ORACLE OCTAVE (PART II: SIRIUS MYSTERY)

'Oracle Octave (Part II: Sirius Mystery)' - Senmuth (6/10)

Having been throughly impressed, if not blown away by the first part of the 'Oracle Octave' duology, it's clear that I would be interested in checking out the second part. A spacy and enchanting journey of music, 'Orion Mystery' was enough to shake what notions I thought I had about Senmuth's music, and open me up to a new realm of appreciation for the man behind the project, and his work. In a way, tossing a forgettable throwback to his traditional industrial metal in between sections of 'Oracle Octave' only made me more excited to hear it. However, while 'Sirius Mystery' has turned out to be an alright follow up, the common saying rings true here; 'the sequel is never quite as good as the original.'

In comparison to the psychedelic and otherworldly leanings of 'Orion,' this album sheds alot of the melodic lead in favour for more electronic presence in the mix. The album is still as well produced as the first 'Oracle,' but there is not nearly such a wide variety of played instruments here. Based on it's own merits however, 'Sirius Mystery' still ranks as being one of the better Senmuth releases. A great deal of the music is driven by some sort of keyboard-synthesized sound, although many of the melodies feel a bit misdirected and too spread out.

Things are instrumental with the exception of one track. The song 'Laba Ozu Po. Ozuga Po Ya' is the first Senmuth song I have heard thus far in the act's career to make actual use of the death growl vocal technique. While I have never been a big admirer of Senmuth's clean vocal abilities, the death growls are a good sign, because they seem like they would work well in the stead of the regular clean singing.

'Sirius Mystery' is not necessarily a dissapointment for it's comparison to the superior 'Orion'; it is a worthy creation on it's own terms and should be enjoyed by anyone ingrigued by the style. Be as it may however, I will always hope for another great Senmuth release coming my way...

After the first three tracks of this album I started thinking that it could have been the first 4-stars given by me to a Senmuth's album. The distorted voice is disappeared, replaced on the second track "Laba ozu po. Ozuga po ya" by a honest growling. I think the language is Zulu but this time Senmuth's musical travel could have brought us in any other "primitive" area. The graffiti on the cover sleeve may be Australian or European, too.

Also the usual industrial noise is no longer present so that the first 15 minutes of the album are mainly made of good electronic rock. In particular the unusual signature for the percussions on the opening track, the growled track title on the second and the good third instrumental are some of the best things I've heard from Senmuth up to now.

Unfortunately, unlike in "Oracle Octave Part 1", the short suite in three parts this time is not so good. What was the strength of "Part 1" is the weakness of "Part 2" and what is preventing me from giving it the foruth star.

However this is currently the album in this huge discography that's closer to my musical tastes and even if I've found the suite is "nothing special", the two closing tracks are good, too.

Again Metempsychosis and life after death seem to be the central concept. I'm not 100% sure, but it's like the excursions of Senmuth in world music territories are always abouth the local concept of death and resurrection. Even if this album is almost instrumental the reference to a creature mentioned by the Bible (Dagon's Star) seems to follow this line, unless it's a reference to HP Lovecraft, instead.

So still 3 stars which would have been 4 with a bit more effort in composing the suite.