DIE NACHT DER SEELE - TANTRIC SONGS

This album is steeped in Florian Fricke's fascination with ethnic musics, and his deep spirituality. The instrumentation is largely acoustic, with the exception of a few discreet electric guitar flourishes from Daniel Fichelscher, and the overall sound is closer to world music than to rock. Tracks 1 - 5 were side 1 of the original vinyl, and are bookended with Mantram der Erdberuhung, on which Fricke's vocal is multi tracked to sound like a temple full of Tibetan monks chanting. Engel der Luft is a beautiful, drifting melody (which also crops up in a slightly different version on Nosferatu) carried by oboe and cymbals. This leads us into the sitar dominated Mit Handen, Mit Fussen which draws on North indian classical music. The next track is the longest on the album, and here Fichelschers multi tracked guitars are to the fore with some of Popol Vuh's trademark vocals floating serenely above, before the reprise of track 1 brings us back to where we started. This short cycle (about 17 minutes) conjures up images of ancient temples and arcane rituals and reveals new subtleties every time you listen to it.

The second half of the album keeps up the atmosphere, but does not have the same cohesion as the first half. The highlight is probably Fichelscher's Im Reich Der Schatten, which is an impressive percussion work out. This was the last great Popol Vuh album, and were four and a half stars available as an option that's the rating I would give it.