22-minute “Emehntehtt-Re II” is the album’s token Magma jam, very much in the epic vein of K.A.; and, like that album, it accentuates the band’s undying prog prowess better than even their last couple of pre-breakup albums were able to accomplish.


Pieced together from a series of odd incidentals scattered across various mid-70s releases—specifically, you can find segments of the track on 1975's Live/Hhai, as well as “Zombies (Ghost Dance)” and CD bonus track “Ementeht Re (Extrait No. 2)” from 1976's Udu Wudu—“Emehntehtt-Re II” is a showcase piece for Vander’s still-uncanny synthesis of various zeuhl elements, including rolling piano lines, high-flying prog riffs, spirit-world chorals, and RIO dynamics on a level almost totally foreign to modern music, save for some of the genre’s more forward-thinking alchemists such as Shining and OOIOO. But if “Emehntehtt-Re II” represents the ascent, then “Emehntehtt-Re III” finds our hero losing grip on his kingdom, and through a slow, shadowy spiral of beatific keys and ominous cymbal clatter, it brings the listener face to face with Emehntehtt-Re’s impending fate.


As the hypnotizing, frequently spiked phrasing of the piece implies, he’s obviously fighting a losing battle; our Pharaoh’s body is already as good as floating down the river Styx (an approximation direly depicted throughout the album’s elegiac artwork). “Emehntehtt-Re IV” is the denouement of the piece, and as such plays like a reverie for our fallen protagonist. The ritualistic female vox and peaceful bed of piano effectively lay Emehntehtt-Re to rest between symphonic walls of drone and a swelling procession of keys and drums. The final minute idles nostalgically as a single piano note runs head-on into the murderous gongs of “Funehrarium Kahnt," an almost shaman-like meditation for voice and keys. But it’s brief closer “Sehe” that pulls the rug out from under us, turning perspective from Emehntehtt-Re’s treacherous journey to Anteria’s tomb raiding enlightenment though a reciprocating spoken-word epilogue from Vander and the ghastly hum of crypt-like dissonance.


It all fits together so well that it can be easy to forget the origins of much of this music. But the most impressive thing about Emehntehtt-Re is how it takes a number of solid moments from a few of the lesser Magma albums and re-envisions them into a distinct and wholly satisfying trilogy-closing chapter, while repositioning those late 70s albums as more substantial entries in the cannon than they are often credited. Due to format limitations and the late-70s' growing aversion to conceptual breadth, Vander was often forced to compromise his vision, resulting in these disparate story threads, many with little hope for conclusion. So in its own way, Emehntehtt-Re is like the SMiLE for the zeuhl set, bringing a visionary composer back to his most complex period in hopes of completing a narrative that many had been forced to piece together themselves for the last few decades. The resulting music is both oddly familiar and thematically refreshing, a valiantly conceived and persevering document from a band that continues to survive by its own illogical means. We earthlings are just along for the ride.




Last Word: The second post-reunion album from progressive rock legends Magma finds band leader Christian Vander finally completing a trilogy which has roots dating back as far as 1975.






Review By:
Jordan Cronk

IN REVIEW ONLINE


November 22, 2009
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Magma Fan
Pretty good review! Just a few issues to comment on:

Kohntarkosz Anteria is NOT the name of the character. Literally, this is "Before [the time of] Kohntarkosz" and K.A. deals with the transformation of the archaeologist into a Kohntarkosz (which in my reading means "prophet"--the term is used elsewhere, for example, Kreuhn Kohrmann is referred to as a "ancient Kohntarkosz). K.A. seems to involve prophecy of the archaeologist's future and a vision-quest he goes on, where he comes before the tomb of E-Re and is welcomed to come inside.

Also, the version of Rinde on the 2009 release is actually not longer than the one on Attahk, but welded to E-Re (Announcement)--also in a very short version--that appeared on Live 1975.

I also disagree with your reading of the E-Re narrative. I think Rinde represents the hero pinign for a deceased lover, the next section his heroic desire to bring her back (E-Re extrait II) and a statement of his spiritual faith and beliefs (Hhai), followed by a descent into the underworld (Zombies). E-Re III on the 2009 release represents a battle with a dark power--and if you listen carefully, you will hear that the hero seems to struggle and lose his grip, but wins. I believe that all of this happens in a knd of dream or vision quest, E-Re IV is his wakening in the ordinary world, and recalling the knowledge he has just received (the secrets of eternal life), at first with doubt, then growing confidence--but he is assassinated before he can share these secrets. I think the music backs up this version of the narrative. E-Re III ends triumphantly.
Thursday, July 22, 2010 - 04:45 PM