STRATOSFEAR

Stratosfear is one of the most accessible albums of the early Tangerine Dream era. The music found on this album really isn't unlike anything that a symphonic progressive rock band would write, except this is of course dominated by electronic sounds. Melodies take a prominent role on this album, helping along its accessibility.

The strong progressive rock song structure on this album really makes this album stick out from Tangerine Dream's previous albums, which were usually dominated by slowly progressing electronic soundscapes with a tendency to be ambient at times. The tracks themselves are also more quickly paced and do feature more traditional rock instruments, and even though the tracks on this album seem short compared to previous albums, they have a surprising amount of different passages that range from beautiful to powerfully aggressive. Honestly, I feel like these short tracks pack more of a variety in passages than both movements from Rubycon and definitely have more energy.

If Tangerine Dream hasn't been "rock" enough for you in the past, then this is the album to listen to.