ARC - Blaze. 2003 England

Blaze, ARC's 3rd album starts with Rhodes piano and... could it be? Yes, a real drummer (provided by Carl Brooker). It seems the duo of ARC are paying homage to the late 70s pioneers who mixed their Berlin School electronics with real drums ala Klaus Krueger (Tangerine Dream/Edgar Froese) and Harold Grosskopf (Klaus Schulze/Ashra). Sequencers and Mellotron follow, and yee-haw, we're in Force Majeure territory in mere seconds. Half the tracks are sans drums, and all of these are atmospheric and pulsating, somewhat similar to the first half of Radio Sputnik. These tracks setup the more dynamic and rhythmic drum plus sequencer compositions that are devastating when presented in this manner. In particular 'Klangwand' and 'Pulse Train' deliver a powerful collection of analog synthesizers along with driving percussion. Another essential album from ARC.

Ownership: CD: 2003 DiN. Jewel case

2005; 8/27/14 (new entry)