OFF: New DarXtar

[K Henderson]

Hello...

Since traffic has been light, let me put in a few words for "Tombola."

Jerry K. just got them in a couple days ago, and I got mine just yesterday.
I've given it two quick listens, and it's a big winner IMHO.

For the life of me, I can't understand why Delerium farted around for so
long, and never ended up releasing it!  I guess maybe it was just too
sophisticated for them.  :)  Anyway, I guess it ended up for the best,
'cause it looks like the Commander continued tweaking it over the next two
years after the recording was finished (1997) and perhaps it came out much
better. (?)

So, the first surprising thing when you get your grubby paws on it, is that
there are 13 tracks on the album, and all of them are legitimate songs (as
opposed to little bits of linking music).  But since it's about 70 minutes
long (vitually double-LP length), the songs aren't all three-minutes or
anything!  But still, the last album was five songs total, with the title
track being about 18 minutes or so.

The new Darxtar is definitely different than before...they've really evolved
into something quite separate than the pure space-blanga outfit they were up
to about Daybreak, when they started to branch out some.  The songwriting on
"Tombola" definitely employs an enhanced involvement with melody and lyrics
(all the lyrics are included in the booklet, and there are a crapload of
'em). But the writing has also become more varied and (shall I say?)
progressive.  On average, I would say this album is roughly just as heavy as
previous albums, but it's a different kind of heaviness.  Yes, there are
three or four instances of the pounding blanga rhythms ('Blue Frozen Flame'
for instance), but there are other tracks with crunchy guitars that aren't
really like 'old' Darxtar much at all.  Some of it is standard hard rock
territory, but none of it is 'radio-fare.'  They haven't adopted any
commercial sound that's for sure.  :)

(Commander) Soren's voice here sounds better than ever, and there's lots of
good instrumental bits as well, some Mellotronish synths and violin of
course. The spacey synths are still there, but not quite as dominant as
before.  Some of the songs seem like they might take some time to catch on,
but the whole midsection of the album ("Compromised Space"/"Healin'
Skin"/"Breath Messages") is really excellent...some blanga, some space, some
melody, some metal - never repetitive.  The title track (eight minutes)
appears last and is a great spacey-prog piece not unlike "7" from 'Sju'
(which means the same thing).  Patric Danielsson's wife contributes
space-whisper vocals and that's a new touch for the draXters.

Hey, it was a long wait, but let me now say that they haven't lost their
edge and the idea of them now starting to do gigs again (are they still on,
Scott?) is very promising for the future.

Now, do they have a website active again?  (Record Heaven doesn't really
have anything up about them yet, from what I can tell.)  I wonder if anyone
else really knows the album is out?  Also, what's happened to Paul Ward?  I
know he got real busy there for awhile with building his new home and
travelling a lot on business throughout SEAsia, but with DarXtar coming
alive again, and the rumours of another Oz/NZ tour, I would have expected to
see him report in once again.

Grakkl (FAA)

http://www.aural-innovations.com/mailord/mailord.html
to order from Jerry.