Demon

I cannot compare this release to anything Gazpacho has done before as this is my first exposure to their music. This is one of my favorite releases so far this year. Yes it's progressive-ish but not like anyone else that I am familiar with. Musically, vocally and lyrically everything fits. This CD creates a wonderful moody journey if that makes any sense.One thing of note is the production quality is very good in this day of crap sounding overcompressed flat releases...it retains some dynamic range and just sounds really good.Overall good writing, good production, good music with a progressive-y international-y feel. Just buy it!

Gazpacho has such a formula for making the perfect record, that I did not listen to this much when I first got it delivered. I heard it on a streaming site, and I knew it sounded good, but it felt like I heard it before. That deja vu that you get listening to albums from Night through Demon will always there, because they just really found that groove. I really do not care at this point if the differences are subtle or apparent, because each of those albums are excellent in their own way. Although Night is just so good, Demon may actually be their best. If you can pick a favorite, go ahead, but I am going to keep listening to all them in a playlist.

just like with most Gazpacho (Norwegian Band) releases, this one takes some time for it to grow on you. I've been a huge fan of Missa Atropos, and in many regards this is a different beast and is taking me a little longer to assimilate. But that is a hallmark of an excellent CD from my perspective - there is a ton of depth here and it needs listening to grok it. But it's in my Top 10 releases of 2014 - right up there with Anathema's "Distant Satellites".

Their best yet. This is a work of aching beauty throughout.Magnificence without bombast.Wanting for more.Could have very wide appeal.No fillers.Buy it now

Satisfied with product quality and delivery.

Excellent

I have been a big fan and supporter of Gazpacho since I discovered them several years ago. Most albums (Night, Tick Tock) are great from beginning to end. The rest are good, containing at least several gems throughout. I can't find any gems on this album.

Short, compact, impeccable. "Demon" follows a string of seven glorious records from Norway's deceptively adventurous prog-rockers and manages to top them, in great part because it is a synthesis of all things Gazpacho. The offbeat inventiveness of the first albums, the majesty of Night, the experimentation of Tick Tock, the conceptual narrative of Missa Atropos and the dark beauty of March Of Ghosts, all condensed in four tracks and 45mn, as a throwback to vinyls of old...While March of Ghosts was pretty much written and recorded at the tail-end of the Missa Atropos period, Demon is the product of two years of new work. The driving force behind it is keyboardist Thomas Andersen's talks with his father about the perception of an evil presence throughout human history and in human souls, together with a memory the older Andersen had brought back from a posting in Prague in the 70's, the story-or is it an urban legend ?- of a man who suddenly disappears from the City, leaving behind an obscure manuscript where he claims to have been alive for eons, locked in an endless fight with a demon. Andersen brought the idea to his band mates and the seed was sown.As usual, Gazpacho composed and recorded the whole music before touching the lyrics, one of the reasons why the text of Gazpacho songs, as well as singer Jan-Henryk Ohme's wonderfully subtle voice, always flow so well into it. It is quintessentially Gazpacho music, meaning difficult to describe when you are not familiar with it. Contrary to neo-prog mainstays, Gazpacho never tries to sound like anybody else. Listen to Transatlantic's otherwise magnificent new album, Kaleidoscope, for example, and you will probably come to the conclusion that every single piece on it is recognizable, a brilliant and reverential assembly of all things prog : among others, what would Roine Stolte's solo around the 13mn mark of "Into the blue" sound if Steve Howe had not dazzled in "Ritual" 40 years ago ? By comparison, one finds a kinship with The Gathering on the more trance-like moments of a Gazpacho album, one with Marbles-era Marillion in general and a distant one with Muse in Ohme's tense and lyrical delivery. But comparisons stop fast. Furthermore, Gazpacho is more than ever a collection of team players, without anyone ever pushing themselves front and center.Demons is very much one long story, split into pieces for convenience and to make a point. A first epic, I've Been Walking, describes the struggles of the manuscript writer with the real -or inner- demon but is split in two, showcasing the much shorter Wizard of Altai Mountain, story of a little boy who has made up a magical wizard to protect him but lets slip that the trauma and the fear are not invented. And the last piece -and longest- Death Room, seems to see the demon vanquished (?), wondering what part he has played, interwoven with other musings like those of the bomber pilot wondering how much he should consider the lives of the people he is about to blow to smithereens.The smart lyrics are delicately delivered on a varied musical tapestry that goes from rock to art-rock with whiffs of multiple styles, from a mournful violin to a lonely piano, from accordion or mandolin moments to quasi-gospel overtones. This is surprisingly easy complex music, even though it will still not kill at the box office. Gazpacho is after all a band of extremely talented musicians with day jobs and will probably remain so. But, commercial success or not, you cannot go wrong with Demon...