When Magma’s third album Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh was released in May 1973, the UK charts were dominated by new titles from Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Gilbert O’Sullivan. That fact stands as a stark reminder of just how alien and experimental the French collective’s music was.
While their cult following may have broadened in the 50 years since its release, the album’s brooding strangeness remains defiantly undiminished. Both then and now, there’s still nothing beyond the sonic worlds created by drummer and founder Christian Vander that sounds quite like it.
