This Is NOT The End by Present
Leave it to Present — a pioneering Rock in Opposition band from Belgium known for demanding listeners’ attention with angular, mind-bending compositions—to title its final album This Is NOT The End. In the middle of the recording process, founder and composer Roger Trigaux (who also founded Univers Zero 50 years ago) passed away in 2021 at age 69 following a long illness. Present itself had been dormant in the studio for a long time, and This Is NOT The End took five years to complete. The result is a cacophony of keyboards, brass, bass, percussion, violin and the occasional voice anchored by complex counterpoint and intricate instrumental interplay. Even the album’s running order challenges listeners, opening with the uneasy “Contre” (French for “against”) and then plunging into “Part 2” of the title track before wrapping up Present forever with the 26-and-a-half-minute marathon “Part 1.” Alternately majestic and weighty, This Is NOT The End also emerges as an oddly cathartic listening experience.
Get This is NOT The End at Amazon here.
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