Abacab. Mal De Terre (2009). CD, Album. France. Neo-Prog, Progressive Rock.

1. Ne Joue pas avec le Feu (6:05) 2. La cite de Gaia (5:59) 3. Non retour (4:08) 4. Ne me derangez pas! (4:10) 5. Zap infos (2:55) 6. Les trios couleurs (7:22) 7. La source (11:06) 8. Etrangers (5:21) 9. El dorado (4:55) 10. Hackers (5:16) 11. Restez sous vos abris! (7:01) 12. Les pantins (8:08) 13. Les enfants de Gaia (6:47) Total Time 79:19 - Thomas Boulant / guitars,vocals - Yohan Lampis / drums - Arnaud Catouillard / guitars,vocals - Guillaume Wilmot / keyboards,vocals - Alexy Wilmot / bass Abacab’s lates release from this year named Mal de terre is again a good album, remaining on same cordonates, musicaly speaking. The music is again something between prog metal with some good passages and some jazz moments. Instrumentaly speaking the music has some good crunchy riffs, intristing keyboards DT similarities and above all some jazz arrangements are added this time to give a certain groove to the album. The music is good, but the vocals , I need some time to get used too, not bad, but same like old french bands Ange or Mona Lisa, same theatrical aproach. The album shows a little improvement over the first, but don’t expect to something realy over the top, the melodic side of the album is very well arranged, when jazz meets prog metal in a great manner, some amazing synth parts and beautiful piano interludes, give to the album an aura of great musicianship, a thing that I’m agree, but overall I said is not something really impressive. A good album with good pieces, but falls in the category of not essential release, because the amalgamation is present here, from heavy prog to prog metal, from jazz to neo , Abacab doesn;t have a precise target when comes to compose a piece, but in the end a pleasent album who desearve 3 stars for sure. The album has 79 min, that means almost an hour and a half of prog music, the listners will say if is too much or the best for prog music. The story behind the album is what world becomed in a jungle of TV and computer society. The decadence of our world and how people manage to survive in these conditions. As final point of the review is something I don’t undersand here, from all 13 pieces, why is incorporated here 4 pieces from previous album, Ne me derangez pas, Zap infos , Les 3 couleurs and Le source, I didn’t find anything related to that anywhere, not even in the booklet of the CD, and seams to me that sounds almost the same with the first version on the previous album, so why puted again on second album, when were enough pieces for second album, why filled with more 4 pieces that already were on first album, strange. Anyway a good album, but the band is quite unpopular in prog circles and needs a little more exposure. Both albums are available at Musea records. Great cover art btw. Review by b_olariu