July 17, 2002 - Nemo and Les Nouveaux Mondes

Eight days after my last release a new band joins my library when Nemo released their debut album "Les Nouveaux Mondes" on July 17, 2002. But who are Nemo? They are a four-piece progressive rock band from Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, France consisting of Pascal Bertrand (drums, percussion), Benoit Gaignon (bass), Guillaume Fontaine (keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Jean-Pierre Louveton (electric guitar, lead vocals). Nemo's vocals are entirely in French, but a lot of the album is instrumental and these guys have the classic prog rock sound down with lots of keyboards and several longer songs, including a four-parter to finish off the album that totals over 20 minutes! Let's see what Nemo is all about!

The album begins with the nine-minute "Abysses" and after a short intro Fontaine plays some solid piano to drive a nice backing riff and Louveton takes the lead with some pretty cool guitar. Louveton eventually comes in to sing the first verse and his accent is so strong that I still have trouble understanding him, but he has a pretty solid voice and sings a solid verse overtop. Things slow down, and quiet down for the chorus as Louveton sings a smooth verse overtop the lighter but still plenty smooth music. After the chorus they show off their progressiveness with a smooth segue into a new riff with Gaignon playing some nice bass in the background and Fontaine leading the way with lots of cool piano! After this pretty cool interlude they somehow smoothly return to the main riff and after another solid round things seem like they might be over around the 7:20 mark, but Fontaine and Louveton spice up the last little bit with both of them playing nicely off each other, and both playing some pretty cool stuff! This was a pretty fitting, and pretty cool way to introduce themselves! Up next is "Au Dessus Des Toits" and Fontaine plays a light acoustic guitar riff while Louveton sings softly to match the light mood. Fontaine switches to some epic, water-y keyboards, Louveton starts a light electric guitar riff and then the two of them sing the next verse together and it sounds interesting with the two, similar singers. After a couple slower rounds things pick up with a harder rock riff and Louveton's guitar is definitely the highlight. He plays a bunch of cool stuff, including a wonderful little segue that sets the stage for a fast-paced new part! A cool rhythm section follows and Fontaine plays some nice fast piano in the background while Louveton continues to play some pretty sweet lead guitar. Louveton's new verse sounds solid as well and this cool new riff takes us almost to the end of the song, before they end it as it began with the quieter part. Track 3 is an instrumental song called "Danse Du Diable" and they dive right into a catchy bass riff, drums follow, then some cool fast piano, then Louveton syncs up with the piano and plays the same riff on guitar and together they sound pretty cool! Louveton breaks away for some epic guitar parts while Fontaine keeps the pace with the constant cool piano and everything sounds pretty awesome! There's some cool trippy parts mixed in and when everything but the piano stops for a second things sound very epic indeed. What an awesome little song! The next track is "Tempête" and Fontaine plays some epic piano to start, he and Louveton both do a little scat singing, then they slam into a pretty cool riff led by some epic guitar, and backed by some pretty cool piano. They take turns taking the lead and words do not do proper justice to all the cool piano and guitar in the opening couple minutes. Things then shift to the main riff with some cool bass and a new guitar riff and Louveton sings a pretty epic verse that's very well-delivered overtop some more epic piano. After a couple epic and really cool verses Louveton delivers a pretty cool guitar solo and things appear to wrap up on a nice note, but like the first song on the album there's a trippy and space-y aftermath and this time it has some cool piano sprinkled throughout. Track 5 is "Dans La Lune Encore" and Gaignon plays a slow and cool bass riff to keep the pace, Louveton sings an elic French verse overtop, Fontaine adds some epic backing keyboards, then Louveton completes the riff with some epic lead guitar. The chorus is pretty catchy and solid as well and then they move into a new part with Louveton singing in a low voice that sounds oh so very Français! Things still sound pretty solid and after another round they show off some very smooth prog once again with a nice seamless segue to a new part led by some music box style keyboards by Fontaine. Louveton sings a nice verse to match the mood and then out of nowhere it's solo time and Louveton is nicely shredding it! There's even a rock and roll flourish at the end with some nice drums by Bertrand, then a long keyboard note carries right over into track 7 "Au Dessus Des Pyramides". Fontaine plays some space-y keyboards to start us off and things sound a little psychedelic, which I like for sure! Then in comes a super epic guitar riff by Louveton, backed by some super epic synths by Fontaine and I love this slightly heavy riff! They play off each other very nicely as things continue and words do not do proper justice once again, just some great hard prog rock! This whole (basically) six minute song is instrumental and it's just overflowing with epic and awesome guitar and piano! Easily my favourite song on the album! Track 7 is the beginning of an over 20 minute long saga that is titled "Philéas", starting of course with part 1, "Départ/Europe". Louveton drives things with some catchy and pretty cool guitar and after almost two minutes of solid stuff they segue very nicely into a new riff with some epic keyboards by Fontaine in the background and Louveton still leading the way with even more cool guitar. After three minutes Louveton finally comes in on vocals and sings a decent verse overtop and he even just talks a quick part before setting the stage nicely for a little keyboard solo! Louveton finishes up the song with a cool little "aha-ha-ha" part and it leads right into a big gong hit that signals the start of the next track "Les Fleuves Sacrés". Bertrand plays some cool percussion that sounds like a trippy xylophone almost and I like it! Some acoustic guitar and light bass join in to complete this interesting main riff and most of the song is instrumental, until the final minute when Louveton and Fontaine sing a quiet verse together. The verse was nothing too special, but I do like the cool percussion throughout, and it even carries over into track 9 "Luna" as Bertrand plays a new epic drum beat in the same percussion sound and it sounds really cool! They expertly build things up from here eith some solid bass, followed by some pretty epic piano, and then some cool lead guitar to complete this pretty cool prog-y intro. After a couple minutes the drums change to a normal kit, but Bertrand continues to play some cool drums and once again they expertly build up from here with lots more epic and cool piano and guitar. There's a brief verse that sounds more like some kind of short chant, but this six minute song is largely instrumental and words don't do proper justice to all the cool stuff they smoothly play. They even end the song on a drum solo and Bertrand plays a pretty cool one at that! The final hit of his solo is also the start of the album's final song "Nouveau Monde" and it begins very quietly with some almost whispering snare drum and some quiet but still decently epic piano. The guitar eventually joins in and syncs up with the piano nicely and things sound a bit like we're pre-shootout in an old Western movie! This entire six minute song is instrumental and once again I couldn't possibly describe all the cool guitar and piano that's going on, but there's a lot of it and it's a really nice way to wrap up this saga, and the album!

That is the end of "Les Nouveaux Mondes" and I thought it was a pretty sweet debut album by Nemo! There is so much cool guitar and piano on this album and these guys are a really great progressive unit. There are no bad songs at all and a couple were really awesome and I really didn't mind the minimal French singing, Louveton is a solid singer! I hope to hear some more great prog rock from Nemo in the future!