“The Resurrection is one of the best album in this disturbing universe of black sequenced EM”
1 Joy for All 12:00
2 The Resurrection 20:39
3 I Dreamed I could Fly 14:34
4 Learning from the Past 8:44
5 China on the Move......the circle is round 10:00
(CD-r/DDL 70:28) (V.F.)
(Dark sequenced Berlin School EM)
I say it and I repeat it; Syndromeda is one of the hidden treasures in contemporary EM. In the course of his career of 26 albums, the Belgian synthesist has always offered an EM of a very high quality where the dark ambiences and the double pace structure of rhythms from Tangerine Dream are depicted with chthonian colors clearly more personal. Initially released in 2006 on his SinSyn label, RESURRECTION stayed in limbo of the unknown. And this even so it's a powerful album which reflects marvellously the rich sound pallet of a universe which distinguishes itself by its originality. Because if a lot of artists can imitate Tangerine Dream with quite an ease, I know on the other hand that only few artists, like Jim Kirkwood by the way, who compose and play a music drawn in the chinks of the unknown.
And from the first evasive synth waves of Joy for All, our ears embark completely on the fantastically wealthy sound universe marked with mysticism which is Syndromeda's. A line of bass sequences hems a black rhythm which skips of its imperfect zigzags, forging a figure of rhythm where the keys dance with their shadows. They skip and waddle under a sonic sky smothered by chirping and electronic languages while the solos and the nasal singings of the synth form a tenebrous chthonian choir which hums on a structure of rhythm of which the fine modulations feed its passive fury. These submissive choirs, as well as their nagging singings, are feeding the gargantuan Mephistophelian intro of the title-track. They expiate their slow singings floating as ectoplasms which get melt to these tortuous synth lines of which the aromas of old satanic organ are roaming in a sonic circle which pierce from the inside to let to pass some furtive black sequences. The rhythm of The Resurrection is as well ambient as hypnotic.
It pulses of its glaucous paces under the shouts and solos of this synth and of its nasal breaths which are so unique to Danny Budts' universe float in a rich psybient electronic universe. A portion of the rhythm gets loose to forge a line of more harmonious rhythm. A line a bit devilish, like the steps of childish goblins, with pulsations sometimes harmonious and sometimes organic which skip in a sound mosaic became darker with this addition of chthonian choirs which attack weakly the ambient portion of The Resurrection which tries well that badly to keep its pulsations alive even if bitten piercingly by delicious solos at the end of its road. These long twists of plaintive solos fill the motionless rhythm of I Dreamed I could Fly, as well as Learning from the Past which, after an intro always so black and always so evasive, flies away with a structure of sequences of which the harmonious rhythm dithers between its velocity and its passivity. If RESURRECTION foments its musical structures in the storm, it's quite the opposite with the frisky China on the Move......the circle is round. Certainly, the intro is made up by sound intrigues and luciferian ambiences so dear to Mr. Syndromeda's darker musical tales, except that the rhythm … It extricates itself from the ambiospherical limbos a little before the second minute. And it's wild! The pace of the sequences is always so heavy, but it bears a more aggressive rhythmic life. The hammering is supported by percussions which burst like wooden shavings on a tense skin. And the synth … As honeyed as delicious with its fluty winds which crisscross the fury of a rhythm which, if we are willing, is dressed of a fascinating oriental aroma. The choirs? They are not black anymore. It's the voice of a woman who roars her passion on a structure of rhythm of which the reverberations of sequences unveil a delicious rhythmic duel. A duel which fades too early while China on the Move......the circle is round dies around the 10th minute spot, leaving a disturbing emptiness which gets fill by some vibrating organic gurglings and sequences which beat into a spheroidal structure. There where all the mysticism of RESURRECTION takes back its noblesse.
Once again, SynGate has resuscitated a major work which passed under the radar of the electronic scene. With its heavy rhythms, as ambient as wild, and its dark moods which fill ears on the edge to overflow, RESURRECTION is a strong album from Syndromeda. One of his best. One of the best in this disturbing universe of black EM where Danny Budts' mink and his highly stylized artistic approach reveal his complicity with the unknown.
Sylvain Lupari (January 15th, 2013) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp