Paul Haslinger
Planetary Traveler
This is a two CD set, the first contains music the second is the Multi Media disc for your computer. Looking to the audio disc first. A haunting wordless vocal makes a brief appearance but then a tingling sequence takes over as symphonic pads swell then burst into delicate melody. This track ‘Traces of Infinity’ was used on the original ‘Planetary Traveler’ trailer and if its purpose was to give grandiose accompaniment to the visuals it certainly succeeded. ‘Spacedrift 60-23’ is rhythmic and melodic to start with then becoming rather sinister as a vocoded vocal can just be heard . More melodies are added, both beautiful but somewhat eerie at the same time. ‘Extropy’ takes us much more into ‘World Without Rules’ territory with its aggressive driving rhythms.

If I understand it right ‘Idourhin’ was the first of the tracks here to actually appear on the video and absolutely awesome it is too. Initially the ‘World Without Rules’ comparisons are even more relevant but then things calm down and become more symphonic. ‘E’iah’ develops from its pastoral beginnings into a strong rhythmic chugger, very expressive, conjuring up images of space battles. ‘Lhodwi’ is a more delicate affaire structured around a gentle sequence. A whining guitar kicks ‘Glaren’ into life and it then developed into a bombastic tour de force. ‘Dilgan’ is a rather dynamic symphonic track creating Star Wars images but also hinting at some of Chris Franke’s Babylon 5 type work. Chris is credited on the CD incidentally for “help and advice”.

‘Infinity's Child’ is a very short floating bridging track and takes us to ‘Ouwurkappa’ which is another aggressive orchestral type piece. ‘Dharmok’ combines more of the symphonics with guitar, voice and strident drums to form a piece that at times almost goes into overload with its awesome imagery. ‘Remains of Time’ finishes the album with a rather melancholy feeling but beautifully done never the less.

The video and Interactive CD were produced by Jan Nickman who was also responsible for the ‘Canyon Dreams’ and ‘Mind’s Eye’ videos but I will let Graham take over here to give you his opinions of the second disc....(DL)

I wish Dave hadn’t sent me this! I’ve been resisting the Windows95 tide for years, but this interactive CD looks tempting enough to warrant an upgrade. Pentium 133/W95 or a Mac 68040/MacOS 7.1 or better should suffice. What I can say is from the sleeve visuals it looks stunning, and over all from the musical and presentation angle this is a quality package. I know what will be first in the new PC once my faithful 486/Windows 3.11 journey to the great motherboard in the sky... (GG)

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