WHITE NOISE IV - INFERNO

By WN's fourth album (released in 89), David Vorhaus was the sole member of the project, and Inferno can be seen as a pure solo album. Armed with an impressive array of experimental synthesizers, including one that looks like a Chapman Stick; since his previous Re-Entry album of the early 80's, Vorhaus had mostly concentrated during the decade on film and advertising music for revenues, but still chose to experiment wildly for his pet-project. While the German-born David Vorhaus is definitely not a household name like his compatriots such as Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream) or Klaus Schulze, his work is no less excellent despite not being nearly as prolific as the other two electronic wizards. But in some ways, this allowed him not to dilute into lengthy and overstretched new-agey stuff. So we're dealing with an album that is much more interesting than the usual Schulze- Wahnfried stuff.

Although I wouldn't call this album really groundbreaking music either, but Vorhaus used the latest state of the art synths, but like everyone else in those years, he failed to renew the electronic music genre, even if Inferno can sometimes be reminiscent of the excellent early Isao Tomita albums, but recorded some 17 years afterwards. If I mention Tomita's early works, it is precisely because some of the tracks are indeed quite as amazing and adventurous on the harmonies, breaks and counterpoints, like the closing Bringer Od Darkness. Don't get me wrong, not everything on Inferno is of the same barrel, like the cheap-sounding Light Mover, but it's more of a minority than not. While I wouldn't call this album as essential on an overall scale, in its late 80's genre, it's definitely worth remembering it.