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Biosphere - The Fires of Ork (with Pete Namlook) CD (album) cover

THE FIRES OF ORK (WITH PETE NAMLOOK)

Biosphere

 

Progressive Electronic

2.28 | 6 ratings

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colorofmoney91
Prog Reviewer
2 stars A subpar display of ambient techno and full-on ambient.

This album between Biosphere and Pete Namlook, one of the most famous and prolific electronic music collaborators, is an album that I can only call mediocre. The Fires of Ork is a collection of tracks that are either spacey ambient tracks or primitive ambient techno a la downgraded Microgravity. Regardless of which style is being heard, the music is unimaginative and bland, which is unfortunate considering the stature of these two musicians. The techno tracks are mid-tempo romps of '90s danceclubs, and are much less atmospheric and interesting than the similar and more successful execution of the same style on Biosphere's debut. The ambient tracks are slightly cinematic but develop into absolutely nothing and are far longer than necessary.

Pete Namlook is honestly an artist that I've never been a fan of, but I had my hopes up that Biosphere's usual wonder would save the day, but this seems to be a collaboration where both artists offered up their worst and previously scrapped ideas to create an album that sounds cheap and derivative -- kind of like the results of building a house entirely out of driftwood, scrap metal, and rusty nails. The worst part of the album, though, are the short samples of echoed German spoken word that really serves no purpose except to make this album sound like either Kraftwerk or Rammstein were somehow on board (they weren't).

Out of the five tracks on The Fires of Ork, exactly two tracks stand out to me, and they are both the unimaginative techno tracks. The title track starts off somewhat promising with a spacey synth melody that eventually is pushed along by trademark techno thumping, which is all fine until the 7-minute mark is reached and it becomes supremely annoying. "Talk to the Stars" is an improvement, though, starting off with a lightly atmospheric spacey synth backdrop that is ominous and enticing that eventually becomes more forceful until the trademark techno thumping kicks in yet again. It's a bit more of a open sounding track that has a nice acoustic piano melody that is both beautiful and unsettling but doesn't quite save it from being derivative.

The Fires of Ork is definitely not a standout in Biosphere's discography, and really isn't very interesting in the broad scope of electronic music available in the world, but I'd imagine it makes for a fairly exciting addition to the collection of Pete Namlook collectors.

colorofmoney91 | 2/5 |

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