Minimum Vital - Atlas (2003)

MINIMUM VITAL is certainly amongst the most original bands from the Eighties Progressive rock scene: twin brothers Thierry & Jean-Luc PAYSSAN mix art-rock influences from YES, guitar parts as fluid as Mike OLDFIELD's, an amazing virtuosity coming from jazz-rock fusion, many innovations and a deep mark from medieval and southern European traditional musics. This French band has built its own style, marked by a huge identity and originality, and is now recognized as a reference in itself. ""Envol Triangles/Les Saisons Marines"" gathers the first audio-Cassette (1985) and the first vinyl (1987). Beautiful album recorded on the Musea label, ""Sarabandes"" (1990) reflects the strong personality of the band. MINIMUM VITAL is not far from equalling masters such as YES or CAMEL. ""La Source"" (1993) sees the inclusion of female singer Sonia NEDELEC and her counterpart Jean-Baptiste FERRACCI. They use a language of her own, melting Latin, Occitan (A dialect from the South of France) and Portuguese. The live video ""Les Mondes De..."" allows to understand better the strange attraction that charmed the American audience, reputedly very demanding, during the 51 minutes that the Los Angeles' ProgFest 1994 performance lasted. It comprises pieces from the three first albums, as well as unreleased tracks. ""Esprit D'Amor"" (1997) is a complete renewal of the genre, letting the usual apart. ""Au Cercle De Pierre..."" (1997) allows the listener to appreciate the charisma and the energy of the band on stage. The CD includes twelve titles, two of them being unreleased (One studio track), and is completed by a multimedia part (With biography, music and video). After a seven-year silence, so hard to stand even with the VITAL DUO experience, MINIMUM VITAL is eventually back with a new studio opus. ""Atlas"" (2004) continues the same way, bettering its style. The seventh opus ""Capitaines"" seems to be back to the source (Pun intended !). Sometimes instrumental, often sung, these nine pieces are faithful to MINIMUM VITAL's own musical style. With a strong work on percussion, including unusual and ethnic sounds, the band succeeds in creating a well-balanced music, melodious, including tracks among the best the band composed so far, like ""Capitaines"", ""La Croix De Bourghi Bandô"" or ""La Route"". A timeless music, composed and played with a strong desire for perfection. ""Chapître 3"" (Musea Parallele, 2012) is the first DVD ever published by the band, captured live March 4th, & 5th, 2011, at Begles' Mussonville Chapel. The two brothers are busy playing guitars, keyboards and percussions on the six titles featured here. Far from being lost, Thierry & Jean-Luc PAYSSAN, accompanied by bass player Eric REBEYROL, perform top-notch music with class and elegance. Three other compositions, recorded in February 2012, are featured as bonus. Be sure that this third chapter opening shall be as thrilling as the previous ones !