OMNIVAC

Since when, few days ago. Dave Francis kindly gifted me with a copy of the last Brotherhood of the Machine full length album, I think I've listened to the whole at least a dozen of times. It's a collection of 4 progressive electronic tracks, all different from each other. It starts with a two parts mini-suite, that starts slowly, with vintage sounds reminding of the Tangerine Dream's Virgin period. It fades out after few more than one minute, then it restarts slightly different, with passages between major and minor chords. In the middle of the track some bass is added to give rhythm, the soundscape chages to a darker atmosphere and a melody comes with middle-eastern melodies reminding of Richard Wright in Pompeii. The title of this second part is "The Golden Dawn". I don't think it's about the omonym neonazi Greek party. It's more likely the mason group of which Lord Dunsany and Bram Stoker were members.

Then a short track, whose melody can remain in mind for long time. "Time and Space" is closer to Vangelis than to Tangerine Dream, mainly because of the chords sequence. Short but very good. I don't know if the Francios brothers wanted to tribute the Greek keyboardist, but the voice of Yuri Gagarin in the background reminds me to Albedo 0.39 where there's another track featuring astronaut's voices. Also the percussion, I don't know if real congas or electronic drones, they sound natural, made me think to the ethnic part of Entends Tu Le Chiens Aboyer? but with a big difference: while the Vangelis suite is discontinuous, being maily a movie soundtrack, this one is consistent and in the parts with the astronaut speeches the vintage sounds are back to the Tangerine Dream soundscapes.

Finally, a 26 minutes long suite. It's a live jam of the kind that Edgar Froese's band was used to release n the 70s. Think to Ricochet. In this subgenre it can happen to find very long tracks which doesn't go anywhere. This is not the case. I really enjoy the hypnotic repetitive base with the its variations in foreground. Let yourself be transported by it. Personally, I find it very good also as background during my homeworking (while I'm writing I'm in lockdown), but a sofa with good headphones and, if you like, a beer is not a bad idea.

So I'm tankful to Dave for his gift and I strongly suggest this album to whoever likes the Virgin period of Tangerine Dream. By the way, At this moment I'm listening to Modular Jam for the third time today. Check it on Bandcamp.