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Mekong Delta > Kaleidoscope > Reviews > bayern
Mekong Delta - Kaleidoscope

The Simple Science of Dancing on a Volcano - 100%

bayern, September 18th, 2014

Meet Ralph Hubert, the man who single-handedly created the technical/progressive thrash metal scene in Europe; one of the most important people in metal history. The man’s originality and eccentricity clearly shows from the band name choice unless he wanted to provide a painful reminder of the Vietnam War, and which may also have inspired quite a few metal fans from around the world to visit this part of Asia looking for clues, or rather substances that may have been the foundation for these distorted, hallucinogenic musical visions presented on the band’s works. And, if these hallucinations come armed with amazing technical riffs and sweeping classical arrangements, then we’re talking the most original innovative thrash metal band on the planet, alongside Voivod.

One would be perennially mystified as to what Hubert saw in the Living Death guys (the guitarists Frank Fricke & Reiner Kelch) to invite them to take part in the recording of the self-titled debut… at the time the Deaths were just bashing with vigour and enthusiasm without any particular display of technical skills or the likes. During these spawning stages the musicians had to use pseudonyms since all of them were involved in already existing formations around Europe, including the drum wizard Jorg Michael who was a full-time member in Rage. Anyway, they showed their much more proficient side and hung around long enough to participate in the making of the sophomore album and the EP's surrounding it. Having launched the career of his own act, Hubert embarked on a journey to propel the efforts of other similar European technical/progressive (and not only) thrash outfits through his label Aaarrg Records. Thanks to him the fans saw the appearance of Calhoun Conquer, Target, Holy Moses (who had already signed with him before Mekong Delta became a fact), the Living Death more technical period, Pyracanda, Ravenous, as well as "outcasts" from the States, like Last Descendants and Siren; etc.

Mekong Delta was a fairly regular presence on the scene ever since their inception unerringly producing their ultimately complicated progressive/classical thrashisms and managed to survive during the troublesome early/mid-90’s which “took” the lives of many of their contemporaries thus leaving the technical/progressive metal sector quite barren at the time when “Kaleidoscope” was released. This same sector was started with Watchtower’s “Energetic Disassembly” in 1986, and was brought to its culmination on the album reviewed here in 1992 within the span of 7 years. Logically, this same culmination unleashed a wave of creativity which swept Germany and gave birth to some of the finest metal acts of the 90’s: Depressive Age, Lost Century, Skeptic Sense, Megace, Entophyte, the amazing two-demo-wonder Tokkata, the Deathrow/Psychotic Waltz collaboration End Amen, its reverberation heard in the adjacent countries leading to the springing of other talented “offsprings”: Acrimony (Poland), Braindamage (Italy), Psycho Symphony (Romania), Donor (Holland), Chemical Breath (Belgium), Unleashed Power (Denmark), Chirurgia (the Czech republic), Aspid (Russia), Valkyria (Russia), etc.

“Kaleidoscope” is Mekong Delta at their most comprehensive and most accessible. All the previous ingredients, which made the band the leaders of the progressive thrash movement, are here, but their application in this case is not so undecipherable, the song structures are not so labyrinthine, and the riff-patterns are a tad less weird and less abstract. By all means “The Music of Erich Zann” and “The Principle of Doubt” will find hordes of fans who will determinedly stand by them as the band’s finest achievements, but if for nothing else, “Kaleidoscope” boasts the presence of Hubert’s three finest “fruit” he ever produced:

1) the otherworldly opener “Innocent?” which “innocently” attacks you from the get-go with some of the most technical and at the same time pummeling riffs in metal history, not to mention the haunting chorus and the abrupt time and tempo-changes; heavenly stuff;

2) the extraordinary technical masterpiece “Shadow Walker”, a shredder second to none, a mazey schizophrenic anomaly of spasmodic constantly- shifting music amazingly put into a coherent compositional frame;

3) the supreme closer “About Science” which “shoots” you immediately with the overwhelming main motif, hallucinogenic amorphous music at its most ingenious throwing the towel with an exiting portion of superb atonal backward riffing: “That’s all, folks! We’re done here, and we’re aware that we just provided the model people have been searching for the past few years with which to compare any other work on the field! Enjoy!”

