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Kayak- "Nostradamus - The Fate Of Man"

‘Nostradamus - The Fate Of Man’, Kayak delivers their second concept-album. This one is about the supposed visionary Nostradamus, who wrote a book with poems which some people consider as prophesies. One might consider this a musical of sorts, with different voices for different personalities. Just like it's predecessor ‘Merlin - Bard of the unseen’, there is no real action. The music would certainly be suited for a musical, which is not that strange, considering the fact Ton Scherpenzeel, the main composer, also has written several small-scale musicals for a youth theatre company and another theatre company. All in all he has written I think more than 30 musicals, though perhaps never on an Andrew Lloyd Webber scale. *****

Was ‘Merlin’ done with an orchestra, on ‘Nostradamus’ all orchestral sounds are done by keyboards., who mostly play the role of the orchestra, so very little keyboard-soloing. Most soli are by guitar. The music is beautifull, although I sometimes miss a real orchestra. Considering the fact this is more a musical than anything else, the emphasis is on vocals. Don’t expect long instrumental passages or long tracks. The music is very orchestral and a bit dark in tone. There are some short spoken parts, but they don’t disturb me. There is some music on the background, but it doesn’t add that much. There are only five of them and they are very short. *****

‘The Secret Study’ is the opening-track of the CD, which starts quietly with accordeon and Edward Reekers singing the part of Yves De Lessines. The music has an ancient feel about it with stretched vowels over different notes. I would like to call it vocalisations, though this isn’t the correct term, since vocalisations would be wordless. He is joined by a chorus, which is also present in ‘Overture - A Strange And Cryptic Tale’, which also has some nice guitar-work by Rob Vunderink. The music still is pretty held back in a way and it sounds a bit solemn. I’m not going to write about every single song, since the album should be seen as a complete entity. ‘Friend Of The Stars’, which features several vocalists, starts with piano and after the first vocal parts gets on full steam, with orchestral keyboards and drums. ‘The Student’ is one of the happier sounding parts of the album. In a way it sounds very cheerfull, but after this cheerfull song comes ‘Dance Of Death 1’, which opens with a church-bell and is really dark. It’s one of the few instrumentals, although there is a chorus singing ‘Ah’,. Later you hear moaning people. It’s very atmospheric and you don’t need much imagination to see the victims of the plague suffering. ‘Fresh Air, Running Water, Rose Pills’ starts with church-organ and is about Nostradamus’ remedy for the plague. ‘Seekers Of Thruth’ is a nice song, which also would be good without the context of the whole musical. ‘Dance Of Death 2' is a reprise with a quiet ending, which takes us to ‘Save My Wife’, a ballad in which Nostradamus mourns the death of his wife and children. It has an acoustic feel with piano being the key ingredient. I think it’s another song which would do good on its own. It’s one of the longest songs on the album. The ending is beautifull. ‘Pagans Paradise’ is a bit uptempo and lightens up the dark flavour of the album. The fiddle-parts gives the music some folky bits. 'The inquisition' sounds a bit aggressive and to the end we get a choir singing 'Kyrie Kyrie Eleison'. After this we get a nice synthesizer-solo and the last vocal part. ‘The Wandering Years’ is another ballad, but this time more orchestral in nature. *****

Disk two starts with the orchestral ‘A Man With Remarkable Talents’, which is a good opening after a pause. You’re right back in the musical with this one. With ‘Settle Down’, the music gets more quiet. It’s another ballad and a duet between Nostradamus and his second wife. ‘The Flying Squadron’ starts with a percussive synthesizer-sound. It’s a track with orchestral bits and quiet passages and it is one of the highlights of the album. It would be a kick-ass single. ‘Dance Of Mirrors’ is another instrumental piece with the fiddle providing a dance-like atmosphere. It’s a bit folky with orchestral passages. ‘A Cruel Death’ brings us back to the dark atmosphere of most of the musical. It’s a quit piece and in the and there is a short spoken passage. The next song is ‘A Royal Invitation’. Apparently there is a made a mistake in the song-order. The track-timings are correct, but the titles ain’t. The track-list above is the same as on the back of the package of the disk and on the website, but according to the booklet the song-order here is a bit different, which was confirmed after I send an e-mail. ‘The Tournament’ is an instrumental song, which starts with a kind of fanfare. Later you can hear some sword-fighting sounds.***

Parts of ‘Living In Two Realities’ are sung in Latin. ‘Act Of Dispair’ is a nice quiet song, with some soaring electric guitar, which is released as a single. ‘The centuries’, reminds a bit on Ravels famous ‘Bolero’, with the same snare rhythm. It starts with acoustic guitar. Later it becomes heavier, with electric guitar and a low drum, while the keyboards make it more orchestral. There is a short break with acoustic guitar and accordion, after which the music gets more orchestral again. ‘In you won’t find me alive at sunrise’ Nostradamus tells his wife he won’t be alive the next day. It’s a sad duet between Nostradamus and his second wife.