HEAVEN AND HELL

This is one of the most progressive albums of Vangelis: it contains drums and tons of backing vocals of the choir + opera style; some keyboards provide a bass emulation. There are many intense floating moments, full of sustained choirs. There are also many catchy piano and percussions parts. The first epic track is often very symphonic & anthemic. It has some similitudes with the "Mask" album, if you do not compare the sound quality & technology involved. The second track has Jon Anderson on lead vocals: an intense & floating quintessential bit is reached when he stops singing: impressive! The other side has some dark and experimental parts, rather sounding like an horror movie soundtrack. Past the third minute, rhythm & melody take place with awakening railroad- crossing bells-like + an unidentified tribal acoustic instrument; then, come some very scary bits: crazy female voices with tribal percussions and odd keyboards: do not listen it alone in the dark! Then come excellent sustained choirs + an "Edith Piaf"-esque opera voice: sounding like Western Spaghetti movies soundtracks, it is VERY impressive!

Rating: 4.5 stars