Progressive rock act Lalu returned this summer with their A Mythmaker’s Demise album on the Frontiers Music Srl label, and it’s proved to be a celebration of the old while reinventing matters anew.
To begin with, it marked the 20th anniversary of keyboard player Vivien Lalu‘s progressive rock project, which began in 2005 with Oniric Metal and came full circle, with A Mythmaker’s Demise intended as a bold tribute to legacy, craftsmanship, and artistic brotherhood.
To mark the occasion, Lalu reunited with vocalist Martin LeMar (Nachtgeschrei, Mekong Delta), whose voice first defined the project. LeMar contributed powerful performances and lyricism that bridged past and present. Also making a triumphant return was drumming legend Simon Phillips (Toto, Protocol etc), the very first drummer to record the earliest Lalu track, ‘Paint The Sky‘.
Continuing the collaborative spirit ignited in 2023’s The Fish Who Wanted To Be King, Vivien Lalu teamed up once again with longtime partner Joop Wolters on guitars and bass. The duo crafted the songs from the ground up, focusing on organic, dynamic arrangements with no overproduction.
“We wanted this record to feel alive. No drum samples, next to no EQ, just real performances captured in their natural state,” explained the keyboard player.
“There has always been undeniable musical synergy between Viv and myself,” said Wolters. “This album came together very naturally, and locking in with the real, unedited live drums by Simon Phillips in the final stages was the icing on the cake. It truly feels like a real band, just like back in the good old days.”
The album was mixed to preserve a live, open sound, capturing the human energy of each take. A key guest appearance came from keyboard virtuoso Jens Johansson (Stratovarius, Yngwie Malmsteen), who delivered explosive solos across three tracks. His presence carrying particular significance, having been one of Lalu‘s earliest influences and a contributor to both ‘Atomic Ark‘ and ‘Paint The Sky‘.
A Mythmaker’s Demise reflects on the fading light of human imagination in the age of artificial intelligence. Mattias Norén’s artwork portrays a writer dying at his desk, while his creations struggle to escape into a world that no longer values them: a visual metaphor for the album’s deeper message.
Tracks featured are: ‘Tears Of The Muse‘, ‘EKO‘, ‘I Am The One‘, ‘Mayacama (Instrumental)‘, ‘Prince With The Swift Warning‘, ‘Learning To Fly‘, ‘A Drop Of Water (Instrumental)‘, ‘Fhloston Paradise‘, ‘Cordal Weaves‘ and ‘Midnight Ink‘.
‘Prince With The Swift Warning‘ was released as the first single from the album, about which Lalu said: “The first single, ‘Prince With The Swift Warning‘, is inspired by Watership Down, one of Martin LeMar’s favourite animated films. The track reflects its themes of exile and survival, unfolding as a journey toward a safer place, carried by strong melodies and a driving progressive feel.”
Regarding its follow-up single, he noted that: “‘I Am The One‘ is about the double life Martin LeMar (vocals) leads, a reality shared by many musicians today: a day job by day, and rock music/the stage at night. The video brings this to life by showing Martin at his desk, talking to the rockstar version of himself standing beside him. The song is the voice of that other self, the one in the shadows that keeps calling him back. As the lyric says: ‘I stood beside you, I am the one’.”
Next came focus track ‘Tears Of The Muse‘, where he commented: “‘Tears Of The Muse‘ is about what happens when we stop using our imagination. The song explores that shift, from human creativity to something artificial taking its place, and the grief of watching human creativity fade. It felt like the natural choice to open the album because, in four minutes, it captures everything this record is about. Bringing that story to life alongside legendary drummer Simon Phillips, guitarist/bassist Joop Wolters, and vocalist Martin LeMar allowed us to mirror that tension musically, with organic performances constantly colliding with electronic elements.”
Thus the old and new came together in terms of the talents involved and the music they created, but now they’ve turned one of the new tracks from their A Mythmaker’s Demise album on its head with a brand new interpretation being released: Lalu have issued an instrumental version of the track ‘EKO‘, featuring Asia‘s drummer Virgil Donati.
Vivien Lalu commented: “‘EKO‘ was always the machine’s song. Martin wrote those lyrics as a robot, so taking the vocals away didn’t feel like removing something, it felt like letting that voice speak in its own language. Virgil Donati came in with his own vocabulary on this one, a phrasing and a sense of construction that belong only to him, and it gives the track a completely different reading.
“That led Joop in a new direction when it came to the guitars and bass. Jens Johansson also plays one of my favourite solos on the record,” he added. “There is a nice irony in it: the song about a machine waking up to a new life, is the one carried entirely by human hands, unedited, with no drum samples. Exactly what this album is about.”
Joop Wolters said: “Love the halftime feel of this track… Gives it a soothing character. This instrumental version proves that the bone structure of the track is strong enough to make two convincing versions. Wonderful interpretations by the involved cast on this one!”
You can check out the video for ‘EKO (Instrumental Version featuring Virgil Donati)‘ here at RAMzine.
