ORACLE OCTAVE (PART I: ORION MYSTERY)

There is something missing in this 10th album of the enormous Senmuth's catalog. This doesn't have the omnipresent "industrial noise" that's usually produced by a distorted guitar and heavy percussions, but mainly it's missing Senmuth's distorted voice.

I took 10 albums before realizing that even if those two elements make his music immediately recognizable, they are sometimes irritating specially when added as background to the most world oriented songs.

Well, this is the first time that it's possible to entirely appreciate the Senmuth's composition skills. In particular, the Orion trilogy is probably the best thing I've heard from him up to now, but also when a bit of industrial noise is back on the closing track, this is not so disturbing as usual. It's a slow and a bit dark metal track.

Even if this album is completely instrumental, the concept that's behind all the albums that I've listened to until now is still mentioned into the last track's title: "Astral Conception of Soul's Path".

Looking into Senmuth's website, I have tried to get a google translation of one PDF. What I have understood is the link between Egypt, Middle East, India and Japan that are the regions touched by the musical voyage of Senmuth. It's everything about Death and Rebirth and/or life after death. The egyptian phylosophy behind the book of the deads, the Induist concept of Metempsychosys, are present throughout his production.

About the music itself, there is more attention to melodies and structures than to sounds as it was in his first albums. He can create the dark and adrenalinic athmospheres even without the "noise".

This is the biggest achievement. Obtaining it after 10 albums can seem too long, but those 10 albums have been released in a period of less than one year, so it's a significant improvement.

4 stars ? still not, but he's never been so close to his first masterpiece. This is the right "Soul's path" to the 4th star.