Para Halu & The Path - Wide Range

[Lemmiwinks]

 

1. Flash Signal

2. Naplement

3. Patternoia

4. Babylon

5. Methedrine Wave

6. Cybertalp

7. Rollertoaster

8. Blackhole

9. Radar

10. Alien Symphony

 

Para Halu is back with a collaboration with The Path (aparently a fellow hungarian Peter Takacs although I must admit that I've never heard about the guy till now). Anyway they give us a surprizing album more oriented towards morning trance. Also for the first time Para Halu are actually using tracks WITHOUT a rolling bassline!

 

The album starts off with Flash Signal which is very different to what we're used to hearing from these guys. First of all, there is no rolling bassline, and there is a dreamy morning feeling to the track. Although near the end there is a trademark fast screechy melody. It doesn't really seem to fit in at first but after some more listens it kindof all starts making sense.

 

Napalement brings back the rolling bassline but keeps on the morning side of things. I like this one a lot as well

 

Then we go into slightly darker territory with Patternoia although not too dark compared with their previous work. This is one of the weaker tracks on the album IMO.

 

With Babylon we remain in dark territory but a different kind of dark. This makes me think more of The Delta than Para Halu. It is actually my favorite track on the album, a lot of creativity in there.

 

Methedrine Wave brings us to the more typical Para Halu dark trance sound although there is a more hypnotic feeling in there than usual, again a little Delta/ X-Dream feeling in the track. Also near the end there's a nice use of the Formant Filter on the Thor vitual synth in Reason

 

Cybertalp is the most experimental track on this album. It starts in a morning style but then turns to some jazz influences and in case you were reading previous reviews of mine you'll know that I HATE jazz, so I don't really like this track...

 

Rollertoaster brings us back to typical dark psy territory. After hearing so much creativity in other tracks on this album, this one actually feels OLD in comparison...

 

Blackhole is a very interesting experiment. It is basically a dark psy track turned into ambient (!!). They use the typical droning bassline, but without the kick, making is a very hypnotic rough ambient track. Although you're kindof expecting the kick to start from one moment to the other. Which it does in Radar. So Radar is basically the same track but with a kick added. Both tracks are cool and I like the idea of pregression from one to the other.

 

With Alien Symphony we are back into experimental territory. This track ranges from dark to experimental to morning. Again, very creative use of sound patterns, although sometimes it feels a bit too wierd for me.

 

The Good: Finally some artists who aren't afraid to explore new paths!!! I must say that in today's formula-driven scene this is a welcome change!

 

The Bad: Although there are a lot of good tracks in here, there are no instant classics like Let the Peace Control Your Body or Cacao on Para's older albums.

 

 

Conclusion Like with most radical style changes, you'll have to give this a few listens to get past the "WTF" feeling and start apreciating the album for what it is. That said, although I love the creativity put in here, there is no monster hit in this album compared to previous Para Halu's works so I'll give this an 8/10

[amphiton]

Patternoia and Rollertoaster fuer mich!

[cray3]

Para Halu simply stands out from the rest of the dark psy crowd coz they arent afraid to experiment...this album is one of my favourite this year..Methedrine wave and cybertalp are classics.