Tentura - Beyond Illusion

[Bill]

 

Tentura

Beyond Illusion

Sentimony Records

 

Tracklist:

1. Alchemy

2. Interstellar

3. Liftoff

4. Beginning Of Time

5. Echoes

6. Vivid

7. Rising

8. Presence of the Sence

9. Resonance (Remake)

10. Resident (vs. Specialmind)

 

An excellent and hypnotic down tempo album that offers up an epic 83-minute run time and two beautiful compositions that break the 10-minute mark.

 

To get the negatives out of the way quickly, I'm not a fan of the guitars used in "Interstellar" (similar in sound to Ajja & Cosmosis' "The Alien Jams"), the hearty energy of the "Resident" conclusion (made with Specialmind) breaks up the hypnosis established by nearly everything else in this work and "Vivid" is too in-your-face where most everything else here is wonderfully subtle and nuanced.

 

Too, I am not a big fan of the cover art because (1) I'm not interested in seeing someone's footwear when that elaborate Tentura logo looks like it would be fascinating on its own and would probably pop well against a dark background and (2) common sense says if something that intricate is coming up from the water at you, don't stand on a cliff edge with that much LSD in your system.

 

Where the cover works, though, is during the album's best track. On the appropriately titled "Liftoff," a majestic 12-minute masterwork, you can almost picture yourself launching off the edge and flying amongst the clouds. An absolute beauty that works its magic immediately whereas many of these tracks take a couple listens to become great.

 

Courageously, Tentura begins the album on the ambitious (and successful) 16-minute expanse of "Alchemy," a track that feels not a second too long.

 

Elsewhere, the samples in "Beginning Of Time," the wispy female vocals in "Presence Of The Sence" and fantastic spellbinding rhythms in "Echoes" and "Rising" assure the album's overall greatness.

 

Quite possibly, the excellence of "Resonance (Remake)" may become one of the better tracks over time.

 

But with much in this album, with so much subtlety happening in the background of each track, it is difficult to say how great these tracks will become.

 

For now, though, with absolutely no question, it can be said that "Beyond Illusion" has a great chance of being one of the very best down tempo albums that we see in 2015.

 

()

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Tentura

Title: Beyond Illusion

Label: Sentimony Records

Date: February, 2015

 

1. Alchemy

2. Interstellar

3. Liftoff

4. Beginning Of Time

5. Echoes

6. Vivid

7. Rising

8. Presence of the Sence

9. Resonance (Remake)

10. Resident (vs. Specialmind)

 

 

Man Alchemy is good.

 

The devil is in the details which explode from this sixteen minute epic progressive journey. This track perfectly matches the cover as if the owner of those kicks was going to leap from the precipice Pink Floyd style embracing the great unknown. Learning to fly indeed. You feel like you can accomplish anything as this dream unfolds.

 

How do you top that? You don't. You just try to maintain and float in the same zip code as that brilliant opener. Interstellar is next up which I found good, but rather noisy downtempo. Like Bill said the guitars are a prominent feature. Liftoff gets you back into dream mode with a floating atmosphere. Very lush and entrancing. Beginning of Time has a huge thudding breakbeat and Echoes was a bit more aggressive in style. Vivid and Rising revisit the hypnotic breakbeat with plenty of ancillary sounds to plunge you deep into the illusion. Tribal drums quake on Presence and the Resonance remake...well that one didn't impress me like some of the other tracks. Closing with the funky Resident and that wobbly lead you've gotta tip your hat with all the moods he covers.

 

 

Bravo.

 

A very good ride with no bad tracks. Downtempo, progressive, and breakbeat are all handled with great competence. The two longest tracks were seeping with detail and were my favorites. By the way...remind you of another great progressive cover?

 

 

 

Sentimony Bandcamp