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Le Grand Guignol > The Great Maddening > Reviews
Le Grand Guignol - The Great Maddening

A Masterwork of the Avant Garde - 100%

KalmahSlays, November 5th, 2014
Written based on this version: 2007, CD, Maddening Media (Enhanced)

Ah, Le Grand Guignol. Possibly one of the most underrated (and most likely unknown) bands in extreme metal. These guys sent me a friend request back in the MySpace days, around when this album was released. Being the metal neophyte that I was I listened to the music and dug it, but never really grasped the music. I pretty much just though "Wow violins and harpsichords in metal, how cool!" and that was the end of it. Now about a year ago these guys found there way back into my brain. Their name rustled around in my head until I had no choice but to revisit this record. And boy was I glad I did.

Upon re-listening to the intro track "Cirqvs L" I was instantaneously drawn into it. As the title might suggest, this track as a someone circus music type feel too it and is a great opening track for the over all feel and themes of the album, both musically and lyrically. With my newly attained musical appreciation and analytical skills I was able to notice tiny details that I didn't notice back when I first heard The Great Maddening. One of the biggest and most awesome things on the album are the orchestrations. They are definitely the centerpiece of the album. This is where a majority of the melodies throughout are expressed (although guitar takes over fairly often as well) and their complexity is astonishing. One thing I really appreciate about the orchestrations are the chamber music feel to them. Typically when a band incorporates symphonic elements into metal they tend to go with the huge string section sound. With Le Grand Guignol this isn't the case. Many of the parts are individually played instead of having a section on the same instruments. I feel like this aspect of the music adds to the macabre feeling of the record since when I think of horror music, I tend to think of small chamber style quartets or sextets playing creepy melodies. The guitars are definitely another highlight of the album. Everything the guitars are doing makes perfect musical sense. The guitarist knows when to go into the background and when to take center stage for a melody or solo. And speaking of solos this guy definitely knows how to shred. His solos are tasteful, emotional, and above all eerie.

The rhythm section in Le Grand Guignol do their jobs competently. This maybe the only aspect of the album that isn't completely standout. But, I'm not going to deduct points for that because this doesn't detract from the over all quality of the album whatsoever. Vocals, however are another story. The vocals on this album are completely sick. Not only do they sound great but there is so much variation here it blows my mind. You have your typical black metal vocals, clean melodic singing (both male and female), spoken word, and some kind of bizarre shriek that the vocalist employs for dramatic purposes. All of these compliment the music so well and paint the picture of madness that this album is attempting to evoke. The lyrics the the album are also very bizarre. Most of them are in English aside from the epic "Lucilinburhuc." They talk a lot about spirits, apparitions, and just creepy supernatural topics in general. Again, this reinforces the message and themes that I feel that Le Grand Guignol was trying to portray.

This is one of those rare albums that is the complete package. It has a vision and it is constant throughout the album in everything you hear, without getting stale. This is an album I would recommend not only to metalloids, but to fans of music in general. There's is something here everyone can appreciate whether you listen to extreme music or not. The music found on The Great Maddening is moving, timeless, and boundary smashing.

Highlight Tracks: Literally every single track is great. Go listen to this album right now.

Symphonic Avant-Garde-ism With a Touch of Madness - 98%

IndividualThought, October 27th, 2012

The first time I heard about Le Grand Guignol, I was on a major symphonic metal kick. I searched far and wide for amazing symphonic metal, from extreme to power metal, to gothic. Most bands I heard we're either bland or tiring upon first listen. Excessive amounts of keyboard, no real talent whatsoever. This band, however, was not talent-less nor tiring. In fact, they were very good. Very... good and interesting. Instantly, I was surprised and intrigued by the cover art and the tracks made stream-able from their main website. The album title also prompted some maddening, operatic tragedy, "The Great Maddening." Surely, this grew to be a quick (err, mad) addiction. This was an interesting and amazingly symphonic output by a band as rare as it is powerful. Everything about this album is a trip.

Firstly, and how every symphonic metal band should be, there's a huge reliance on orchestrations and keyboards. These are easily the highlight of the album. Bombastic and powerful, eclectic and enjoyable. Mesmerizing even. They offer an interesting offset to the metal on this album. The metal is powerful too, but the orchestrations make the album the work of art it is. The orchestrations are mostly really medieval, classical and baroque sounding, accompanied by shrieked and clean vocals, it makes for a beautifully hypnotizing combination. Even the soft parts are amazingly atmospheric and really well composed, like midway through "Degenesis." The guitars offer some awesome melodies and the intended metal awesomeness; i.e. awesome leads, even though they seem to be the background for the orchestrations and vocals. The drums are your fair share of beats, and are pretty standard for the extreme metal genre. That's not a bad thing at all, though, in fact, it's a good thing. Never doubt the power of well-played, thoughtful drumming.

