Karcius

Karcius - Episodes - 2008 - Unicorn Digital

Karcius is (mainly) an instrumental group from Montreal, Canada who play a mix of progressive rock and fusion jazz music. Four instrumentalists created the band at spring 2001: Dominique Blouin on bass/vocals, Thomas Brodeur on drums, Simon L'Espérance on guitars and Mingan Sauriol on keyboards. The group objective is to develop different musical ideas and explore styles to generate a surprising and diversified music. The improvisation and written music stand side by side generating a unique and particular musical concept. - ProgArchives

Always restlessly approaching their interests in an eclectic sort of prog rock that mixes jazz-rock, psychedelia, fusion and symphonic textures, the guys of Karcius have released yet another gem in their repertoire by the end of 2008: "Episodes" is a marvelous exhibition of how much creatity these guys carry in their minds and souls in order o keep their artistic proposal fresh and renewed. As always, this band's sonic framework is loose enough as to fluidly incorporate sources of musical power that somehow relate their essence to the standards of prog-metal. You can also notice some bizarre progressions and ornaments that feel quite close to the challenging pace of avant-prog. This album doesn't fall short concerning these assets, but as I said before, Karcius does not replicate itself. "Episodes" comprises some new explorations related to space-rock, which in turn serves as a motive to emphasize the psychedelic factor that had already been present in preceding albums. The three sections of 'Elements' open up the album in a most revealing fashion. 'Submersion', the autonomous title of the first section, openly flirts with he dense flow of your regular spacey psychedelic rock. At first, Suriol's piano keeps things on a level of dreamy majesty, but it is only when l? Esperánce's lead guitar comes to the fore that the track meets its main body and crucial development. Things pretty much get heavy-prog, featuring an incendiary guitar lead augmented by an ominous choir mellotron. The opening motif then returns, partially capturing the increased energy. The last two minutes get very spacey, with a bass guitar riff that paves the way for the emergence of 'Sol', the second section. This one is more celebratory, elaborating a jazz-funk groove that might as well remind us of Weather Report-meets-Brand-X. Near the end, things get hardened, linked to the current era of jazz-rock. 'Combustion', the suite's third section, benefits from this particularly explicit momentum, with a first part that combines metallish riffs and Floydian environments: there is something grayish, subtly sinister about it. After the 6 minute mark, things get tighter up to the point of arriving at LTE-like territory. The epic conclusion provides a reprise of the bridge between sections 1 and 2. This suite has been simply lovely, a manifestation of the album's main virtues as a whole. 'Incident' is more patently fusion-oriented, clearly influenced by good old Return to Forever (mostly due to the Flamenco-like atmospheres), but there is also that aura of musical extravagance that sounds closer to bands such as The Lonely Bears. The piano sonata entitled 'Levant' is only 2 ½ minutes long, but that's OK since its Gershwin moods are developed in a most efficient manner. A lovely piece, indeed. In this way, the listener is prepared to listen to 'Purple King', a solid rocker in which the lead guitarist seems o pay homage to Allan Holdsworth and Jeff Beck. The progressive ornaments that go settling in allow the band to teach a lesson of prog metal even if it is not a prog metal group. There is also an organ solo very worthy of a special mention, in which we find traces of Lord's exquisiteness and Emerson's vibration. 'Purple King' can be fairly regarded as the album's zenith. 'Racine' occupies the album's last 9- minutes. This one is very much like Ozric Tentacles: starting with a white reggae vibe, later on the track shifts towards a space-rock momentum augmented with fusion touches. This is very similar to Ozric Tentacles at their most sophisticated. Ultimately, the first motive is reinstated in order to provide a cosmic relaxation with agile spacey textures. All in all, this albums doesn't equal the robustness of 2kaleidoscope", but it is not to say that this album is soft or lacking stamina. It has lots of stamina, indeed, but the band has put it in a more subtle level. Karcius still rules! - Review by & © Cesar Inca SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator ****/5 © Prog Archives, All rights reserved http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=20742

