MASK

This is the 2nd in the series of Vangelis albums released in the 80's. With the previous album "Soil Festivities", he concentrated on an improvisational style, but this time, he returns to a more structured feel. However, "Mask" is a much darker affair than what we are used to with increased use of percussion to help heighten the dramatic and majestic atmosphere that is the most prevalent on this album. Vangelis also brings back the same choir that he used on the "Heaven and Hell" album which is one of his most successful (and rightfully so) albums.

Movement 1 - A fast moving background serves as the foundation for a stately sounding melody, all done by synths. The choir comes in quickly, and this immediately brings to mind the "Heaven and Hell" album, one of Vangelis' masterpieces. Heavy and dramatic, this is very cinematic and expansive and it will grab your attention immediately. After several minutes, the music calms to a pensive and almost hymn-like section with a female soloist which later gets joined by the choir. The vocals are all wordless or in a made-up language. This part is quite lovely. The main theme returns later with the same flair as before.

Movement 2 - A waltz pattern is established and sustained chords play over the top of this. The choir is used later on mostly for atmosphere this time.

Movement 3 - A much darker feel is obvious here with this menacing sounding track. Rolling, loud percussion speaks of impending danger and the choir sings in a mysterious manner. The thumping drums and bass might bring a feeling of an approaching threat and this feeling continues through the movement.

Movement 4 - This is where the real tribal feel comes in. After a brighter tonal percussive pattern created by what sounds like marimba starts this off, a male soloist sings the melody using the imaginary language that is used on the album. Later, as the tribal sounding pattern continues, the soloist and choir trade off in a sort of "call and response" style. Everything is much lighter in tone on this track and nicely melodic. This track seems very unlike the typical Vangelis sound in a surprisingly good way. Minimal synth sounds do come in later, but are not heavily present.

Movement 5 - As in the first track, this movement begins with a sharp, quick arpeggio sequence that establishes the foundation for the entire movement. This one is less melodic except for the singing by the choir, which seems to be pushed further back into the mix here, making the non-melodic accompaniment seem more up front. This is a long 10 minute movement and to me, it gets a bit redundant. It seems to build, but never reaches any satisfactory pay off. The album definitely loses a lot of steam on this track which is too bad since up to this point, it is quite good.

Movement 6 - Sustained notes make this sort of airy and atmospheric. Overall, it's quite minimal, even with the occasional understated choir passages. Nothing really happens here though and it is sadly a let down to what starts out as a great album.

No doubt that this album is quite dynamic and dramatic, at least at first. The first four movements are quite good, but the last two don't really add anything to the entire experience. With the dark and tense feel of the first three movements and the release from tension in the fourth movement, you would hope that the last two movements would deliver much more that they do, but it ends up dragging the entire album down. Since this is how the album ends, the listener is left feeling unfulfilled, which, if we are to compare this to the masterpiece "Heaven and Hell", I always wish for a more satisfying conclusion to the album. It's the last thing you remember of the album, and that unfortunately, brings the overall attitude down quite a bit. What starts out as a possible 5-star affair ends up just becoming something mediocre.

So, it's a very strong beginning , but the last (almost) half of the album does not remain on the pinnacle that it started out on leaving this as a 3 star album.