Igor Wakhévitch - Docteur Faust (1971), 6/10

An ambitious recording and one that shows extraordinary talent for ominous composition. It can be creeping and haunting at various levels of success, depending on the particular collection of noise used and the intention behind each piece. This is a prime example of unbridled experimentation working most levels, yet hindered by some level of inconsistency in sound. The electronic experimentation, for instance, works quite well almost in totality, while the dated electric psychedelic aesthetics do not match the intensity of much of the album and its themes. Rather than consisting of an impressively varied set of experiments, they sound similar yet simultaneously disjointed at times; at its worst it can even sound somewhat contrived due to its far-reaching ideals yet restrained sonic qualities in other passages. Still, there are some great moments hidden in the track list, mostly from building layers underneath similarly unique palettes for melody. The most successful tracks almost undoubtedly being “Materia prima”, “Eau ardente” and “Sang pourpre” as the closer. The rest have qualities of modern classical music that sound either forced or too obviously reaching for a theme of apocalypse or contained horror, for example. Still an ambitious set of songs that covered impressive ground and were fresh in the early seventies for combining these varied genres and scattered motifs. If nothing else, it is still entertaining as a brief project so many years after its original release. Fun fact: Igor collaborated with Salvador Dalí, composing Être Dieu.