Gargantua ~ Poland

Gargantua (2003)

---2004

This album didn't meet my expectations as they were set to believe a Magma, King Crimson, and Gentle Giant combination. Naturally I took that to mean Mekanik meets Red meets Power & The Glory. But it could also mean Uppsala meets Discipline (still don’t hear any Gentle Giant I’m afraid). Modern sounding, very jazzy in the piano, digital-80’s style synths, clean and distorted guitar runs. Their sound sometimes reminds me of the new French group Nil, but in a different genre altogether. Expectations are funny, but now that I have my head around this, I’m enjoying it a lot more. Jazzy Zeuhl with Crimson moves. Something very different than anything else overall.

---3/16/26
 

There's these albums in my collection that I have zero recollection of. Gargantua's debut is one of those. Fortunately I have prior notes like the above. Despite a UMR era listen, I didn't enter the album into this site then. So I'll do that now. What does this third listen reveal?

Well it definitely belongs to the avant prog genre. Charted counterpoint rock music is how I hear and envision it. While we don't hear this sound so much from Poland, we do from neighboring Czech Republic. And I think that's where our signposts are: Uz Jsme Doma, Combo FH, MCH Band, Aku Aku, Dunaj, etc... The Polish vocals are a unique twist. The Zeuhl reference is real in that Univers Zero sort of way. And the guitars can get violent like Present does on occasion.

When the music is over, you begin to realize you've experienced something highly unique. None of the contents are groundbreaking, yet the way it's arranged and presented is just that. Groundbreaking. This is one of those albums I'm really glad to own, but if someone offered me something else like it, I'd probably take a pass. Strange, and perhaps illogical, that mindset is. But that's how I feel. One is enough, I submit.

Ownership: 2003 Ars Mundi (CD). Booklet with lyrics in Polish plus recording details. Acquired in 2004.

2004 (review); 6/20/17; 3/16/26 (update)

Gargantua went on to release one more album which I've yet to hear.

3/16/26 (new entry)