One of the first things you notice upon listening are the miraculous vocals. The vocals envelop you immediately. They're different, not monotonous, not bland; never bland. They seem to be almost mad, insane or just downright disturbed, which actually suits the album perfectly. These might be some of the best vocals I've heard in a while; shrieks, cleans, whispers, spoken word; what doesn't this album have? I'll tell you what. A bad moment. I highly recommend Le Grand Guignol to all fans of symphonic metal or if you're just looking for something avant-garde and experimental. Give it a shot! I enjoyed every minute of it.

Extreme gothic madness in a coherent form - 96%

kluseba, September 14th, 2011

"Le Grand Guignol" is the name of a famous theatre in Paris that is known for its grisly horror shows and also the name of this outstanding avant-garde metal band from the beautiful Luxembourg. In comparison to other avant-garde bands like Adversus, UneXpect or Spacemak3r, Le Grand Guignol is much easier to digest. They have many influences and a lot of creativity but the album sounds quite coherent from a musical and lyrical point of view. Musically, the band employs blackened symphonic metal in the key of Dimmu Borgir with some epic folk influences like Falkenbach and some gothic comedy sounds that remind of some soundtracks from several Tim Burton movies. I really like about this album that the band takes the precious time to focus on haunting melodies and atmospheres without any overambitious hurry. I would also like to point that the band sings not only in English but also in Latin and Luxembourgish in several tracks which gives this album an exotic and unique touch.

The topic of the madness is almost conceptual on this record and extremely well transmitted in the weird "Mens Insana In Corpore Insano" featuring samples of many creepy and mad voices that make me think of experimental gothic music or dark Japanese Animes and the haunting "Madness And Her Thousand Young" for which an eccentric video was produced. In those two essential tracks, the band employs more ideas than other do so in two albums but the whole thing is still mid paced and easy to follow.

Several shorter tracks, sometimes classic instrumental interludes like "Alsuntia", sometimes heavier stuff like "I, Who Brought Forth Myself" that varies between blackened folk metal, epic symphonic approaches and some great heavy metal riffs that could come right from Iron Maiden, give us a break from the longer masterpieces.

My absolute favourite track on this record is though the epic symphonic extreme metal anthem "Lucilinburhuc", a track performed in Luxembourgish which is a true rarity in the entire metal genre. The epic chorus reminds of Tyr or Ensiferum and just blows me away in this great homage to the band's home country.

In the end, we get almost one hour of diversified and atmospheric entertainment of the greatest kind from an exotic country. For those who like avant-garde metal or extreme symphonic metal with some folk passages, this album is undeniably a must have in your collection. For those who think that UneXpect and similar bands have a great potential but sound too fast and nervous, this album represents what you have always been looking for. Be sure to check this rare gem out soon.

Riff n' Synth Menagerie - 90%

Skammdegisthunglyndi, January 30th, 2008

With the unfortunate demise of Arcturus there is gaping hole left in the whimsical realms of pomposity inhabited by the black metal avant garde. Though technically a re-release, Luxembourg's Le Grand Guignol (formerly Vindsval) are clearly looking to fill said hole with their batshit insane beauty The Great Maddening.

This epic journey through eccentric fantasy is, as you would expect, all over the place. Leading us through the gates like a deranged Ringmaster is 'Circus Lausenheyser'. This riff n'synth menagerie of an introduction is presumably what Solefald's next album would sound like if Danny Elfman produced it. And then we're off. Fuzzy guitar, a variety of alternating clean/black vocals (both male and female), pianos and strings (including a shamisen) are all encased in bouncing bombast as we tour the Circe du Insanity. With some neoclassical moments reminiscent of Ensiferum and whispy synth work evocative of Hollenthon 'The Great Maddening' is masterful slab of symphonic metal.

An avant garde symphonic metal album with hints of black metal rather than the other way around, its not as guitar led or aggressive as it's comtemporaries. However, for those dissappointed by Solefald's more recent efforts and still annoyed by Vintersorg's vocals this is the perfect album