In these challenging times, it's nice to count on something that seems to be getting better instead of worse. Miriodor have been around now for about 30 years, quite an accomplishment in itself, but perhaps more amazingly, every CD they release improves in some way upon the last. A case in point is Avanti! (Onward!), the band's seventh Cuneiform CD, released in May 2009. You might take note of the cover -- not as garish or whimsical as previous albums -- before the music even begins. The front cover photo shows keyboardist Pascal Globensky, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Bernard Falaise, bassist/keyboardist Nicolas Masino, and drummer Rémi Leclerc four abreast in a stark white twisting corridor accompanied by a pair of out-of-focus passersby. The photography, by Patrick La Roque, is meant to suggest movement, but at least as far as that front cover is concerned, the impression is one of Miriodor standing solid and motionless while others move around them. The back cover reveals that the track lengths are comparatively long -- not Supper's Ready length, but ranging between six-plus and ten-plus minutes, meaning there are less than half as many compositions (seven in total) as typical on the band's previous studio discs. And when you get past the cover and into the music itself, you find that Miriodor take full advantage of the lengthier pieces to push the music ever forward, cruising past previous boundary markers while maintaining a greater sense of organic flow and, yes, groove. Not to mention noise and heaviosity, as the first roaring moments of opening track Envoutement (Bewitchment) reveal, with Leclerc's cymbals filling all available cracks in the sound and Masino's bass in speaker-busting mode. This is probably the heaviest Miriodor ever. When the focus sharpens and the instruments stand out in crisp relief, the contrast is startling.

1		Envoûtement [Bewitchment]
2		Bolide Débile [Dare Devil]
3		La Roche [Meeting Point]
4		Écart-Type [Standard Deviation]
5		À Déterminer [To Be Determined]
6		Avanti!
7		Réveille-Matin [Shadow of the Alarm Clock]