Gnô - "Cannibal Tango" Review

Artist/ Band: Gnô
Title: Cannibal Tango
Label: Sensory
Year of Release: 2011
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

This is guitarist Christophe Godin of Morglbl, gone twisted prog metal with slices of melodic progressive rock and campy/comical lyrics. It’s actually their second CD, and a bit less heavy metal 70's sound than the debut but still has all those elements. Gno is a trio with Julien ”Peter Puke” Rousset on drums, lead and background vocals and Gaby Vegh on bass, lead and background vocals Think a heavier Porcupine Tree mixed with Garden Wall (minus the keyboards) and placed on a bed of more commercial bands like Van Halen, Korn and Nickelback. I honestly was expecting it to be plenty more eccentric and out there, and sometimes it is, but it doesn’t really ever go that broad.. Godin plays plenty of Holdsworth/Van Halen acrobatic lead solos throughout, and very thick solid rhythm tracks. It feels like this is his outlet to just rock and roll with some twists. The drummer rarely does much past the standard, and the bass player is mixed so low, you hardly notice him. So with those criticisms out of the way, I still see the CD as a fun and heavy metal type progressive recording.

Gno uses clips from movies like ‘Silence of the Lambs’, ‘Hard Candy’, and ‘Mum & Dad’ for good effect. It takes more than a couple of listens to hear everything that is going on. You have the singing that is not bad at all, the lyrics, that are tough to keep up with because the songs are all very fast, and the music that is mostly very energized. At some points I hear a similar sound of Gruppo Sportivo (Godin’s voice has a close resemblance to Hans Vandenburg). Track 7 (“Get Out Of My Way”) has a bit more unusual rhythm and structure. It still has a Nickelback/Van Halen sound at the heart of it, but some more varied chops in the intro and stanzas. The chorus has the Top 40 pop metal style. “Russian Girls” (track 8) is another Gruppo Sportivo gone metal song. These are the songs I most like, simply because I enjoy the humorous progressive music.

There is some post punk influence in this music like XTC in cuts like “Demon Disco” (Track 9). This song also gives platform for multiple lead work from Godin. Another noted Sportivo/post punk song is Track 10 (“Be My Pride”). “Father And Sons” kicks back into the Van Halen/Nickelback sound. The last “Inner Feelings (Silence)” is listed as extended, at 18:54 minutes. In the beginning seconds they take their time to let this breathe before kicking in the eastern metal connection. This also has the most varied drums with some excellant percussion parts that gives the song more texture than the other songs. There is the most unusual thing on the CD that happens just over 3 minutes in the song, and it depends on whether you have a good sense of humor of not, as to how you like it. But suffice to say it’s not really an extended composition, but a huge silence after the 3 minutes, then total silence until the 13:13 minute mark and you spend the next 5 minutes listening to the three guys snapping their fingers and singing a blues BS song accapella laughing and messing up over and over and over. I doubt most listeners will ever hear this as the music ended back at 3 minutes. Plus, who the hell wants to listen to the self indulgence of this seemingly drunken trio of singers trying to be silly?

It was a substantial disappointment to have that last supposed extended song be a bubble buster, but aside from that, the music here is more straight pop/heavy/punk/metal with the progressive metal around the frames, than it is a true progressive rock release. It’s fun, and it has some excellant playing ( this is a guitarists recording hands down), and for those who like their prog rock heavy and leaning on the Top 40 metal pop of the bands I have compared ‘Cannibal Tango’ to, then this will be a delight. For Morglbl fans, forget it, unless you are crazy about Godin’s guitar work. This is pretty much rock n’ roll with a twist here and there. Nothing to the extreme, pretty safe in most cases. I was hoping for a more Zappa/Primus-like set of compositions, but it is what it is. It’s interesting in some ways and I think it will bring more metal fans into the arena of progressive rock fusion, just by way of them exploring what else Godin does with his far more progressive band Morglbl.

Reviewed by Lee Henderson on December 6th, 2011

Tracks:

01. Here I Stand

02. In My Place

03. The Keeper

04. Cannibal Tango

05. Fever (The Battle Rages On)

06. Hate Incarnate

07. Get Out Of My Way

08. Russian Girls

09. Demon Disco

10. Be My Pride

11. Fathers & Sons

12. Inner Feelings (Silence)