SELIGPREISUNG

Seligpreisung is Popol Vuh 4th album and the 2nd step in Florian Fricke's quest for pastoral beauty and religious spirituality. The beauty is here in places but as it goes with pastoral beauty, it can cause a subdued effect after a while. Also Florian's vocals don't always fulfill their intentions for me. And as to the religious devotion, I'm still waiting for the Holy Spirit to manifest itself.

We're in for a strong start with two excellent pastoral symphonic pieces. The opener rocks slightly more then anything on the preceding album, bringing the slow lazy blues-rock of Pink Floyd's More to mind. Also Tanz Der Chassidim and Willig Arm Sind have stunning moments. And needless to say the subtle guitar playing is wonderful throughout. The second half of the album is dominated by Hallelujahs that don't sound spiritual or divine to me. The music is very gentle, romantic and skillfully arranged, but it just can't evoke the feelings of overwhelming religious praise it is meant to celebrate. It's certainly no match for the preceding Hosianna Mantra.

With an album length of around 30 minutes of which half of the material isn't doing much for me, I can't possibly rate this as Popol Vuh's masterpiece. But I'm clearly alone with this point of view, guess I'm too much of a godforsaken soul to appreciate this work.