NEWOLDLIVE

I'm wondering if I'll ever have the possibility to rate a Senmuth's album more than 3 stars. Also with this very good "NewOldLive", it looks that he's improving his music day by day (quite literally as he releases almost an album per month). But also this time I can't say that this is an excellent addition to any prog collection.

The folk elements that appear here and there are always very interesting even when, as in this case, they are not part of a full concept album. The passage from industrial metal to indian and back ("Histfact" and "Brahma") is not so sudden as in his previous releases and this is one of the improvements.

The omnipresent industrial noise is decreasing. This doesn't impact on the dramatic tension of the songs and makes them more appreciable from a purely musical point of view. The piano parts on "Don't Remember" and "Crash" backed by the usual distorded guitar are more melodic than usual and also Senmuth's singing appears improved. Also the long guitar solo on "Crash" can be underlined as probably the best Senmuth's guitar riff listened up to now. It's the track that I would suggest to a newbie who wants to start with Senmuth.

Why with all those improvements it's not yet a 4-stars album? It's because more than half of the tracks are still the usual "Good but non-essential" Senmuth.

The 2 minutes of "Apocalyptica" are another highlight. When we move to more quiet realms the music has a better impact than tracks like "Artefacts" that reminds in some way to "System of a Down". (even if a good guitar solo closes this track, too).

It doesn't mean that the "usual" Senmuth is bad. Only you must have a predisposition to this kind of music. If you look for symphonic prog you can stay away.

However please remind that Senmuth offers ALL his production downloadable for free from his website, so even if this is not your genre, giving him a try will cost you just a bit of time and bandwith, and the excellent graphic art quality of his album covers will make your visit to his website more interesting. (He's a designer other than a skilled multi-instrumentist and composer).

Still 3 stars but closer to 4 at every new release.