“One of the biggest strength of Polychronic is to lug us through musical genres that we approach with a surprising ease”
1 Polychronos I 3:58 2 Polychronos II 6:02 3 Polychronos III 7:40 4 Triangulum 7:08 5 Teratorn 9:34 6 Cursus 7:02 7 Epitaphium 9:45 8 Polychronos (Radio Mix) 4:38 SynGate Wave | CD-r RH03
(CD-r 55:47) (V.F.)
(New Berlin School)
A delicate piano, semi gloomy and semi pensive, spreads its notes which parade as those that we hear in a movie of romance. And when a cello brings a tearful touch, Polychronos I is hanging onto a line of bass which makes crawl its oscillating waves and which plunges the music towards a kind of progressive Jazz well sat on a sober game of percussions. The cello always weaves dark atmospheres while the piano embroiders a beautiful melody which lives in a dense musicality where the borders between the Jazz-rock and the one a little more progressive are welcoming a beautiful harmonious duel between the piano and the synth which sharpens its harmonies under the forms of solos. The ambient crumbs of the finale throw themselves into the long sonic corridor of Polychronos II which lays down its gloomy and dark atmospheres in a music which is similar to the long litanies of Steve Roach's night desert dreams. We go from Jazz to a music of dark ambiences then to a superb Berlin School with the finely sequenced movement, as the trot of rider, of Polychronos III. The synth layers which decorate this chivalrous walking disclose sonic perfumes of Tangerine Dream, I would say the hopping movement of the bass sequences too, while a very ethereal flute weaves an evasive melody which pierces with difficulty a good play of electronic percussions of which the pace overtakes the sequencing pattern. And Polychronos III loops its 17:40 minutes with a finale which takes back the harmonious portion of Polychronos I. That was a good trilogy. In the course of his last albums Rudolf Heimann accustomed to us to make us travel between the borders of the electronic rock where Berlin School and the progressive music lived with a fascinating symbiosis. And Christian Ahlers does not break of his line of thought by proposing an even more cutting album which risks, in the first accesses(neighborhoods), to divert(confuse) the consumers of MÉ of style Berlin School. And nevertheless...
After an introduction weaved in nebulosity, Triangulum goes back to the sources of progressive e-rock with a good rhythm, a quite steady one, and a flute which weaves rather harmonious beautiful airs. Sometimes heavy, sometimes lively, Triangulum remains anchored in its structure of progressive e-rock rather easy to consume. The flute is very beautiful and the whole thing reminds me vaguely of Mythos. We stay in the good electronic progressive rock with Teratorn which adopts a little the structure of Triangulum but with more slowness. The guitar is rather well done, and the percussions are quite heavy, even suggestive. The introduction of Cursus is going to remind to some of you the one of The Bravery of Being out of Range from the sublime Amused to Death by Roger Waters. The structure which results from it is more in mode lento with a propensity for an electronic blues very well made. That becomes a good electronic rock spiced of a progressive touch with good riffs and good solos, as much from the guitar as the synth. The introduction hooks my feet right on the spot and the whole structure didn't has to wait that much to get my interest too. Even with a finale which is lacking mastering. Epitaphium proposes a much ambiospherical introduction of five minutes with some increasing effects of synth and nice solos which coo and make twists before the rhythm follows the rules of a jerky mid-tempo where roams a line of bass and a synth of which the solos take the shape of the bass' rumba dance. It's very electronic with a scent of old vintage School. Polychronos (Radio Mix) ends POLYCHRONOS with strength. Its radio mix has nothing to do with the original structure, set apart the melody, and proposes a rhythm more in the Electronica style. More in the commercial kind. I quite enjoyed it! Just as I liked the whole 56 minutes of this last Rudolf Heimann's opus, even if the first listening has fed a certain reluctance, of which the biggest quality is to lug us through musical genres that we approach with a surprising ease.
Sylvain Lupari (August 18th, 2016) ***½**
Available at Syngate Bandcamp