SONGS OF LIFE

Released simultaneously with it's sister compilation 'Life Of Songs.' While it's counterpart may have focused mostly on the heavier, industrial side of this Russian experimental act, 'Songs Of Life' is the lighter contrast; taking the subjective cream of his more ambient and ethnic material and throwing it all together on this installment.

Many of my views and remarks about the other best-of compilation in this duology ring true with this one as well. While there are certainly some fantastic tracks here that deserve to be on the compilation, there's also quite a few tracks that might have done well here, instead of others that were chosen. In any case, 'Songs Of Life' is a little bit better overall than the heavier counterpart, and someone who wants a taste of the more progressive and forward thinking side of Senmuth would do well to check out this compilation, to see if the sound is right for them and spare them the labourious task of rummaging through dozens of albums to find something they like.

As it stands, this compilation could have been much better with a nicer flow and some revisions to the song choice. Some of the my favourite albums of the early period of Senmuth are represented here by some of the best songs, but there's still material that would have fit very snugly here. While this is indeed the lighter side of the compilation duology, there is still some heavy industrial metal here, giving a nicer bit of variety than the other. While I cannot recommend this too highly, it's a decent place to get started with Senmuth's admittedly daunting discography.