That album was a bit hard to get into for me. But the same happened when I read Kafka's novel.
Compared to the first three Sonic Poems this album lacks catchy melodies. But to make up for this, this work is full of fantastic atmospheres. In fact it has more in common with the "Five Atomic Seasons" than "Island Of The Fay" or "Finnegans Wake".
Most surprising were the many calm and peaceful compositions, especially "Approaching Snowy Village", "The Untouchable Castle" or "Surrender And Adaption". The latter always reminds me of music by Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh) with its tabla percussion and acoustic guitar melody.
These compositions are nice, but I wouldn't have seen them in a Kafka context, as they are too peaceful. Kafkas work evokes feelings of unease in me.
And this is indeed reflected in this album on the compositions that make use of TD's most experimental sounds and samples in years. I love "Odd Welcome" - Edgar's strangest intro ever I think, especially over headphones. Here he goes quite mad ... but this is exactly the kind of atmosphere I'd call "kafkaesque".
"A Place Of Mercy" is appropriately titled, but this coposition also contains some strange sounds that fall into that category.
The real highlights however are tracks 4 to 8. These 34 minutes form a fantastic suite in its own right. "The Apparently Lunatic Hierarchy" with its apparantly lunatic title is apparatly lunatic (sorry, I couldn't resist that
). Edgar and Thorsten went all atmospheric here, although halfway through a great melody arises. I just wished that track was longer, I could listen to that one for hours. I think this would be the perfect concert opener for the 2014 tour. I'd love to hear that one live.
"Barnabas The Messenger" will surely make the playlist. This one definately has the album's best guitar solo, no doubt about it. Then "Irredeemable Entity" is all electronic and full of microscopic beats and sequences - a nice contrast. "The Implicit Will To Meet Klamm" is a typical Edgar Froese composition - the rhythmic elements as well as the chords. But it works in that context. After that Thorsten's "Desperate Neverending Longing" is another hymn full of strange rhythms and sounds. This one rocks and would have been another great album finale (just like "Darkness Veiling The Night" on "Island Of The Fay" or "The Invisible Seal Of The Holy Tribe" on "The Angel Of The West Window").
"The Castle" somehow has a different dynamic than the first three Sonic Poems. As this album ends on a sombre note it feels like omething is missing in the end. But the same applies to Kafka's novel ... that ends in the middle of a chapter and the end of the story is missing.
But after all, I love this album the way it is. Certainly it is Edgar's and Thorsten's personal view on Kafka, but as a musical translation it works for me ... though sometimes in an unexpected way - with more romantic undertones and less paranoia.
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