Key Magma Albums
Key Magma Albums
Here I'll present some of the most important albums Magma has put out.
Magma/Kobaia
A mighty impressive debut album that combines elements of jazz, rock, classical, Eastern European folk and loads of other stuff and at the same time manages to sound totally fresh and new. For a full review go to my review section.
Univeria Zekt - The Unnamables
This is basically Magma appearing under a different name. They tried to bring the genre of zeuhl music closer to the main stream but just managed to push it deeper underground. This is an excellent effort that deserves more attention.
Kohntarkosz
Another huge alum in their collection. This is one hypnotic monster. Although I'm not particularly fond of its repetitive character, when I'm in the right mood, this alum can push all the right buttons. An important achievement.
Live
A good introduction to the band. This recording displays all the familiar features of Magma's music: great improvisation, almost perfect playing. It also features some previously unreleased tracks, both of which are spectacular(Lihns, Hhai).
Attahk
Attahk is one of my favourite alums by this group. It is perhaps their most melodic effort and an excellent place to start for people who are new to the band. On Attahk, we can here Christian Vander's vocals at their best and they are also featured more heavily than on any previous recording.
Kohntarkosz Anteria
Their latest and most beautiful. Tremendous choral arrangements again, tight playing and some fine drumming from Christian. The band has come back refreshed and the recording shows this. It came more than twenty years after the last studio effort but it was worth the wait. For a full review go to the reviews page.
1001° Centigrades
This pretty much picks up where the debut began. Perhaps the writing is a bit more mature. If you like the first one you are bound to like this as well.
Mekanik Destruktiw Komandoh
MDK is probably the first Magma album where they really started to incorporate more opera into their music, particularly with the addition of a female vocal group (led by the beautiful wife of Christian, Stella). Also, this recording features a lot of Christian's own vocal parts, which some people find annoying but I find them to be essential for the Magma sound. A monumental release.
Wurdah Itah
This is a Christian Vander solo album. It features most of Magma members though and was later credited to Magma. This soundtrack is very stripped down in comparison to the previous albums. Only pianos, bass, drums and loads of vocals. It's a beautiful album though, with lots of amazing choral segments.
Udu Wudu
As the name implies, this is quite a dark album. Jannick Top is very prominent here with his heavy bass lines. He's also the major composing contributor here. Not my favourite album. I actually prefer the shorter pieces on this, while the long De Futura seems a bit too stretched and repetitive.
Retrospektiw 1 & 2
Another double live gem. This is important because some unreleased stuff is included, in particular the brilliant Theusz Hamtaahk. Why that was never released on a studio recording is beyond me.