VOLUME 10

2014 was a poor year for exceptional new progressive rock releases. Sure there were plenty of good albums released but very few that could be classed as outstanding; the two that come to mind are IQ's 'The Road of Bones', and 'Distant Satellites' by Anethema. But then towards the end of the year Electric Orange released a new album: 'Volume 10'. This is probably the masterpiece of their career (I say probably since I have not heard a couple of the earlier releases and their previous recording 'XX' was not issued on CD, only on vinyl and download, I was waiting for the CD release but it doesn't appear to have happened).

Electric Orange have been leaders in flying the flag for Krautrock in the 21st Century. I have enjoyed all their albums that I listened to but 'Volume 10' takes their music to a new level. Many of their past albums had a strong Can influence and sometimes with a bit of modern electronic thrown into the mix but the new album shows hints of Ash Ra Temple, Popol Vuh and early Tangerine Dream with a bit of early psychedelic Pink Floyd. But this is a not a rehash of 1970's style German electronic music, Electric Orange are developing their own sound, dark and menacing at times, spacy and mind stretching in places.

I can't single out any one track as better than the rest, they are all superb slices of krautrock, with plenty of variation and not a dull moment.

This is the most interesting release that I have purchased in 2014 and just maybe one of the greatest krautrock records of all time. It is a true masterpiece and is most deserving of a 5 star rating.