CALENDAR COMPLEX

'Calendar Complex' - Senmuth (3/10)

When first beginning my voyage, I was surprised by the fact that with each album I listened to, this Russian experimental project would throw something new and relatively fresh at me. Going from 'dance metal' to orchestral composition to folk, the running theme here is that I've always been sure that with each new album, Senmuth will bring something new to the table. That's the whole reason I keep coming back for album after album... However, when an album comes that feels like it's simply reprising what Senmuth has already done in the past, there's a real feeling of disappointment. Such is my sentiment towards the album 'Calendar Complex.'

After the project's first few albums, Senmuth could be seen going towards an almost purely instrumental structure for his music, while still keeping the metal fusion sound in check. Each album thus far in Senmuth's discography has been made interesting by the fact that it shows progress over the past works. 'Calendar Complex' feels almost as if Senmuth has fallen into a rut (at least with this album) and can't add something new, or interesting. The sound of 'Calendar Complex' falls directly into the category of his ethno-electronic work. Most of the songs could almost be considered ambient in nature; a lack of melody or striking structure to the music makes it naturally fall into the background, and little more. This is a more downtempo piece of work than most Senmuth albums, and while (as always) the electronic soundscaping is well-produced here, it does little to reinforce many of the recycled musical ideas here.

Perhaps I am being too harsh with 'Calendar Complex,' but for someone that has heard near- to dozens of Senmuth albums that work with this style with much more conviction and inspiration, this album feels wholly unnecessary.

25920 seems to be an interesting number: it can be diveded by 3, then by 4, 6, 12, 24 and then by 36 in order to obtain a geometrical figure similar to a mandala calle "Platonic Calendar". Whatever it is this is just the opener of an album on which Senmuth seems to be looking back to the time of his debuts.

"Chronology is a usual techno-metal track of the kind that fills his first albums, and also "Dendera" is a track that was on his second album "Izoteri-ka". The old version was an industrial-metal track with lyrics sung by a distorted voice. This time the arrangement is totally instrumental and the industrial noise is replaced by a more ethnic-newage arrangement.

"N'W Universe" is the first track a little interesting. It's reminder of the spacey athmospheres of the previous "Planetary Dust", but even if in space, it never takes off.

With "Lethopol (City of Lightning Impact)" we are again on the usual Indian/Egyptian strings. Not bad, really, specially when the guitar breaks the ethnic stuff.

"Seshat" was the wife of the Egyptian god Toth. Of course this is another "Egyptian" track. Quite dark with an interesting bass base, but one of the kind that sometimes make me think that Senmuth is playing randomly generated chords. This is not properly the case, as there's a bit of melody here and there, I mean something recognisable but all the parts which compose this track are completely unstructured.

Things don't change with "1460". Also I can't find any meaning to this number. It's a multiple of 41 but this doesn't mean anything. like this song probably. Wait, I'm wrong. This is the number of years of the "Sothis Cycle"aka Canicular period (Sothis=Sirius). It's something related to the Nile's floodings that were very important for the ancient Egyptians. This doesn't make a difference, really. I still can't find a relationship between the track titles and the music inside, something that was very good, instead, on an album like "Internal Images".

"Renpet" is a synonym of Sothis, and this track is almost a synonym of what I have listened to until now. I'm sorry to say that I find this album a bit boring. There are no highlights even if the overall level of the music is not poor.

"pDwt Ax" is a strange title, but google helped me in identifying this word as the hierogliphic of Seti I, son of Ramses. The only song with a structure and a bit of interest until now. Not a masterpiece, of course, but at least enjoyable.

"Duat" is the land of the deads, the other world for the ancient Egyptians. It's as dark as Dante's inferno. At least it made me think to the omonimous prog compilation (strongly recommended, look at various artists on PA).

"MsqTsHdw" is probably another emperor, but I haven't found anything about it. Another dark track but with a structure and a melody. Senmuth makes a godd guitar work and also the bass line is very good.

As I have written about "Nature", with all the albums released by Senmuth why should one spend time on this one? He has made better things, so this can be rated just as a fans only album, even if a couple of good tracks and the fact that it's downloadable for free make it a worth listen. You can delete it later if you need disk space.