“This has to be the most achieved work of Sequential Dreams”
1 A Geometry of Shadows 9:35 2 Angels at Hades Gates 6:35 3 Breath of Life 6:19 4 Dark Energy 8:47 5 Eternity in a Moment 4:15 6 In Search of Forever 5:55 7 Glittering C-Beams 5:17 8 The Deconstruction of Falling Stars 5:48 9 The Einstein-Rosen Bridge 6:23 10 Distant Sunrise 4:17 Sequential Dreams
(CD/DDL 63:03) (V.F.) (Electronic Rock & Berlin School)
As much prolific as a brook which draws its inspiration down from a fall, Ron Charron delivers us a 2nd opus, the 9th in all, of Sequential Dreams some 3 months after The Exodus Wave. And contrary to this album, THE INFINITE DIVIDE proposes a less rock approach with 10 titles which travel between the various periods of Sequential Dreams' main source of inspiration: Tangerine Dream.
A Geometry of Shadows opens the album with strength! A line of bass sequences runs like a train on a rail of wadding. Little wings of metal spin all around this delicious oscillatory movement that Ron Charron decorates with riffs under the forms of very TD's layers, of reverberating effects and of delicate fluty melodies. Whereas the percussions plough a cynical weightiness, a guitar, not the one of Bernhard Beibl, grafts harmonious solos of which the tones are situated between Edgar Froese and David Gilmour. More than a simple pastiche of the sound armada of TD, A Geometry of Shadows is a good fusion between Pink Floyd and the gang of Froese, Franke and Baumann in an approach which transcends the works of SD up to here. In fact, THE INFINITE DIVIDE is a turning point, a bend in the career of this worldwide band, Chris Peare participated to the elaboration of this title, while Arend Westra contributed to Breath of Life, with a hyper well-done production and where all the instruments play a very precise role in a collection of titles inspired by the 1000 perfumes of Tangerine Dream and some of Pink Floyd. And even if the line is sometimes thin between EM and Prog music, the Berlin School style, all era reunited, shines here. Inspired from Edgar Froese's rhythms, Angels at Hades Gates is a nice combination between the Stuntman and the Beyond the Storm years. The blend between Ron Charron' electric six-strings and his synths is done judiciously, as well as this transition between Macula Transfer and Stratosfear. The rhythm is rather lively and gallops without stress in a beautiful sonic valley molded by nice synth effects and dramatic pads. Breath of Life is a pretty cool ballad which floats between clouds of blue mist and some slightly too cute sequences. Sometimes perched on the tears of a plaintive guitar, on the sighs of synth mist or in an enjoyable angelic voice, the seraphic melody travels on the delicate upward rhythm of a movement of sequences which will squeeze a cloud filled of water. It's nice to hear! After an ambient introduction a la Rick Wright in Wish You Were Here, Dark Energy proposes a galloping rhythm which slips into a splendid structure of complex rhythm fed by these Chris Franke's hyperactive and radioactive sequences. The guitar is judiciously inserted here.
Eternity in a Moment bears well its title name. It's a Rockoon kind of track! I listened to twice, it was enough! Set apart this little faux-pas, according to my ears, the rest of this album is simply delectable. Built a little in the same pattern as Dark Energy, In Search of Forever plunges us straight away into the universe of This Park is Mine. The percussions and the sequences are well crafted while the dramatic effects, the riffs of an acoustic guitar and of an electric six-strings form a surprising symbiosis which flows with fluidity. And it's there that I notice the beautiful artistic maturity which Ron Charron shows here. Previously, all these ingredients had a little of difficulty in merging their directions, as rhythmic than harmonious. Here, the exchange between the phases of rhythms and those of the melodies flow pleasantly into a heavy decoration, into a sound decoration full of emotion or of fury. Take the ballad of Glittering C-Beams as example, but the furious The Deconstruction of Falling Stars stands to my words strongly. As well as the protean and evolutionary structure of The Einstein-Rosen Bridge where, in a ferocious rock, are hide beautiful moments of ethereal ambiences. Distant Sunrise closes brilliantly what I consider like the best opus of Sequential Dreams. I like to imagine a Ron Charron, the soul very nostalgic, strolling on the carpet of his keyboard the eyes full of hope for a better world and for his personal path. Yes, my friends and readers, THE INFINITE DIVIDE is a very good album of EM armored to the infinity of the essences of Tangerine Dream. I know that there is a lot of those out there, but there is always one who stands out, like this worldwide project of Ron Charron!
Sylvain Lupari (April 19th, 2017) ****¼*
Available at Borders Edge Music