THE GATES OF OMEGA

This is not the type of album you listen to in a hurry. If you're in a 'kick ass' kind of mood, get your PALLAS, AYERON or FLOWER KINGS out. But if you want to drown yourself into mellowland for over 100 minutes of strange, beautiful music, "The Gates of Omega" is the ticket.

The musical phrases on the first two tracks are so TONY BANKS-like you'd think the composer of MOONGARDEN had been inside the old master's head - two profoundly moving melodious pieces. The next one, however, the 27-minute epic title track, is pure delight. The lyrics are very sparse, leaving plenty of room for sounds that are simply out of this world: magical, dreamy, atmospheric yet so gripping they rip you apart. It starts with something I would describe as DAVID SYLVIAN at his musical best with arrangements à la BRIAN ENO. The track slowly introduces world music drumbeats that pave the way to some hypnotic TANGERINE DREAM-like synths. The theme keeps on developing ever so slowly until you find yourself swimming in a sea of heavenly keyboards reminiscent of GENESIS' "Wind and Wuthering". This, in my opinion, is the best cut of the double-CD set. The first disk finally closes with "Moonsong", a short narrated piece with a haunting Indian, Ravi Shankar flavour.

The second disk is more or less a mixture of both styles: some heavily BANKS-influenced musical themes with interesting arrangements and time changes, plus some unusually colourful musical textures that truly puts MOONGARDEN in a category of its own. Perhaps not an absolutely essential album, but surely an essential title track that will adorn anyone's collection who's into melodious prog.