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Gnô Cannibal Tango Review by Gary Hill This French outfit is a trio and there sound is sometimes described as “Pantera meets the Beatles.” I’d personally say that it’s closer to something like Primus or King’s X, although, there is a healthy dosage of the Beatles in King’s X. Their guitarist is Christophe Godin of Morgbl. Gaby Vegh provides the bass while Peter Puke holds down the beat. All three men contribute lead vocals. The music is melodic and yet brutally heavy. This might not be your traditional progressive rock, but progressive rock it is. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2011 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Here I Stand They start this one off with some serious funk. Then it fires out to uber heavy, metallic textures. It drops back to sort of a hybrid of those two sounds for the vocals and kind of calls to mind Primus a bit. This is a real screamer that’s also very proggy. There’s some incredible funk bass on this number. They take this beast through a number of changes and at times it’s not that far removed from some modern King Crimson.

In My Place Frantically paced, this definitely feels like heavy metal as it leads out. Then it drops to this weird little reggae-influenced jam for the verse. Once more, they take us through a number of changes and there’s a smoking hot guitar solo later in the piece.

The Keeper There’s a bit more of a stripped back arrangement here. This has some killer riffs built into it and is a killer tune. There’s a cool whirling dervish kind of jam later in the piece and this thing is just so tasty.

Cannibal Tango The title track has a lot of King Crimson-like sounds built into it and it’s a real screamer. This is one of the most blatantly progressive rock pieces here, but it’s also got a killer groove and is lots of fun.

Fever (The Battle Rages On) Rush meets Primus and King’s X on this killer tune. There’s a jam later that’s very much in line with modern King Crimson.

Hate Incarnate They take us through another varied ride here, but overall this one is pretty accessible. It has some heavy moments, but like most of the music here, if you don’t like something, just wait a little while.

Get Out Of My Way There’s plenty of heavy metal on show here, but we’ve also got plenty of progressive rock in the mix, too.

Russian Girls This frantic piece is definitely a lot like Primus. It’s a real screamer that’s lots of fun.

Demon Disco While crunchy and heavy, there is also plenty of melodic progressive rock built into this killer beast. It’s got a lot of King’s X in the mix, but there’s also a lot of vintage psychedelia here.

Be My Pride Pounding in heavy, this feels a lot like King’s X early on. It has some Primus and other sounds built into it, though. There’s a cool mellower movement later in the track. There are a couple smoking hot instrumental segments later.

Fathers & Sons They create a hard rocking motif here that’s quite soaring and definitely progressive rock oriented. This really rocks out quite nicely. There’s definitely a King’s X vibe to this one, too.

Inner Feelings (Silence) This begins mellow and stays that way for a short time before pounding out into hard edged prog fury in a jam that’s got a lot of King’s X, but also some Beatles and even King Crimson built into it.

Unlisted Track - Fever (The Battle Rages On) (acapella) After several minutes of silence, finger clicking starts in. Vocals come in over the top of the chorus for “Fever (The Battle Rages On).” There’s some laughter after a bit. Then they start again. This is cool and quite jazzy, but also quite funny. They do add some acoustic instrumentation later and this is a lot of fun.

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