Lucifaere
The Midnight Tree
This is the first Lucifaere double CD and what an epic it is. It is mostly quite accessible with tons of inventiveness along the way. 'A Feather from an Angel's Wing' starts proceedings but there is nothing Airy Fairy about this - on a Lucifaere album you must be joking! Great crashing sounds subside then you get birdsong juxtapositioned against a dark swirling backdrop. Things get darker still as sonic whoops reverberate from speaker to speaker. Then a brace of stonking sequences break through and we chug along nicely until things come to a crashing halt. It starts to pick up pace again after a couple of minutes and we continue on our roller-coaster ride of pulsating sequences, superb melodies and mesmerising atmospherics.

'The Midnight Tree Pt 1' starts off as a bubbling, highly descriptive sonic soundscape, as if ancient priests walk across a wind blown landscape. We then get a quirky melody making me think of a strange alien creature taking its first shaky steps. The steps then become more assured and a "cracking" sequence emerges with each note sounding snapped followed by deep drums. The melody becomes even more stunning, couldn't keep my hands still whilst listening to it, such was the urge to play along. The sounds used for the melodies as well as the sequence and everything else you hear are like nothing I have heard before and how they are melded together creates an effect which just takes my breath away. From time to time a virtual guitar sound stabs through just to increase the tension and excitement still further. I know Jim's work can be something of an acquired taste but honestly, if you don't just love this track on first hearing there really is no hope for you. 'Rowan Tree Red Thread' is a twenty eight minute masterpiece beginning in typical Lucifaere fashion with a thick swirling pool of atmospherics then after a couple of minutes a sequence bounces to the surface. And what an infectious, stuttering, sequence this is. Yup, I'm bopping around the room again, just to be knocked back into my seat as great waves of sound descend and a laser lead line scorches over the top. We just step back slightly from complete and utter mayhem thinking that if so much has already been thrown at us within the first five minutes what will the remaining twenty three minutes hold.

It's always a pleasure to review Jim's stuff, so much is happening that I'm often left pounding away at the keyboard in an effort to keep up. By six minutes its back to berserk lead lines and tidal waves of sound. We then combine the many elements already introduced so far in different combinations with a high register sequence providing the constant around which all the other elements wind. After a very brief pause at the half way mark an insistent rhythm strikes up at 100 miles an hour. Another rhythmic sequence joins it and contrasting soft pads float over the top. All is change again at twenty minutes as a different, heavier and much more ominous rhythm replaces the previous one. By now I am completely exhausted both mentally and physically but there is no relief. Another sequence demands our attention and a belter it is too taking us to a tranquil conclusion and a few seconds to wipe my fevered brow. 'The Midnight Tree Pt2' initially continues in a welcome almost cosmic state of drift- but for only a minute and a half before a superbly produced no nonsense drum pattern emerges and gets into quite a groove. A melodic sequence joins it and we enter yet another passage where it is just impossible to keep the body still. In my opinion there hasn't been a duff moment so far, just an hour of pure brilliance. Sure, at times so much is thrown at us that it is impossible to take it all in but it still makes me wish it could go on for ever. This track is so damned infectious and at the same time ballbreaking that you just never want it to stop. Unfortunately it only lasts seven minutes - what a great encore it would make if we could ever persuade Jim to play live.

The review is getting far too long already and I still have the second disc to do so I will try and be a bit more concise but this isn't easy when I have so much enthusiasm for the album. The second half of our journey begins with 'This Bright Future'. The high register melodic sequence used here followed by crashing 'drums' is so typically Kirkwood in his call to battle type mode. Images of armies spilling over a hilltop to do battle in the valley below fill the mind. Jim certainly wasn't in a meek and mild mood whilst composing this stuff. Every track has great atmospherics but so far it is the rhythms, sequences and lead lines that have been allowed to let rip. 'Sara-Kali' is another monster at half an hour. It begins with Middle Eastern (I think) chanting and the clanging of a bell. These just last for a few seconds before another high register sequence replaces them. The chanting does come back from time to time but always in small doses. At around the six minute mark Jim increases the sound palate still further by introducing an acoustic guitar. It is a rhythmic loop which provides the hypnotic backdrop over which all the other elements move around. At ten minutes we are left in a serene state of drift but this soon becomes more menacing. At just over the half way mark an optimistic bell type sequence takes centre stage then another shuffling rhythm comes to join it. Further great drum sounds are tossed in. More leads fly over the top but with Lucifaere things rarely stay constant for long and things mutate into yet another section with the reprise of an earlier sequence but this time the mood is more thoughtful and we end up with vocoded vocals constantly repeating names, I think of female gods. 'Leviathan' is the third track of over twenty minutes duration. After a rather percussive start we get a faintly ethnic rhythm. At six minutes a sequence appears from the distance like a helicopter coming closer then circling overhead. A lonesome melody then strikes up but we continue to be driven forwards. The second half is very different from the first being initially more industrial with mechanical sounds providing the rhythm and all sorts of other crashes and bangs going on around it. In contrast we then get a much more melodic section with beautiful subtle touches around the lead lines. Of course for the last five minutes of this double CD set the pace quickens again finishing things off in an exciting and upbeat manner. (DL)

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