| Kartëhl | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Magma |
| Cover: | Kartëhl cover.jpg |
| Released: | 30 September 2022 |
| Recorded: | 7 March – 12 June 2022 |
| Studio: | UZ Studio |
| Genre: | |
| Label: | Seventh Records |
| Producer: | Stella Vander |
| Prev Title: | Eskähl 2020 - Bordeaux, Toulouse, Perpignan |
| Prev Year: | 2021 |
| Year: | 2022 |
Kartëhl or Kãrtëhl[1] is the fifteenth studio album by French progressive rock and zeuhl group Magma, released on 30 September 2022 by Seventh Records as a compact disc and three-sided double LP. The album is a collaborative work between the band members, with royalties from the track Dëhndë to benefit the French charity La Fondation Initiative Autisme for people with autism.[2]
The album was recorded by Francis Linon at the band's own UZ Studio between 7 March and 12 June 2022, and mastered by Marcus Linon at Greasy Records Studio in Paris.
After the previous album, Zëss, the subject of which is of a universe-ending apocalypse, the band members wanted to produce a brighter and more optimistic album with Kartëhl. Kartëhl is notable for being the first album since 1976's Üdü Ẁüdü to have songs not written by Vander fill up half of the album's tracklist. For the title Hakëhn Deïs, Magma has released a music video clip for the first time in its more than 50-year band history. In the video, two dancers from the Paris Opera, alienated by artificial intelligence, dance in an expressionist style to the music.[3]
On the progressive rock website Prog Archives Kartëhl received a rating of 3.55 of 5 points from 41 ratings,[4] and on AllMusic it received a 4.5/5 stars rating from nine users.[5] Nik Brückner of German progressive-rock-website Babyblaue Seiten, Kartëhl is: "not the best Magma album, and certainly not the most intense, but it's still a strong middle-of-the-road album in their catalogue." He rates the "wonderfully diversified" album, compared to its predecessor Zëss.[6] Michael Büttgen of the internet music portal Betreutes Proggen rates the album 12 out of 15 points and judges: "Kartëhl is somehow a classic Magma album, but it seems to leave the 1970s behind a bit and surprises instead with many new and also unusual ideas."[7]