DE PROFUNDIS

Despite its title, this fourth release by AFTER CRYING is anything but depressing. The music is at times mellow (almost chamber like), at other times wild and crazy. To give you an idea as to what they sound like, think folk, classical, jazz and a heavy dose of KING CRIMSON + ELP all mixed together.

The album starts off with some haunting Gregorian chant and heavy-bass church organ (very spooky stuff), then hops off into a multitude of genres. The track which I find stands out is the 12-minute epic "Stalker"; it somehow makes you feel as if you're watching a Hitchcock movie... It builds up ever so slowly, explodes into musical fireworks and ends eerily, with the rythmic/hypnotic sound of a passing train and its wheels (ka-clunck, ka-clunck) trailing off into the night. The whole album is a dazzling musical merry-go-round and ends with an unexpected but most charming Hungarian folk song, beautifully rendered by a female vocalist.

Although we often use the word 'classical' to describe AFTER CRYING's musical influence, it rocks high and mighty and you can trust me on this: you don't have to be a classics afficionado to enjoy it.