Free System Projekt Gent CD / 4 tracks / 73.09 mins Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Gent 5') Please go to the Store to buy this item.

Next to Redshift, FSP are the most popular band amongst our customers, so a new album is something of an event. 'Desolate Landscape' just oozes atmosphere as a low brooding rumble is joined by sinister undulating drone. Gradually things get more intense, like a vast turbulent cloud of evil coming down to Earth engulfing all before it. In the fourth minute a sequence can be heard low in the mix like the frightened pulse of some fleeing animal. Another sequence in deployed then another as if an opposing force is joining battle with the darkness. The pulsations keep coming forming an avalanche of notes that will have fans of mid seventies Tangerine Dream in raptures though I am not sure if TD ever did anything quite this powerful! A haunting lead line hangs above all the mayhem like the vast hand of some divine being ready to strike. My God what an incredible way to start an album!

'Gent 4' has a rather steamy rainforest beginning with cosmic twitters and shimmers mixing together. More electronics mimicking strange alien animal noises create en edgy tension. This is atmospheric picture music of the highest order and the sounds chosen are simply awesome - in a nightmarish sort of way. Sighing wordless vocal pads are punctuated by metallic clangs- sounds from the depths of Hell itself. A percussive sequence can be heard very low in the mix making things sound a little Schulzian. Slowly, oh so slowly, this sequence becomes more prominent and another can just be heard developing in its wake. This second one grows and overtakes its partner. Melodic pads swell as the power increases. Think of 'Mirage'. A further sequence bubbles up through the mix. It's mesmerizing stuff; best to just close your eyes and let the music take you with it.

'Moyland Part 4' starts all dark and bubbly, backed by mellotron choir. Almost straight away a belting sequence surges forward morphing wonderfully taking us back to those heady days of 'Rubycon'. A superb analogue sounding lead flashes amongst the thunderous pulsations like lightning - with just as devastating effect. This is absolutely awesome stuff, just about as powerful as Berlin School music gets and wouldn't have been out of place on 'Arcturus', as wouldn't the next track 'Gent 5'. Unbelievably the initial sequence is even more ball breaking than anything else on the album, rolling forward like some vast unstoppable war machine. Two lovely mellotrons, one flute and one sounding like celestial strings contrast the blistering sequence perfectly. It's an incredible track to finish what is probably Free System Project's best album to date. If you are into sequencer driven Berlin School music it is an absolutely essential purchase. (DL)

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