Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh (1974)

Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh

1. Hortz Fur Dehn Stekehn West
2. Ima Suri Dondai
3. Kobaia Is de Hundin
4. Zeuhl Wortz Mekanik
5. Nebehr Gudahtt
6. Mekanik Kommandoh
7. Kreuhn Kohrmahn Iss de Hundin


When I was younger and more stupid, I got really excited over the term 'math rock' because I thought it was music that was derived from special equations. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it was just a sound, a style, a term some idiot music journalist conjured up. Oh sigh.

On a vaguely related note, many other idiot journalists use the the term 'Space Opera' to describe everything from Star Wars to Dune to whatever Sci-fi and David Bowie. In fact there's even a Wiki for 'Space Opera' which describes it as "a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."

But no no no no non on ono! We know they are wrong! A REAL Space Opera only happens when you take some French people, shoot them into space, give them a collective messianic fantasy and make them sing in harmony. A true Space Opera is... MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH, also known as M.D.K, the towering, glowering album from Magma that originates from somewhere beyond the stars.

The story surrounding this album is something like, a long time ago, some aliens from the planet Kobaia came down to enlighten us and all of us rejected their 'message' with the exception of this one man called Nebehr Gudhatt. Years pass and our world fucks up and Nebehr Gudhatt becomes something of a prophet and this album is all about a kind of march he organizes to... something. I don't know, do they go to Kobaia?

But, weird stories aside, Kobaian is a fucking glorious language to sing in! I heard it's made from a weird mix of French and German but, since I don't speak either, I'm not sure if I can say anything intelligent about it other than it sounds damn, damn good. It sounds absolutely PERFECT when set to the music, really. Imagine Carmina Burana given a huge forward driving beat, immense production and psychotic singers who sing in this made-up language that sounds gruttal and punchy in all the right places. A real call to arms! A call to Kobaia!! AAaaaAamlaKAaKAdlkaaaaa WLASIK KOBAIA!!!!!

And it's so goddamn catchy too! It's constructed such that one melody repeats for as long as it feels sweet and then another melody takes over and then again and again so it feels like you're really moving forward, up and outwards, into the future. After awhile, you'll really start singing along, I swear. There was a time I could actually sing this whole album, despite it being in Kobaian. It's that catchy.

In conclusion! This is one fine, fine album by make-believe spacemen. Listen to it and you, too, will feel like joining the Six Billion Man March Against McCain.


Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh Part 1 (mediafire)
Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh Part 2 (mediafire)