Eclipsing the solid work of his previous CD, The Garden, Salva Moreno (Psicodreamics) has once again released a concept album, albeit one more unified in musical motifs and spiritual themes than its predecessor. Eternal Angel tells the story (musically and, to a very limited degree, with some spoken word dialogue and scant lyrics) of an angel's fall from and return to grace during a journey of self-discovery that takes the angel, literally, to hell and back. As on his last album, one thing you can't say about Moreno is that he lacks ambition! As it did on The Garden, his talent easily keeps pace with that ambition.
However, where The Garden intermixed celestial new age music with rhythmic quasi-Enigma trippiness and even some neo-Berlin textures here and there, Eternal Angel seldom strays far from the Constance Demby/Vangelis arena as it showcases Moreno's flair for crafting neo-romantic spirituality-infused new age music, with some well-executed rhythmic touches too. The eleven tracks that comprise the album are suffused with drama and layered throughout with obvious emotion and passion (there is a bonus track at the end of the CD, "Lycanthrope 2001," that is not technically part of the concept of Eternal Angel, being a Euro-pop techno dance number - and a damn good one at that!). Also worth noting is an apparent increase in technical quality on the CD. While The Garden was solid in this regard, listening to Eternal Angel it's hard to believe this is an independent release. The mix, in particular, is exceedingly well-done. "Descensus Averni" with its pounding drum beats, bass choirs, swirling keyboards, and reverberating bells is amazing on headphones. The soundfield is wide yet instrumentation is well-realized and placed with precision. Engineering is likewise of the highest caliber. Moreno's (apparently large) arsenal of keyboards all sound great.
Obviously, if you're cynical or particularly anti-religious, you're going to have to disconnect some of those feelings in order to enjoy this album. Being a semi-agnostic myself, I still enjoyed Eternal Angel a lot just for the music itself. From those passionate and sensual rhythms in the aforementioned "Descensus Averni" to the celestial choirs, twinkling bells and classic spacemusic textures of the next track, "A Heaven in Your Eyes," to the Demby-esque choral work mixed with tribal percussion on "Azrael Tear" (blended with spooky vocoder spoken word vocals) and on to later tracks like the smoothly sensual "Labyrinth of Seduction" (another song with excellent tribal percussion work on a variety of instruments, layered under an assortment of synth washes), "The Gift" (featuring powerful digital piano and soprano women's choral samples) and "Eternal Ending" which is appropriately full of uplifting crescendos, Eternal Angel is a well-crafted recording both artistically and technically. The only track on the CD that I had a negative reaction to was "Cherubim Dance," owing to the use of electric guitar (real or sampled) to carry the main melody, something which strikes me as being out of place with the rest of the album's instrumentation.
Those who share the beliefs that are at the core of the CD (angels, devils, hell and heaven) will almost assuredly experience this fine album on a wholly different level than those (such as myself) who are here just for the music. However, even on a superficial level, Eternal Angel can be played and subsequently savored because Moreno is a talented musician. If you like ultra-dramatic new age music that weaves a spell both ethereal and sensual, this is a trip worth taking. Recommended.
by Bill Binkelman (WIND & WIRE)
by Bill Binkelman (WIND & WIRE)
