JARGON: The Fading Thought (PROGRESSIVE ROCK,Alternative Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

His pseudonym does not let it guess but Jargon was born in 1981 in Athens, his real name, much more evocative, being John Kosmidis. A name and a pseudonym that some may have already known in Verbal Delirium, a band that now has three albums in its discography. While waiting to give life to an fourth opus, its leader has decided to release his first solo album, "The Fading Thought".

If Verbal Delirium has the habit to deliver a dark and tortured progressive rock as much as dynamic, at the crossroads of Van der Graaf Generator and Muse, Jargon's solo performance proves to be a little more intimate and delicate. The quasi-metal guitar riffs present on the band's albums are here much rarer, supplanted by an expressive string quartet, and the piano, already very present within Verbal Delirium, is the keystone of this beautiful edifice. Thus the first part of the album is interspersed with elegant and delicate neo-classical instrumentals, and art rock ballads that unfurl a varied, sensitive music populated with instrumental arabesques sometimes carried by the piano, sometimes by the strings or the guitar.

After 'Time is Running Out' with a symphonic introduction reminiscent of Muse, the songs become more tormented, the vocals more tortured, the music more experimental. 'How Can I?', with its many mood changes, is adorned with a gothic, ghostly vocals and strident guitar riffs, and 'The Last Temptation' opens with a tormented and poignant piano-vocal, reminiscent of Peter Hammill's 'In The End', before a finale of obsessive guitar and violin loops.

In addition to his mastery of the art of composition, Jargon's other strong point lies in his moving, lively and slightly theatrical vocals, alternately soft or incisive, capable of sink into immoderation without warning, frightening ('The Fading Thought'), haunting ('The Last Temptation') or close to insanity ('Window to the World'). The singer's poignant sincerity is reminiscent of Peter Hammill's (one of John Kosmidis's admitted influences), without reaching, for better or worse, all the excess, but giving the songs an intensity that sends shivers.

'Window to the World' closes the album as violently as 'The Film' had opened it gently, its compact wall of percussion accompanied by insane screams leaving the listener with an impression of chaos and desolation. Navigating between timeless grace, poignant piano-vocals, symphonic progressive and experimental fury, Jargon offers us a beautiful work of rock art, sensitive and intelligent, one of the most beautiful albums of this year 2020. - Official website

JARGON

THE FADING THOUGHT

AUTOPRODUCTION

PROGRESSIVE ROCK