It is difficult to classify their music. It is more rock than anything else, perhaps slightly reminding of King Crimson, the Flower Kings and Greenslade, at least in this CD, which is superb. There are obvious jazz influences but the end result has nothing improvisational about it. Their previous two CDs ("Kaleidoscope" and "Sphere") were just as brilliant as this one. They deserve to be much better known than they are. All titles are instrumental while Levant is a beautiful piano piece. – from ***** Progressive jazz rock from Karcius, October 23, 2010 By & © N. Aggelopoulos © 1996-2014, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Karcius is an instrumental progressive rock band that has some jazz-fusion moments throughout. There’s even a nod to reggae on the ending track, “Racines”. Their third album entitled, Episodes, such a mixture of styles which are executed with ease by these amazing musicians. Episodes as with their first two albums, is on the Unicorn Digital record label. A perfect home for the band as well as something for the label to be proud of. From the opening track, “Submersion”, the band has a familiar sound while keeping things fresh. This sets the mood for the rest of the album. Another that shows off their skills as musicians is, “Purple King” which treads ground with label mates Spaced Out but more on the melodic side. The rest of the album follows suit and provides the listener with a wonderful “soundtrack”. This definitely one of my favorite instrumental releases of 2008 and fans of Spaced Out, Kopecky, Planet X and others will find Episodes to be a perfect addition to their collection. - Reviewed by & © Ron Fuchs on July 24th, 2009 © 1998-2009, ProgNaut.com, All Rights Reserved. http://prognaut.com/reviews/karcius2.html

“Episodes” contains a myriad of styles that brings out a unique and surprising personality to their music. Karcius will never stop evolving: these musicians constantly seek perfection and professionalism. A must have for all ART ROCK fans! If you love Pink Floyd, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, old school Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea; this album is for you!” © http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/karcius

Outstanding, instrumental progressive jazz rock/fusion from a great Canadian band. Listen to the band’s "Sphere" album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 153 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Elements I : Submersion (9:45)- L'Espérance, Blouin, Sauriol, Brodeur
2. Elements II : Sol (8:38)- L'Espérance, Blouin, Sauriol, Brodeur
3. Elements III : Combustion (12:23)- L'Espérance, Blouin, Sauriol, Brodeur
4. Incident (8:39)- Simon L'Esperance
5. Levant (2:26)- Mingan Sauriol
6. Purple King (7:35)- L'Espérance, Blouin, Sauriol, Brodeur
7. Racines (8:54)- L'Espérance, Blouin, Sauriol, Brodeur

MUSICIANS

Simon L'Espérance - Guitars, Additional Synths, Strings Arrangement on Track 4
Dominique Blouin - Bass
Mingan Sauriol - Keyboards, Strings Arrangement on Track 3
Thomas Brodeur - Drums, Percussion

BIO

Karcius is a band from Montreal, Canada with a twist. Their adventurous musical vision sets them apart from the rest. Together they create a unique blend of Rock, Pop, African, Classical, Jazz, and ambient music. The group came to life in spring 2001 when Simon L’Espérance on guitars, Thomas Brodeur on drums and Mingan Sauriol on Keyboard shared a common interest in writing adventurous music together. Sylvain Auclair on bass and vocals joined the group in 2009. Each of these solid musicians are constantly active in the local and international music scene, especially in Europe. Their experience and maturity has enabled them to diversify their sound and explore boundless opportunities within this vehicle that is Karcius. With all of their album distributed internationally, the band broke into new markets and gained global recognition in the art-rock music scene. They performed in some of the most important progressive music festivals in North America, South America and Europe and left quite an impact, creating a growing interest and fan base. Their dynamic personality, the energy they have on stage and their driving force leaves no one indifferent. Karcius’s sense of unity and cohesion makes them hard- hitting and determined. On “Episodes” the band redefined and brought new colors and complexity to their sound, authenticating their need to re-invent themselves musically and professionally. The future holds many surprises as the band increases their presence internationally. The recent addition of vocals is very exciting for the band and will surely allow them to reach larger audiences. © 2012 KARCIUS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.karcius.com/us.html