VOL. III [AKA: SPIRALE MALAX]

Third and an other convincing effort by Gilbert Artman (keyboardist and man behind the machines). The first track "spiral Malax" starts with a rather supernatural electronic atmosphere. Noisy, cosmic sounds and repetitive guitar patterns all added to create a kind of trance phenomena. It has some evident Terry Riley accents in his long epic improvisations for keyboards (in "rainbow in curved air", for instance). The following track begins with a massive industrial drum set perceived in the background and a strange atmospheric mood. Always minimalist in tone, it let the place to a very sinister, distorted guitar work, then the vibraphone and the piano rise progressively. The fourth tune is a small piece near to classical contemporary music, entirely built around the piano and the clarinet. Almost without transition we pass to the mesmerizing, very chaotic tune which closes the album. We can hear a repetitive heavy drum pulse, really dark and raw guitar lines and hypnotic sound manipulations. Avoid taking in consideration what have been said in the previous review concerning the fact that this album should have similarities with Tangerine Dream. Despite that they both use electronic gadgets and they experiment synth sounds the result tend to be very different (Lard Free is less meditative and less sophisticated, really more urban in sound). However as for Heldon, the Fripp / Eno influences are well marked, especially in Spiral Malax.