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It's not like this comes as any kind of a surprise to me.

The Melodic Genius returns. So 17 years later, Khetzal, who scored a hit with the melodic Goa trance album "Corolle", returns with a new record! That's a long time by anyone's reckoning for a second album. Matthieu Chamoux is a melodic genius. He has a dynamic sense of melody, meaning that his melodies really move. He is able to make melodies sway, sweep, waltz, bounce, zoom off and develop. The development of these melodies is important: there is real storytelling structure in the songs, which speed up and slow down and change moods at points - this is derived from traditional symphonic structure or argument. "Corolle" was a hit, cited by a number as the best neo-Goa album, partly because of this melodic brilliance. It seemed to me that it stood directly in the line of classic 90s Goa from Astral Projection, TIP, Etnica et al. This was not only because it was not afraid to make big melodies, often with Oriental scales and motifs. In my estimation, it was also so good because it had a degree of simplicity: "Corolle" was just a bit less layeristic than most of the other neo-Goa from Filteria, Artifact 303, E-Mantra, et al. (Haha, I had to laugh when Morphic Resonance released "Perplexity" in 2018 - that can indeed be the response that excessive layerism can result in). "Corolle" was also not afraid to slow things down; quite a few of the tracks have modest bpms and are not shooting for high speed take off. To my way of thinking, this relative, I repeat relative, simplicity and slowness, along with the melodic genius, were the reasons for the success of "Corolle". Restraint, or at least some degree of restraint, is necessary for art: drama requires it. Hell for leather from bar 1 is a recipe for exhaustion, not for drama and intrigue. Restraint is often the mark of a master. So what about this 17 years later second album? Well, it is definitely Khetzal. A similar melodic sensibility is on display, similar Oriental motifs, similar restraint. Similar, but not the same. This album does not have as much of a consistent Oriental vibe as "Corolle" did. It is not as restrained and goes a little faster and more layeristic generally. Is it as good? Hard to say. I wouldn't say it is as memorable or as outstanding as the first album, but that does not mean it is not as good. "Admonition" is a strange title for the first track of an album, suggesting that things did not start off so well for the composer. Whatever, it has an atmospheric start, and soon becomes quite mystic and wondrous due to background choirs and drones - a building beginning. "Ziggurat" is percussive and grows into a psychedelic monster with spinning melodies with oriental drones in the background - nice! I must make mention of the background drones that set off the main melody so well in "Grey Kitty in the Box" (weird title - Matthieu got a present of a kitten?). "Gather Your Herds" is a real head-nodder of a track with a highly memorable whistling main theme. The melody in the next track "Acide Formique" is quite similar - a kind of continuity. "Pavane" as the title suggests is a real bouncy dancey track with an addictive bassline and some cool percussive breaks - this track sounds a lot like Filteria in that the melodies seem to multiply and fly off or fizzle out in a drizzle of wiggles. Really an extraordinarily psychedelic track which even has sounds like lasers in a Star Wars movie and what sounds a lot like a violin or viola gypsy-style main theme - very, very, very nice! Khetzal outdoes himself in this track which is a masterwork and arguably the best track he has thus far composed. "A World of Outmoded Ideas" is quite fast and busy - lots of fractal pixillations here and babbling long melodic lines. The main melodic theme which works with stabs does not work so well for me - it is just a little too chintzy and bright sounding for this listener. This track is sort of like a sped up Astral Projection. "Didge Voices" slows things down a little and offers a haunting Arabic melody with a flute sound from the get go. This main melody owes a lot to music and film - it could easily be from "Lawrence of Arabia" or any number of other classic films with its combination of yearning and minor key gloom. What a great track. "Ealitas Ex Nihilo" is a nice closer going a bit slower than most of the other tracks on the album. Nothing too special or outstanding on offer here, though it does have an epic sensibility. So Khetzal has created another fine album, albeit not as restrained as the first record. I'm not sure that this works better for the album as a whole, but it has helped him create some of his best melodies thus far, particularly on "Pavane" and "Didge Voices". This album was not as immediately memorable as the first album for me. Nevertheless, it is a superb work that may just have more staying power; only time will tell. Seeing as "Corolle" got a vinyl release (at last!), Suntrip are obligated to give this a vinyl release too. C'mon Suntrip: you can do it. ~*~

Yep, Etnica played after Prana. But I could hardly stand up at the time, 6 am-ish, so I stumbled to my tent. Jan from X-dream played some really old school stuff if I remember correctly, like Age of Love.