Victor Cerullo Ludus

‘Ego and Beyond’ opens with lengthy pads and overlaid voice samples before ‘Castalia’ takes over seamlessly on a wave of superb sequencing. The held chords in the background is very reminiscent of Jean Michel Jarre and indeed if the French master chose to follow up ‘Magnetic Fields’ mixed with ‘Zoolook’ he could do a lot worse than this. I particularly like the way the sequencing “hunts” the theme, especially on the falling note sections, and it’s a technique which is employed successfully on many of the tracks. ‘Metamorphosis’ is an excellent transitional piece into ’Zeitgeist’ which is another superb uptempo number with expert synth touches. ‘Liberation’ then takes over with more beguiling rhythms and silken vox.

Tracks 3-7 actually comprise one seamless 23 minute opus ‘Effulgence and Decadence’, while tracks 8-13 weigh in at a touch under 19 minutes for ‘Return to the Mother’. Strangely the effects at the start of track 8 ‘Embryon’ are identical to those which faded on ‘Liberation’, hence they could have all been strung together as one epic 40+ minute piece. As is it these half a dozen tracks transcend this album even further. The sequences are fantastic - very commercial and accessible yet they stand the test of repeated plays and familiarity really does bring its rewards. Track 12 ‘Stars Symphony’ even hints at Vangelis.