This is not an easy CD to get into on first hearing if you don't know what to expect, but once you know, and if it's remotely appealing, then stick with it because it really does take you places no other CD dares to go. The opening track is an exercise in sonic sculpting courtesy of what sounds almost like prepared piano at the bass end of things that gives way to this awesome fogbank of electric guitars being processed and sonically manipulated to provide this hypnotic river of deep bass, rumbling drones, chiming textures and a decidedly eerie, spacey electronic sounding sea of soaring, droning textures, almost like something out of early Cluster and a superb opneing track. The second piece, at 12 minutes, starts with throbbing electronic bass pulses and what sounds like metallic clangs before a semi-discordant melody line enters and a twisted rhythm line soars out the back of the mix, almost sounding like some off-centre slice of vinyl, and just bizarre but hypnotic. Eventually, a hissing sea of sound emerges from the back but is kept in check by the pulsing and beating, before the rhythm stop and this swilring sea of electronics goes round and round in your head like an angry wasp nest, sounds coming and going as the effects build. But then it gets stripped away to just the swilring electronics, now more mulit-layered and cosmic, stil quite eerie, but decidedly hypnotic.
Track three begins with electronic space before a pulsing organ-like lead swils and dives above the sea of sound, an electronic textural expanse opening up at nthe back of the mix to provide a fuller sound. But the organ-like pulsing and swirling carries on, sometimes fading, other times more upfront. For the last couple of minutes the backdrop disappears just to leave a deep rumble and this fading, swirling caustic organ-like lead. Track 4 is the most powerful piece on the album, staring with a gigantic wave of electric and electronic denisity as sonic manipulation reaches an industrial superheat with visions of the first Faust album, whose pioneering spirit is felt a lot on this album, conjured by the rivers of sound that drive along in splendid, drone-laden, bass-heavy, resonant, chiming, whining, almost feedback-ridden passion, and at 6 minutes, just the right length to maintain your attention and move you every time. The 4 minute fifth track is built around a sort of cracking, crunching, shredding layerd of sound to the foreground, while this cosmic higer-register drone squall reverberates around the back and in and out of the mix, so that you almost end up with as much a your attention on the bleak but solid, deep and bass-y cosmic backdrop, as the lead crackles and shards of sound.
Finally, weighing in at 14 minutes, the last track starts with drones flying all over the place, while this strangely melodic clanking starts to echo and what sounds like a backwards scratching effect also joinas the fray and it is this combination of main soundscapes that predominates with odd flying, swooping drones out the back but the way it's structured is exceedingly hypnotic and it becomes one of the most enjoyable tracks on aseriously strange but rather fine album.