VIRTUAL TRAGEDY

Although a man of great talent in music, there are some aspects of his craft that he doesn't seem to have ever been able to bring up to par with the rest of his work. Among these are his use of electronics, and a lack of album structure. Unfortunately, Gramond's hour and a half double album 'Virtual Tragedy' is both highly electronic, and loose structurally together. Although there are moments interspersed throughout the ninety minutes of playtime that are quite enjoyable and promising, the album sadly falls into the category of weak Gramond albums that promise great things and don't hold up on their end.

Here, one can generally hear a host of different sounds that wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack to a classic videogame, Gramond also tends to offer his vocal work overtop, putting somewhat more feeling into the music, but many of the chaotic electronic arrangements do not lend themselves well to having any sort of singing overtop. Once in a while, Gramond will throw in some guitar work- a welcome change- but these moments are all-too fleeting, soon reverting back to the electronics.

While the electronics sound quite cheap, there is promise here in some of the compositions. The tracks of the 'virtual symphony' such as 'Interlude' and the album's highlight 'Cold Day' show some real potential for Gramond to make complex orchestrations. Using a computer to demonstrate these ideas however, makes the music sound like a demo over anything else.

A disappointing release no doubt, although the orchestral and symphonic arrangements Gramond has composed here do offer promise.