RAISON D'ETRE 
676200
CD
IN SADNESS, SILENCE & SOLITUDE (DARK & AMBIENT)

GOTHIC ELECTRONIC (INDUSTRIAL)

This is the 4th Raison D’etre album and it's just brilliant, taking the ideas exhibited on the previous three releases up on to an altogether higher musical plane. All the vital Raison elements are present throughout all 6 tracks: thick, misty atmospheric synth layers with rumbling electronic thunder, booming bass currents, dark & haunting chorals, distant Gregorian voices, scary electronic effects, drums and percussion. It is a multi-layered collage of symphonic splendour, featuring huge, but distant soundscapes and effects that, for example, can sound like giant wooden doors shutting in some dark gothic castle, with the strains of distant siren-like choral female voice wafting overhead. This is medieval and majestic, time-travelling music that flows through the airwaves under a canopy of multi-textured fogbanks of synths, keyboards and other sampled effects with vast seas of treated choral voices that are just breathtaking.

The first track opens with thick layers of synth thunder as a wall of booming bass emerges from the depths, shortly joined by a distant Gregorian chant style voice, which appears briefly and then dies away. More booming synths see the arrival of some even scarier electronic effects as the dark, haunting passage carries on for nearly nine minutes. Track 2 arrives in a misty atmospheric layer of string synths, with more choral voices buried deep in the sounds formed by the keyboards. As drums and percussion emerge on to the soundstage, a decisive, light rhythm layer is built and this begins to carry the, now multi-layered piece of symphonic splendour ever forward to form as beautiful and moody a set of soundscapes as you could get - all very dark yet compulsive and highly addictive listening. Eventually a lead synth emerges and a sort-of melody line carries it off in a style reminiscent of a grander version of non-rhythmic 'Moondawn'-era Klaus Schulze. Track 3 begins with burning electronics over a big distant soundscape that sounds like huge wooden gothic castle doors closing with a crash, as the strains of a distant choral female voice wafts over intermittently. The soundscape builds and layers, creating another spectacular passage where gorgeous string synth sounds take over and flow above the deep and now far-distant setting from before. This also gives the music a warm glow, and a slightly haunting quality to the deep layers underneath, gliding through on a majestic, time-travelling passage that really has you hooked. Track 4 features huge cosmic bass synths, carving out a multi-textured path through a fog of keyboard and other effects, and it’s as unnerving a piece of superbly constructed space music as you'll encounter, ending on a vast sea of choral textures that are just breathtaking. Track 5 changes the textures and, to a degree, the overall mood, with a different set of synth and instrumental layers that give rise to drifting, treated choral voices, more undercurrents of loud space bass, and what sounds like a hammered harpsichord - An altogether more medieval, yet still fairly dark set of atmospherics for its seven-minute journey. Finally, track 6 closes the album in a similar manner to the opening piece, but only for two minutes before a rich, flowing cosmic synth layer emerges and is joined by various other drifting synth textures. As the space passage continues, it eventually gives rise to a beautiful melodic section of cascading, delicate rhythms from solid drums and a harpsichord-like keyboard. As this vast canopy of bass strings and all manner of synths, percussion and textural additions combine, it gives a multi-textured feel to the solid, but slowly travelling section, but at the ten minute mark, it dies away to reveal THE most magical section of choral Gregorian style multi-tracked voices. This just sends a shiver of pleasure down your spine, and it's the sort of passage you wish could go on forever, but it eventually fades just after thirteen minutes, marking the end of a most incredible album – All you need to do now is return to the beginning of the CD and repeat the process all over again!

Weight: 150.00 g