NATURE

'Nature' - Senmuth (3/10)

Here we have another one of Senmuth's primarily ethnic albums. For those who haven't heard this music before, Senmuth is a one man project that spans a great many genres, and an even greater many albums. With alot of these albums starting to sound the same to me, it becomes all the more important to keep a close eye on things, to figure out which ones are better and worse than the others. With 'Nature,' we are given an album that Senmuth has written several times before. The electro/industrial, ethnic sonic meditation route has been done quite a bit, and while some releases have really succeeded at giving a cohesive and atmospheric experience, there is absolutely nothing to 'Nature' that hasn't been done to death already.

The music here is filled to the brim with sitars and jungle ambience. There are some sections where the crushing guitar distortion comes in, but what worth the album has rests entirely on the more acoustic sections. While I have appreciated Senmuth's industrial metal work in the past, it doesn't seem to work with the more meditative mood here. There are a few pleasant sections on 'Nature,' but alot of it just amounts to listless meandering by Senmuth with a guitar.

The fact of the matter is; 'Nature' is not a painful album to listen. It is however, not enjoyable. While the music on 'Nature' seems to satisfy the goal that Senmuth set out for it (an ambient piece), there has been so much stuff that the band has released that far surpasses the generally forgettable material here. I am a fan of quite alot of Senmuth's work, but this doesn't meet the standard.

About 2 minutes of sitar and harmonics, "Above" introduce the metal noise of "Tur". I have listened to this album a higher number of times respect to other Senmuth's albums, and while I have to say that taken alone Tur is a good track, I have controversial fellings about this album. I'm probably too familiar with Senmuth's music so there's no more surprise for me.

This album is a step back to the origins. The flavour is still ethnic, but the sounds are more metal oriented than in the previous albums. It's not the industrial metal of his beginnings but it's halfway and the newage stuff is not present this time.

This is probably the reason why this album doesn't make a lot for me even if it contains some very good moments so that I can't call it "poor". "Alibek" is a good track in its more ethnic and melodic moments. The problem is that I can't distinguish it from "Amanauz which comes after a short sitar interlude.

The first real highlight of this album is "Crystal", a short piece of classical guitar over a soft drumming base. This is one of the reasons why I was initially thinking to rate it as a good-but- non-essential album.

Another interesting track is "Dombai. Interesting, not special.

The classical guitar is back on "Stars", a very athmospheric track but the one closer to the newage side of Senmuth. The songs featuring the classical or acoustic guitar like "Sulahat" are the best things of this album. All the rest is the usual Senmuth. Too usual to be exciting.

With over 80 albums released, it's not a pity if you miss this one.

2 stars