Game, set, and match; the three “goalscorers” ably assisted by the rest of the team among which one would notice the unusual cover version choice in the form of Genesis’ “Dance on a Volcano” which, mind you, fits like a glove into the weird “kaleidoscopic” landscape, and would pass for the most relaxed piece on the album along with the short idyllic instrumental “Dreaming”. Another cover is seen later, Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” reshaped as a thrashy speedster consequently sounding better than the original (ha ha!… seriously) and almost as good as the Brits Skyclad’s version made four years later. Every song here stands for itself and is not a part of some gigantic sprawling "opera" which consists of ten and more parts and goes on and on to eternity. This is the only Mekong Delta album where the tracks work separately from the whole, every single one of them, the main reason why "Kaleidoscope" appeals to fans outside the progressive thrash spectre, and the main reason why one will remember 90% of it after just a few listens, unlike the other works, before and after, which are largely compact inter-connected puzzles that would be hard to grasp with just one piece missing.

So who were the musicians behind this feat? Well, Hubert of course, who outdid Steve DiGiorgio himself with his exploits on the bass: just check out the beginning of “Heartbeat”, and search no more for virtuoso bassisms, even on the Primus albums. Peter Haas, a Swiss drum stalwart who had taken part in the hard rock veterans Krokus, but also in the aforementioned Calhoun Conquer, and the progressive death metal one-album-wonder Babylon Sad. The vocalist Doug Lee, a very nice dramatic versatile throat with a characteristic blend, producing his crowning performance here, also a member of the previously mentioned Siren. And finally the unknown at the time Uwe Baltrusch, a wizard of Hogwarts… sorry, Shrapnel proportions who later took part in the progressive metal formation House of Spirits which line-up again comprised the omnipresent Jorg Michael.

Hubert never managed to release two consecutive albums with exactly the same line-up which is a pity since at least in this particular case he should have kept the guys for one more exploit. He returned to the more elaborate classical variations on thrash on the next “Visions Fugitives” thus leaving “Kaleidoscope” the jewel in the crown, a brightly shining “diamond” with which the search for technical and progressive metal for many a metal fan around the world must have ended. On the other hand, that would be sad if a fact since the aforementioned progressive/technical thrash metal wave of the early/mid-90’s instigated by it bore some great works showing the young practitioners trying hard to reach the established model here, some of them coming quite close to it, as a matter of fact. Then the man decided to take a break from thrash with “Pictures of an Exhibition” (1996) and extended this break further by taking a time off from Mekong Delta and music in general which lasted for over 10 years…

The comeback with “Lurking Fear” (2007) is arguably the finest thrash comeback of the new millennium so far showing Hubert and his new cohort on top of their game producing a stellar album of complex schizophrenic thrash which at times touches the “kaleidoscopic” album with all the ten fingers. It looked as though the next installment may even reach it, but the band slipped into less thrashy dimensions on “Wanderer on the Edge of Time” (2010) concentrating on their staple classical escapades more for the umpteenth time. Then came the needless reworking of old compositions on "Intersections" (2012) which didn't add up much to the band's already voluminous discography. The freshly released "In a Mirror Darkly" is a fairly cool return to the roots seeing the veteran(s) well equipped to compete with the rising forces (Vektor, Replacire, Exeloume, Myopia, Varga, Skeptor, etc.) although the magic achieved on "Kaleidoscope" seems to be elusive at this stage...

The feat from 1992 can't be repeated, and this is hardly Hubert's most urgent agenda. The band released what could be viewed the finest progressive/technical thrash metal album ever, and never faltered from their chosen path through the years staying on track, painstakingly following the twists and turns of the Mekong River all the way to its delta, into the sea and ocean, and far beyond where there's more waiting for them, be it "dancing on a volcano" or "walking in the shadows"...