ENTERPHASE (BECKER & FILBERT) 
575255
CD
PHASE TWO

MELODIC/TUNEFUL (SYNTH)

A second album made in the style of the first one featuring melodic spacey music tracks that vary between cosmic/ethereal styled works to rich symphonic pieces that have a dreamy, 'outer world' feel. Certain passages are also slightly reminiscent of some of the Vangelis music used for Carl Sagen’s 'Cosmos' TV series from a few years back, but the more rhythmic passages have a noticeable raw edge that emanates from late 70's, early 80's Tangerine Dream / Neuronium / Synergy influences.

If you judged this by the opening track: ‘Shorelines Of Ganymede’, you’d think you’d wandered into some lost early Schulze album, as wide-open organ chords mix with swooping synths and gentle percussive undercurrents. By contrast, but not much, the eight minute ‘Thought Corridor’ goes right into the heart of the beats that was early 70’s Tangerine Dream with sequencers, phasing, deep bass drivers, wall-to-wall analogue heaven and that sense of atmosphere that could only come from this style of music done decently, of which this is a prime example. The ten minute ‘Syncopation Of Memory’ transports us to altogether darker realms as a sort of percussive sounding slow, deliberate sequencer rhythm rolls along, over which an assortment of near and distant synths and electronic effects unfold - All very atmospheric once more, but pretty dark stuff, despite the multi-layered nature. ‘Energy Field’ returns very much to the previous Tangerine Dream style of things with another ten minutes of music for fans of the Teutonic styles, while the slightly shorter: ‘Edge Of The Century’ does the same, only removes a good degree of the bass parts of the soundscape in favour of the strong sequencers, main lead synth melody line and not much else, and it’s all quite stripped down and different. ‘Plasmic Voices’ is back in more of a Schulze territory, while the four minutes of ‘Euro-Dance’ is pretty hideous (and had me reaching for the “skip” button), but fear not, for the album ends on two corking six-minute tracks. The first is ‘Satellites’, a cascading set of melodies, space synths, electronic swoops and rhythms, and ‘Destiny’ is an altogether more slowly anthemic piece that finishes the album off in a pretty relaxed manner.

Weight: 150.00 g