Spiky Official Website
 
Review by Lisa Lamb
This is the first CD from talented French composer Guillaume ‘Spiky’ Muller and it is astounding. Spiky trained in Piano & Musical Theory at the Castle Of Becheville Conservatorium France since 1995 and has the demeanor, passion and Gothic ambiance.. of someone who trained in a castle. Combining a dark and twisted universe influenced by Tim Burton or Terry Pratchett, with symphonic metal and a hint of chaos theory, it’s like an orgasm for your ears.
 
Opening with the powerful Void Factory. The CD focuses on the story of reluctant hero Nescii (meaning" ignore "in Spanglish language), his call to adventure is strange and often surreal, through different terrain the Enchanted Grounds, Hilltop Asylum and Scarecrow Village and each song tells part of the story on this conceptual album. Often with sound effects such as birds re-creating the feeling of The Docks or toads in the case of The Thingumabob.
 
The most remarkable aspect of Whimsical Fantasy lies in its ability to tell a story without the visuals. Aside from the sixteen page colour booklet illustrated by the impressive artworks of Share Koziel and a bonus postcard. The rest is fuel for your imagination, its theatre of the mind, a fable told with masterful precision, embodying the heart-wrenching emotions of Nescii and downfall of society as a whole.
 
Spiky’s music is a tour de force helping turn cabaret inside out, currently working with bands (including Ivalys) , burlesque performers and animators, he is remarkably talented. With a sense of originality, this distinguishes him from the vast majority of composers in his field. Creating sonic landscapes, filled with passion, drama and intensity. This CD is incredible value, independently produced with twenty one tracks and three bonus tracks, its diverse and powerful music takes you on a journey into a world of madness and ignorance creating powerful images and making us question our own existence. Yet it is never imposing, more like an ambient gothic piece of listening pleasure.
 
Hardly whimsical fantasy…it’s a blooming masterpiece!
 
Review by Lisa Lamb
(*) comment(s)
Greetings ! Tonight, i would like to offer you a precious receipe... Grab some Dark Universe, mix them with Tim Burton And Terry Pratchett, add some Symphonic Metal influences, a tortured soul, and an effective crew. You will have something really good, Whimsical Fantasy.
 
Ok so what's exactly ? It's music, Ok ! But more than music, we could say it's the beginning of an entire universe. We will see in the future. I received the CD ... ok, black, simple and clear, nothing to say about this. Then i opened it and i discovered an explosion of color, imagination and fantasy.
 
The booklet is a complete sucess. The gracious artworks looks very profesionnal for an independant creation, the paintskills of Koziel are admirable. I really enjoyed the details level of the creation. Ok, so i removed the CD (because you have to remove the CD first in order to play it in the computer !), and i discovered a clown, maybe because the whole creation is Whimsical ... like a clown, ahah i couldn't say. The CD is like the cover, black, clear and simple. The Crow is very attractive.
 
The Album begin by a very powerful track : The Void Factory Lot of the tracktitles are conceptuals and really make us think about the border between fantasy, imaginations, dreams ... and life. The Void Factory is a really an exemple about thoses strong pictures, can you imagine a factory or people creating void ? I let you think about that, and the relation with our actual world. The problem with conceptual albums is that they are linear and repetitiv. This problem is not with Whimsical Fantasy.
 
There is an unbelievable diversity of places (Asylums, Laboratories, Wealth Fields, Villages (Toad Village, Scarecrow Village, etc...) and a specific ambiance for each place (Crazy People in the asylum, or bubbles and factory in the laboratory...). There is also a high diversity of rythms (calm tracks and big orchestral tracks well placed with perfect transitions), like in the artworks, the level of details is impressive : I was listening to Beauty Of Sadness (Piano Song), and i listened to the pianist breathing (during the transition).
 
The album have a huge research potential, and the border between Fantasy and Reality seems wanted bluried. To resume, Whimsical Fantasy is a wonderful piece rich of diversity, the artworks and the music totally fit and create the universe.
 
I would also underline the quality of the product for a cheap price. Very Good shipping, product signed on a special card... and the album is also linked with a Whimsical Fantasy Postcard.
 
I really hope you will apreciate this masterpiece like i apreciated it ...
 
Review by K.
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Review by K.