PATH OF SATIAM

I had no expectations and very little desire to download and listen to any of Senmuth's now 78 albums. Yes, that's 78 albums as per mid September 2010. Yes, he started in 2004 and he has also released some other albums in other constellations than Senmuth in this period.

That is why this album hits me between the eyes and I am now, as the honest person I am, eating humble pies. I have to put it very painfully in public been wrong about Senmuth all the way. That is, if his other 76 albums (I have already reviewed his debut album) is as good as this or even near as good as this. Somehow, I believe there is better Senmuth albums than this album, Path Of Satiam.

Senmuth is dabbling into Indian folk music on this album. And with a stunning result. There is a prog rock genre called Indo-Prog/Raga Rock. This album is sailing pretty close up to this genre. The music is still based on electronica. Or to be more precise, computer programming. But as on the debut album I reviewed earlier today, there is a surprising amount of human life on this album. You find good electric guitars and a lot of Indian instruments like for example Domra............ which is a Russian instrument, according to Wikipedia. Anyway, this instrument and other instruments gives this album an Indian subcontinent sound. This album also have a good symphonic prog sound too. What surprises me, in a positive sense, is the almost total lack of metal here. Only the sparse electric guitars takes this album anywhere near metal territory. Most of the album is very majestic though and therefore well into symphonic prog territory.

The end result is a surprisingly organic album. Yes, this album owe a great deal of debt to either IBM or Apple Macintosh. But if computer programming is a big bad wolf, this wolf almost looks like a bona fide sheep. In the middle of this, there is also some great tracks here like for example the laid back Satiam and the mournful TaJ Mahal's Lament. The other tracks is great too. A killer track is the only thing missing on this album. Besides of this, this free album is a good investment.

I have one question though: How is it possible to mass produce good quality albums like this ?

4 stars

'Path Of Satiam' - Senmuth (7/10)

From his origins as an industrial metal maniac, Senmuth seems to have come quite a long way in two years. While he has released Raga albums in the past ('Swadisthana' comes to mind,) 'Path Of Satiam' doesn't try too hard to be 'ethnic,' and the music is kept from being too dense and challenging, while still maintaining interest after several listens.

Many traditional Indian/Middle Eastern instruments are combined with more contemporary sounds such as the electric guitar, and electronic music elements to make a very compelling new age work. While many Senmuth albums try to go all over the map (and end up feeling a bit scattered as a result) the sound here is kept relatively peaceful, although there's a wide variety of emotions throughout the half hour of music. From the beautifully tender 'Lament Of Taj Mahal' to the ominous anthem 'Terrace Of Baalbek,' the music demonstrates that Senmuth can be very diverse with his composition, even while remaining within a single prescribed genre.

While it is still evident that a fair amount of the music and sound here was spawned on a computer, things sound incredibly well produced for an independent project, and what electronic presence there is here doesn't deter from the performed instruments at all. Senmuth has greatly impressed me with this album; 'Path Of Satiam' provides a much more vivid musical experience than some of the other lesser works the man has created in the past. While there aren't necessarily standout tracks on 'Satiam' and the Indian-inspired sound of the album will not appeal to every set of ears, this is an album whose beauty takes a few listens to set in, but it is certainly worth the effort to provide a relaxing and exotic musical journey.

A very pleasant surprise. I was expecting the usual contamination between indian ethnic music and industrial metal (usual for Senmuth), but the first track ("Path of Markut") of this album even though clearly recognisable as Senmuth's is the thing closest to Krautrock that this prolific artist has ever done. It's a sort of symphonic-electronic song with a final that slows down and fades into the second track. "Adiathma". Totally indian this one, with just some electric guitar in the background and not all the track long. On its final the tablas stop and what remains are low-volume keyboards.

"Tipereth" is unusually slow-tempo. The ethnic element is prevalent also here, but the bass line and the unusually clean electric guitar made me think for a while to Floyd or early Tangerine Dream. A sudden stop made of keyboard only closes this track as the previous two.

"Dream Near Experience" can be called "progressive electronic". The guitar is highly distorted as usual and adds a bit of that industrial noise that I don't like too much in Senmuth's music but it doesn't disturb too much, also because it disappears quickly. This could be a track taken from the Tangerine Dream of the period following their floydian albums. The closing guitar solo, when the tempo increases is very good. Slow keyboard at the end, again.

"Hezen" is another slow track with a symphonic structure in the tempo and almost unstructured in the melodic line. Good but I feel like it's incomplete, or maybe too randomic. I will need more listens of this track, at least for the first 4 minutes. The final minutes fade out, like it was the last track of the Side A of a vinyl.

"Samatha" opens as it was the first track of Side B instead. The start is quite hard, like the intent is to create a gap between the first and the second part of the album. This is a contaminated track, with indian instruments playng over a quasi-metal base, then a metal guitar plays on an indian base. There is an alternance until the end.

"Taj Mahal's Lament" opens like a very clean mandolin. A bit more melody and I could think to tlisten to Mike Oldfield. The melody is unstructured and randomic as in the previous track. This is not a bad thing. Some chord passages are surprising and unexpected, never trivial.

The bass notes and the guitar of "Terrace of Baalbek" can remind to "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" from Ummagumma or to some Black Sabbath of the Sabotage period. It's a great track.

The mandolin or what it is, is back on Satiam. It's the excellent closer of an album on which Senmuth seems to have renounced to his harder and darker side. Up to now it's the most approachable of his albums. It's a pity that Satiam ends with a fade out. This is really the first time that a Senmuth album ends leaving me wishing more.

I have the temptation to rate it 5 stars, but I can't define it an absolute masterpiece, but it completely deserves the 4 stars that I'm giving it. 4 and half, really.