As far as progressive rock is concerned, there are a few French bands that have nothing to be ashamed of when compared to Anglo-Saxon combos. Anasazi since its creation can boast of falling into this category. Formed more than 15 years ago and taking its name from an Amerindian tribe meaning "the ancients", the group has not stopped producing albums of very good quality highlighting influences ranging from Dream Theater to Porcupine Tree through the Beatles.
If the first albums were strongly inspired by these bands, Anazasi has been able to integrate them over the releases to better emancipate itself from them and imprint its personal touch thanks to the very distinctive tone of its singer Mathieu Madani. Far from the clichés of progressive metal singers who sometimes have the unfortunate tendency to push their vocals to the maximum until they overplay, Mathieu‘s rather pop and nuanced voice brings to the band a significant identifiable touch that allows Anasazi emerge on the music scene.
After the release of "1000 Yard Stare" which was an undeniable success, Mathieu took his time to compose with the faithful and talented bassist Christophe Blanc-Tailleur eleven new tracks by integrating a new drummer (Anthony Barruel) and a new guitarist (Bruno Saget) who took part in the writing.
"Ask The Dust" is thus the fifth album of the group with a cover as well worked as the previous ones. It stages a merry-go-round whose roof disintegrates, floating on an agitated sea. One takes the measure of the suggested parable which leads the listener to interpret this merry-go-round as the representation of a society gangrenous and shaken by its surrounding torments to end up in dust.
"Ask The Dust" is a protean and dense record. Anasazi has an innate sense to write accessible titles but also more thorough. The listener is sometimes carried away in a direct rock/metal style (‘Staring At The Sun‘ and ‘Miles Away‘) or, conversely, in more unstructured tracks in which the saturated guitar contrasts with the layers of keyboards reminiscent of Porcupine Tree (‘Feeling Nothing‘). It must be said that Mathieu and Bruno are not stingy in inspired solos while keeping this spirit of synthesis.
If the previous album was very metal-oriented, this new baby is more subtle in its approach while retaining a beautiful power (the new drummer has something to do with it) and brings its share of novelties. At the forefront of this progression is an instrumental (‘Once Dead‘) where the band finds the alchemy between technique and emotion, some electronic experimentations (‘Ask The Sun‘) or even more convoluted constructions somewhat similar to Pain Of Salvation (‘And The Grudge (Still Here)‘) and a lot of Pink Floyd (‘Still I Can‘t Hide‘).
This not enchanted, dark, pessimistic, personal, varied merry-go-round illustrates an "Ask The Dust" which is the manifestation of the band‘s talent to maintain all the interest during this long album and comes to confirm, in spite of the changes of line up, an almost flawless discography.
SIMILAR BANDS: TOOL, RIVERSIDE, ANATHEMA, PAIN OF SALVATION, PORCUPINE TREE, O.S.I., DREAM THEATER
