TOXENARIS

Toxenaris is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Timo ASPELMEIER, and while this venture has been ongoing for quite some time it is only in the past few years that the results have been commercially released. "Apoptosis" is the second album to be issued under the Toxenaris moniker, and was self released in 2018.

Artists that mix and blend aspects of ambient music, jazz, jazzrock and classic era progressive rock aren't exactly dominating the lists of music submitted for me to have an opinion of, and it does strike me that in a relative niche genre as progressive rock, this is perhaps one of the more niche-oriented directions inside this context. This specimen is a fine one for those with an acquired taste for these kinds of landscapes, as long as one can accept a mix and production that is decent to good rather than superior in quality. A decent album with fine moments and elegant details, to be enjoyed by those who already know and love this specific kind and type of music.

German project TOXENARIS have apparently been a creative unit ever since the 1990's, with composer and musician being the heart and soul of this venture. Toxenaris released the first album "The Third Policeman" back in 2016, a production that since then appears to have been pulled from the market. The album "Apoptosis" and the compilation "News From the Bottom of the Barrel" have appeared after this, and then as this project's first and fourth album chronologically speaking, a reworked and remastered version of the album "The Third Policeman" was officially released in the summer of 2020 as the most recent Toxenaris album to date.

This second version of Toxenaris album "The Third Policeman" is a production that should appeal to those who are looking for something different to listen to. The kind of person that thinks expressive, avant elements in ambient music is just as interesting to listen to as score like music made on a Berlin School type foundation and don't mind the occasional lapses into a more nondescript variety of instrumental progressive rock along the way strikes me as the perfect listener for this specific album.

It Sucks to Be Dead

Especially When You're a Murderous Blighter

All right, all right. I confess I have NOT read Flann O'Brien's (actually Brian O'Nolan's) novel "The Third Policeman". But I HAVE read ABOUT it.

This album by TOXENARIS (actually Timo Aspelmeier) is a whimsical, cinematic adaptation of the novel.

Got it?!

And, if I'm reading ABOUT the novel correctly, the never-identified narrator turns out to be dead, and living in his version of hell due to being a murderous blighter.

HIS version of hell is filled with cops, bicycles, infinitely nested intricately carved chests, and pseudo-intellectual philosophizing- and the eternal stuff of the universe, 'omnium'.

So Let's Just Pause

A moment of respect for TOXENARIS AKA Mr. Aspelmeier for refusing to be content with simple, straightforward, decipherable points of reference or discussion or themes in his composition.

What a Lovely, Mysterious, Whimsical Adaptation it is

The album is entirely instrumental, although there is a muffled statement in the final track, "Happy Return". I couldn't make it out- maybe you can.

For me, the terrain is experimental, eclectic electronic progressive music laced with complexity, whimsy, textures, programmed drums, live cello and some guitars, live grand piano, and walls, rivers, and streams of synthesized music.

Contrapuntal Music

The complexity- and for me the challenge and fascination of the music- lies in its deceptive sophistication.

Often there is a meandering theme that develops, wanders, grows, builds, then devolves. Meanwhile beneath it lie offset bass and drum patterns, sometimes busy, sometimes pastoral, sometimes mysterious, rarely frenzied.

It Almost Becomes a Soundtrack

There are effects, like the hammering sounds in track 10, "The Codex and the Scaffold", or whooshing wind sounds, or chiming tones.

Listening as I did with headphones, it was easy to become immersed in the variations and moods and textures.

And to forget it's a version of hell, wherein a murderous blighter lands as his due destiny!

As I said- a challenge, and much respect.

In Conclusion

I found this a most enjoyable, lovely way to stretch my understanding of just desserts for dirty deeds. Yes, it sucks to be dead, so maybe give a thought to being a decent person?! 3.75/5

Originally posted on my blog: https://progressiverockfanatics.wordpress.com/2020/08/02/lovely-mysterious-whimsical-adaptation/