PROGWERELD REVIEW: ANDROID MIDNIGHT BALL (2011)

Marios Van Os also reviewed the Midnight Ball CD, and kindly provided us with an English translation. 

Android – Midnight Ball (2011)
The second album of Android follows "only" 2 years after their debut album. Compared to the first album, however, there are a lot of changes. Since their third resurrection in 2008 and the reissue of their debut album, the band has been very successful in their own country. In September 2008 they played in the Papp László Sports Arena in Budapest before an audience of approximately 6000 visitors. Furthermore they still make indescribably difficult music, but now it is complemented with vocals and spoken texts. The vocals and lyrics are in the Hungarian language and even for someone who already studied three years Hungarian (like yours truly) it remains a very difficult language to understand. And that is a pity, because the texts are all borrowed from literary masterpieces and sure tell a story.
The album contains nine songs, divided over four so-called "mini-musicals". The first is the title track Éjféli Bál or Midnight Ball which refers to the Russian novel "Мастер и Маргарита" or "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. The song tells the story of the visit from Satan to Moscow during the Walpurgis Night, where the spring ball is held in his favor. The singers Nóra Bányoczky, Zsófia Kisfaludy and Ildikó Törő and the Narrator Anna Pástor, who portrayed the role of Margarita, also give presence at the special Youtube video that was created for this title track. Next to a literary highlight it has also become a theatrical work. This way of working, together with the spoken lyrics and the vocals, gives the electronic music that Android in the base is still making, an extra exciting atmosphere. Very special are also the whimsical tunes and percussion effects. Perhaps partly due to the language, their music now comes very close to their compatriots Omega.
The "mini-musicals" are preceded with short introductory songs, that are either instrumental or with narration. The title track Midnight Ball is preceded with the instrumental opening track Remember? and the spoken track The Church Bell Ringer. And so is the song Judas Iscariot that is inspired by Robert Graves book "King Jesus" preceded by a fragment from the Gospel of Matthew, which evokes an ostensible contrast. The longest track of the cd "Pharaoh", which is inspired by the novel by Bolesław Prus with the same title, again contains longer instrumental parts with delicious synthesizer, drum and guitar solos. The urge to experiment with their instruments, which is frequently done on their debut album, is again satisfied on this track. As I pointed out with their debut album it is very difficult to categorize the music of Android. But their eclectic, experimental, classical and progressive music, which is peppered with (Hungarian) folkloric elements, is for lovers of this kind of music definitely recommended. Listen and watch the above mentioned Youtube movie and judge for yourself. And now I hope that their plans to do some concerts in The Netherlands can find their way. I really would like to see such a unique band with their theatrical appearance perform on stage.
 
MARIO VAN OS
Progwereld