Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh

Released

Lotta weird prog bands in the 70s but Magma might’ve been the weirdest: the whole damn project is conceptual, something about humans escaping an ecologically-doomed Earth. Founder Christian Vander even came up with his own language for this, so if you’re a lyrics person you’re SOL. If you’re a fan of musical insanity, on the other hand, you’ve come to the right place. Combining prog, avant garde, gospel, jazz, and probably some genres that exist only on the planet Kobaïa, they created an utterly gripping sound. This, their most well-known album, is probably the best entry point to their otherworldly journey — it strikes the balance best between their more experimental earlier work and heavier later work. Which isn’t to say it’d ever get played on the radio, even on their home planet.

Jeff Treppel