YANTRA LIGHT

'YanTra Light' - Senmuth (5/10)

A significantly more guitar-based venture that what a listener might normally be used to from this particular period of Senmuth's career, 'YanTra Light' could sound like a bout from this eclectic Russian project's early existence. Of course, the ethnic and electronic influences are here in full force as they usually are, but the heavy presence of riffs and guitar distortion makes this album stand out from it's contemporary Senmuth releases in terms of it's direction. Sadly however, the final product is scarcely more enjoyable than what one might expect of a typical Senmuth album.

As has been said, the highlight and distinct feature of 'YanTra Light' is the large presence of riff- oriented guitar work, something that hasn't been in Senmuth very much since the man behind the music decided to stray away from the crazy industrial metal of yesteryear. While a fair amount of the guitar work here is still based in heavy, downtuned power chords and sonic sludge, there are sure signs here that Valery Av can use his guitar skills for more than simple pseudo-melodic leads, and doomy sustains. Even while most of the more interesting riffs here are very simple in nature, they are a refreshing change from the generally unfulfilled guitar writing Senmuth usually does on the electric guitar. Also here are some strong acoustic guitar melodies, which are generally more memorable than the electric guitar work.

As always,m the problem with 'YanTra Light' seems to lie in the fact that it's very loosely composed, and most tracks seem to drone on with a listless backing track, letting different instruments (all played by Valery Av) play around overtop. While this could work very well, things have a bad way of falling into the background far too easily, although the evidence of a few strong metal riffs here and there help maintain at least some level of interest throughout the course of the album.

A decent album from Valery Av and his Senmuth project, albeit a pretty forgettable one, save for the aforementioned guitar riffs.

I've been quite surprised to see "Novus Ordo Seclorum" associated to "Aquarius" in the title of the opening track. It's a latin sentence from masonry that's printed on all the US dollars. Which is the relationship with the Aquarius age? Forget it. From a musical point of view we have a very good acoustic guitar solo within an ambient track, but it seems that Senmuth has found an equilibrium so this is not totally ethnic, or ambient or newage. It's an enjoyable instrumental which contains a bit of everything. I have written in other reviews of Senmuth's album that I like more when he has guest singers and when he plays acoustic or classical guitar. This is the case.

"Akhu Shemsu Hor" sees Senmuth back to metal or at least to heavy sounds. It's probably another connection to the "Egyptian" masonry. The title means "The venerable followers of Horus". Also in this track the melody is more consistent respect to the previous albums. There aren't the randomic changes of pitch and the pauses and restarts are more structured. This track is a bit repetitive, but it's powerful at the same time. I really like it.

The "Diorite Vase" is an ancient vase found in Hierakonpolis. It's not known what the Egyptian have used for its manufactoring, as diorite is a material that can be cut only by a diamond. This is one of the typical ethnic instrumentals of Senmuth. Not bad, but there's plenty of this kind of tracks in the about 100 albums released by this project.

I don't know anything about "Ta Kut", apart of a place in Burma. It's a track more metal oriented on which there's an excellent guitar work. It's a little unstructured but this is not disturbing. Let's concentrate on guitar here.

The "Galactic Halo" surrounds all the galaxies, so why should Senmuth be interested in it? Likely because an unusual Halo uncentered and made of heavy elements has been discovered around M81. There's no scientific explanation for it. For Senmuth it's an "industrial metal" track with something hypnotic inside. It's a track that I really like.

"Imprint of Vital Belief" is one of the songs present on the E.D.I.E.M. compilation. I don't like it particularily. It belongs to the industrial metal side of Senmuth and contains some good things, but I think it's just an average song.

"Plain of Jars in Xieng Khoang". This is a megalithic place in Laos, an iron age necropolis. The local legends say that the place was inhabited by a race of giants. On Internal Images there's a track about another place in the mediterranean isle of Malta which shares the same legend thousands of miles far from there. It's an intriguing ethnic instrumental with a percussion's base and a good guitar. Typical for the ethnic side of Senmuth.

Also "To Call The Matangi" is on the mentioned compilation. It's a bit chaotic and unstructured but it flows quite well. Not my favourite but not bad.

It's a 3.5 stars album for me. some of the tracks are very good but some weaknesses are preventing me from giving it the fourth star.