In 2004 I wrote the below. To provide context, I first acquired the CD in 1996.
This is certainly better than I remembered! Excellent grooves with violin and guitar (with nice fuzz tone) providing the solos. Nice use of vibes and acoustic guitar too. Keyboards range from atmospheric electronics (excellent) to digital brassy interludes (negative). Rhythms are jazzy scattered with thundering bass (though the rare slapped bass makes me wince). For modern fusion prog, this is tough to beat. If Contrevent would have exploited their more rough edges (like the fuzz bass), this would be even better.
---5/24/24
Having absorbed the album twice last night for the time since (the 2019 listen below was not as focused - I happen to remember), I think I captured the sound pretty well. As the years pile up, I find myself gravitating more and more to these melodic jazz rock outings. On Terre de Feu, the melodies have a naive quality about them that I find endearing. Almost a nostalgic lookback to the late 60s and early 70s from that standpoint. Contrevent successfully brought back the Quebec all-stars of Maneige, Contraction, and Sloche. Everything here is seamless, and the production a cut above for a private such as this. Contrevent's style was not a common sound in 1993, predicting the retro movement that was only a few years away. I find all the songs here enjoyable, but special mention goes to 'Le Miroir Des Yeux'.
Ownership: CD: 1993 CTV. Jewel case. Booklet with recording and song details.
1996 (first listen); 9//04 (review); 12/26/19; 5/24/24 (update / new entry)
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