Review: Present – This Is NOT The End (2024)

This Is NOT The End is Present’s eighth studio album.

The recent past has seen the return of three major avant-prog bands. Univers Zero returned in 2023 after a break of almost ten years, while Sleepytime Gorilla Museum released a new studio album in spring 2024 after a gap of 17 years. The most bittersweet of these major comebacks, however, is the release of Belgian band Present’s new album This Is NOT The End, as founder and mastermind Roger Trigaux died in the middle of the recording process.

Born in Belgium in 1951, guitarist/composer Roger Trigaux founded Univers Zero in 1973 with drummer Daniel Denis. With Denis, Trigaux created a style that combined rock and art music in a dark and distinctive way. Univers Zero’s untitled debut (1977) and the subsequent Hérésie (1979) remain a significant benchmark for avant-prog’s dark chamber music direction. After Hérésie, Trigaux left Univers Zero to form his own band, Present.

Present’s early albums Triskaidékaphobie (1980) and Le poison qui rend fou (1985) were stylistically quite similar to Univers Zero. Over the decades, however, the styles of the two bands diverged significantly. While under Denis, Univers Zero became more upbeat (this is relative, of course!) and electronic, Trigaux took his own band to an increasingly heavy and brutal style. High Infidelity (2001) and Barbaro (ma non troppo) (2009), released in the 2000s, were downright oppressively heavy.

After Barbaro (ma non troppo) Present toured only irregularly and no new material was heard. I suppose it was down simply to the relentless uncommercialism of the music, but probably also to Trigaux’s failing health. I’m not sure what illness Trigaux suffered from (rheumatoid arthritis perhaps?), but I understand that he was unable to play guitar in his last years, and that Trigaux, who was struggling to move around at the band’s gigs, only played a little keyboard and acted as a sort of band conductor.

But Trigaux never stopped composing. Trigaux’s friend and manager Michael Besset managed to lure Trigaux back to Present in 2018. According to Besset, Trigaux had spent the last years of his reclusive life in his small apartment in Brussels with composing new music as almost his only activity.

Encouraged by Besset, Trigaux then re-launched Present after a long break and the recordings were largely made with the same core group that had been responsible for the previous album Barbaro (ma non troppo). The rhythm section is still led by the powerful duo of Keith Macsoud (bass guitar) and Dave Kerman (drums), while Pierre Chevalier still plays keyboards. François Mignot has replaced Roger’s son Reginald Trigaux as the new guitarist. Mignot is known from the ”Lyon scene” bands ni and Scherzoo. Liesbeth Lambrecht plays violin and saxophone and clarinets are played by Univers Zero veteran Kurt Budé. Trigaux himself only plays some keyboards and sings. The sound engineer is still avant-prog trusted engineer Udi Koomran who has again done a great job with the sounds. This Is NOT The End sounds massive, but still dynamic.

All in all, This Is NOT The End took five years to make. Trigaux died in March 2021, leaving the completion of the process to keyboardist Chevalier and soundman Koomran in particular. They deserve a lot of credit for finishing the project.

Read also: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Of The Last Human Being (2024)

The album opens with its shortest track ”Contre”. The eight-minute ”Contre” is not actually a new composition, but was first heard on the Live! concert album released in 1996. This new studio version is much heavier than the live debut, with the vocals playing a smaller role. The arrangement is also radically different with its violins and winds than the rather stripped-down original. The new version of ”Contre” seems a rather direct continuation of the style of Barbaro (ma non troppo). ”Contre” is a track driven by oppressively pounding complex Zeuhl-like rhythms with the added piquancy of Trigaux’s demonic French-language chant which occasionally breaks off into mischievous laughter. Mignot’s electric guitar wails and rumbles manically and atonally throughout the track, while Lambrecht’s violin plays a persistently repetitive, oppressive melody. The mechanically propulsive song is crowned with cool rhythmic accelerations here and there. This new version of ”Contre” is absolutely superior to the old live version and ranks among the best songs of Present’s entire career. A great start to the album!

”Contre” is followed by the album’s massive title track ”This Is Not The End”. Divided into two parts, the epic lasts a whopping 38 minutes. Perversely, the first section is called ”Part 2”.

”This Is Not The End, Part 2” is the most gentle piece of the album. Of course, this is again relative. The song begins with a raspy, roaring bass clarinet. Songs Its chamber-like opening is interrupted by heavy rhythmic sections that hit staccato style. Insidiously, this track also grows heavier and heavier. The electric guitar is sometimes very oppressive, Macsoud’s bass guitar rumbles fiercely and the violin wails with a mournful edge.

The album culminates in the first part of the epic of the title, which is over 26 minutes long. Beginning enigmatically with a dialogue between violin and keyboards, the track escalates into a truly massive blast. Accompanied by industrial-strength shock notes, Trigaux’s voice returns as if to the accompaniment of laughter from beyond the grave. Trigaux croaks out his own as Kerman’s percussion hits, whenever least expected, with tremendous force. ’This Is Not The End, Part 1’ really benefits from the album’s wide dynamic range. This is music worth listening to with the volume turned up!

Eventually, Trigaux’s muttering quiets down and the music becomes a really obtrusive polyrhythmic swirl. Sometimes the atmosphere is sobered for a moment and then all hell breaks loose again. The pounding rhythmic theme, intersected with counterpoint melodies, is repeated and varied endlessly. Up to a certain point very creatively, but too much is too much. Indeed, the massive track doesn’t quite carry to the finish as it contains a little too much repetition and I find that my mind starts to wander towards the end. Despite its excessive duration, ”This Is Not The End, Part 1” is a very convincing musical bludgeon. A harsh, but somehow cleansing experience.

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This Is Not The End doesn’t quite measure up to Present’s brightest gems Le poison qui rend fou and High Infidelity, but it’s still a very strong return. Few veteran bands can match that after decades of career.

Despite its optimistic title, I understand that This Is Not The End will be the end of Present. And better probably so, as it would be very difficult to imagine the band without the contribution of Trigaux, who led the band from the beginning. Sometimes it’s just good to let go of some things. I wish more bands would understand that.

As far as I know, Trigaux did not make much music outside Univers Zero and Present, so his life’s work in terms of studio albums is ten studio albums. It’s not a lot but Trigaux’s powerful and intense music is definitely greater than the number. Trigaux’s Present will always be remembered as one of the giants of avant-prog.

Best tracks: ”Contre”, ”This Is Not The End 1”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI
Read also: Jack O’ The Clock – The Warm, Dark Circus (2023)

Tracks

  1. Contre 07:58
  2. This Is Not The End, Part 2 12:15
  3. This Is Not The End, Part 1 26:29

Roger Trigaux: keyboards, vocals François Mignot: guitar Pierre Chevalier: piano, keyboards, vocals Dave Kerman: drums, percussion Keith Macksoud: bass guitar Kurt Budé: saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet Liesbeth Lambrecht: violin

Producer: Present
Label: Cuneiform

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