BREATHING THE STORM

A few years after the entirely ambient anomaly, "At Peace", recorded at Tony Duhig's ill fated studio, JADE WARRIOR reformed with two new members, Colin Henson and Dave Sturt. Before they could begin recording, Duhig died suddenly. Shaken by the loss, the trio regrouped and created "Breathing the Storm", the first Duhig-less album in band history. While still a bit too comfortably soporific, it is nonetheless a huge improvement on "At Peace" .

Fields' flutes abound and the keyboards are neither tacky nor monotonous for the most part. A few moments even evoke the spirit of the the Island years, especially in "Gift of Wings". Elsewhere, as in "Memory of the Deep", a certain homage is paid to KITARO in the repetition of short colourful motifs that form an underlying rhythm of sorts, which is propitious because, while 2 members apparently contribute percussion, they may well have just brought them into the studio and neglected to set them up, or forgotten them entirely. Sturt contributes a robust fretless bass to a few cuts, which of course is worth half a star just on the face of it, but unfortunately it can't save the title cut from being an utterly banal expose on infinity. Both Field and Henson contribute guitars but they mostly act as a sign that reads "This isn't Patrick O'Hearn", got it? The only piece where I sense some authentic emotional transfer is "Asa no Kiri", which is ironic given its preponderance of high pitched synths, but then Kitaro himself excels in that realm as well.

Some reviews here and there on the web state that this is far and away superior to the new age music of its day but I suspect many who gained that impression spent a lot of time listening to Jade Warrior and very little listening to new age music, and who can blame them? Nonetheless, I'm here to tell you that "Breathing the Storm" is a slightly above average new age recording with an average new age title that, like many of its ilk, under-delivers on its promise. 2.5 stars.