Synopsis Gotterdammerung Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Hyperdrive')

A dramatic chord gets the CD spinning in a no nonsense fashion and as it gradually fades away a brace of sequences blast out covering both high and low levels of the spectrum. Only one minute in and we are already in full flight. A delightful driving melody caresses the senses then pow! In come the rhythms. The track is called 'Hyperdrive' and it is certainly well named! Amazingly though the track is a blast it also has its subtleties particularly in the lead line department.

Next we have 'Twilight of the Gods' which uses a melodic sequence to provide some initial structure as another sequence mutates and distorts around it. Initially the feeling is rather laid back providing good contrast from the previous number. Very gradually however more dramatic touches are added. In particular there is a heavily effected sequence / loop which really does hit home then turns into more of a stuttering melodic lead line. Its very cleverly done but it then returns to an intense loop of sound before going through yet more mutations. Always exciting and full of umph but somehow remaining subtle despite the power. 'Meta-morphic' floats into being on the back of gentle pads but we are less than thirty seconds in before a melodic insistent high register sequence surges forwards. My other half has told me I look like a nodding dog in the back of a car as I get carried away with the groove. When the rhythm is added my legs start to beat out time and then the lead line strikes home and its hard to type as playing air keyboard becomes irresistible. The lead becomes even more intense, the volume gets cranked right up and the best thing to do really is just let yourself be carried away in a pulsating, rhythmic, searing, ecstatic haze.

There is no messing about with 'Tangential Approach' as we get straight into a sequential barrage followed by a repeated lead line. Its all rather trance like and mesmerizing. 'Terminal Transit' conjures up the image of being on a train but it has a rather distorted dreamy quality to it. Things start to get rather intense at around the three minutes mark and another rather trippy beat is thrown into the feverish brew. At seven minutes it sounds as if we are flashing past stations in some sort of warp drive as if everything outside the train appears as flashes of light. 'Something Out There' provides yet more contrast with weird effects and strange deep alien type noises. This is superbly atmospheric. A slow, low sequence starts up adding to the ominous but futuristic feel still further. We are in completely different territory here to the rest of the album and even though I have raved about the earlier tracks, particularly the first three this is probably my fave on the disc.The next sequence is added, using notes that sound 'snapped' whilst wooshes of sound shimmer forth. It is as if we are in the engine room of a spaceship from a different dimension. Everything is very sinister yet futuristic at the same time. Amazing and very inventive. It finishes with a 'Close Encountersish' motif. 'Through the Dreamgates' is the shortest track but is yet another highlight. A deep throbbing pulse gets things started but this fades away to leave quiet pads. We are left to gently float for a while then the most lovely of melodies builds, slowly getting louder and louder but at all times having an exquisitely calming effect until it abruptly finishes and we are at the end of an amazing album. (DL)

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