“A great 40-minutes Cup-Disc showing the coming impact of TQ on TD's future”
1 Armageddon In the Rose Garden Part II 7:11
2 Purple Diluvial 19:19
3 Babylon the Great has Fallen 13:24
Eastgate 025 CUPDISC 2
(CD/DDL 40:04) (V.F.) (Electronic Rock)
Much like its part I (the EP with Ron Boots on Groove GR-153), the introduction to Armageddon in the Rose Garden Part II flows with a vaporous synth whose mists and waves zigzag along with the tetanized alto blows of the choirs. The sequence is light and swirling for a turbulent rhythmic, a bit like a herd of jumping keys fleeing at full throttle on a musical plain flooded with this always insipid choir and a synth with symphonic impulses. The anarchic flow of the structure is reminiscent of the poly directional movements of the sequencers in albums such as Pinnacles and Stuntman. The synth is more screechy while the vocals get on my nerves as much as in Purgatorio. The percussions hit hard and add a rock vision to this track that fades out too suddenly. This is some good Tangerine Dream like we've been wishing for years thanks to the contribution of Thorsten Quaeschning who seems to have the same impact as Johannes Schmoelling on the musical direction of TD. If there are still some who have not heard his work with Picture Palace Music, it is time to remedy that.
Speaking of Schmoelling, Purple Diluvial opens with a soft romantic piano. It feels like the Schmoelling era with that sensitive piano and the resonance of its suspended notes floating in a mystical haze. This beautiful introductory melody embraces a rhythmic pattern tempered with good clear chords drawn from a kind of glass xylophone that chime over a hazy synth with haunting harmonies a la Underwater Sunlight. This melodious portion of Purple Diluvial is candy for the ears. A guitar comes to skim our ears with beautiful melodious assets followed by a Tarzan-like aggressive voice. The voice samplings in the arrangements of the Dream are to be reviewed. But well, one must live with it! A voice that announces that the track is fragmenting in order to undertake a violent rhythmic transformation, jerky and spasmodic. The title takes a tangent of cosmic discotheque with hundreds of small percussive steps that walk briskly on the shadows of the fluty breaths. More hungry guitar riffs and drum strokes bring out the sequencer that briskly dribbles its keys, preparing this violent stationary flow to return to the fog and quietude of its genesis. A final lap before a finale designed to make the hairline of our emotions rise. Babylon The Great Has Fallen kicks off with a melancholic synth with a high-pitched whistle that is more high-pitched than harmonious. A soft sequenced ballad that takes a chiming path with a striking melodic approach. A little more and we would be in a maudlin New Age so much it is sweet. A slow introductory procession which candidly pours on a slowly syncopated rhythm that we did not expect with chopped riffs, a funky bass and interlocking percussions. Again Quaeschning confuses us in a good way with a fusion of choirs and sumptuous melodic layers to juicy guitar riffs and solos over more incisive rhythm and frenetic sequences. Another very good track that shows a very interesting skill from Thorsten Quaeschning.
Sylvain Lupari (July 31st, 2011) *****
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