Rhùn - Tozïh (2023)

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Rhùn - Tozïh (2023)

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Rhun are a French sextet playing zeuhl and avant progressive-influenced music. Their first album came out a decade ago on AltrOck and they’ve just resurfaced with their excellent second album here.

The band say:
“Emëht Um Rhët Sam (the devil emits and shines)
This long series of themes in crescendo, as well as the poem sung in French, are the very illustration of the subjects approached by this piece. For Rhùn, the devil hides in the actions carried out by man himself, guided by financial and selfish desires which radiate and contaminate the weakest (by which we mean the proletariat), and which banish those who have no means of defending themselves: whether it is humans (children, handicapped, poor, pariahs), animals and nature. This piece is an observation, it offers no solution.”

An impressed punter says:
“One of the newer zeuhl kids on the block, RHÙN is yet another emerging from France but this band led by the charismatically named Captain Flapattak (drummer, vocalist and head honcho in the vein of Christian Vander) has been around since at least 2008 but took a few years to release its 2012 demo EP " ÏH ” and then finally released its debut full-length “Fanfare Du Chaos” the following year. It may have appeared that this band was one and done but here we are an entire decade after and RHÙN is back with its jazzified take on the zeuhl sound with TOZÏH.

Ten years is a long time and it’s no surprise that TOZÏH features a completely different cast of members with not one returning except the good Captain himself that is. If you’re looking for the real zeuhl deal in the vein of the more experimental section of the zeuhl supermarket then you can’t go wrong with this fine 21st century release. TOZÏH only three tracks that together slink over the 38-minute mark. The opening “Ehmët Um Rhët Sam” wastes no time going for the prog jugular with its 21 1/2 playing time. The second track “Sédalg Rhëvé (incl. Ygahpoporhtna Lrig)” follows with an 11 1/2 minute playing time leaving only the shorter 5 minute “Eripme Cirtcele” to close the album as a sort of outro piece.

This Captain really knows how to steer his vessel into the tumultuous zeuhl seas and directs his crew to crank out some seriously tasty chops that are based off the classic Magma sound (think “Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh” era) and then add heavy doses of psychedelia, jazz and proggier than usual for zeuhl time signature outbursts. The result is a very satisfying album that offers enough of the traditional touches to keep it firmly planted in zeuhl territory while taking bold measures to add unexpected twists and turns that break the hypnotic spell that this style of music excels at. The term playful has been applied to this band and that’s actually a fitting description as the Captain loves to throw a wild zeuhl party, one where all the attendees are having the time of their life.

The band pays homage to the great Magma with Kobaïan script and greater than average drumming prowess in the zeuhl context however RHÙN takes liberties Magma would never even consider making this band sound like a Magma cover band gone rogue by joining a jazz-fusion band and then taking many psychedelic detours. The variations in rhythmic drive and stylistic approaches too often deviate from the Magma playbook. While vocals are a vital aspect of RHÙN’s style, there are not lush choirs to be heard here but harmonic counterpoints do grace the album’s flow and the eccentric singing style of Ludal Le Chacal more than makes up for any of that. Overall this is a very satisfying zeuhl release and one of the best i’ve heard in a while but of course this is a style of music that only seems to attract the seasoned pros who are capable of breathing new life into it.”-rym