Harald Nies - Planet of three Suns
[cdr-hn0972]

Dave Dilliway: Harald Nies "Planet of three Suns" www.rockatspace.de Once again Harald Nies turns in a wonderful album of cosmic/space rock guitar,spacey synths, and a melodic feel that is quite similar to the best of Ashra and Mind over Matter.The overall feeling of the album is quite melodic and relaxed,though the first track is a driving slice of spacy synthrock,similar to some of Ashra's music,but with the drums and percussion quite far in the background,the foreground dominated by ostinato guitar figures and synth leads.Track three, Nightszene,showcases the album's dominant feel with its mellow synth background and layers of melodic spacy guitar,that have all the melodicism and feel of the best of Ashra and Mind over matter in their more reflective moments.Track Four, Arthors Dance,is a faster sequencer based piece,which has some elements of the "Berlin" style,but is more structured and contains yet more superb guitar playing, with soaring leads flying over the backing of sequences and synths.Track Five Moog is Rise Again is another sequencer based track,but with no guitars.Lead synth lines grace rippling arpeggios and a solid rythmic synth backing,evolving into majestic mid-eighties TD like chords and rippling synths.Track six features guitar again,and starts with ostinato guitar lines that gradually give way to layers of cosmic synths, the guitar surfacing from time to time to provide the rhythmic backbone of the music.Track eight,another highlight,takes us into symphonic synth territory,with majestic synyhs and plaintive electric guitar evolving halfway through into a "Vangelis"-like progression complete with a guitar melody and synth leads.This is the most melodic track on the album.Track nine is similar,though without guitar.The final track,Lydian Sun,is another laid-back,melodic musical excursion,with some very evocative synth leads,deep bass backing,minimal percussion,guitar leads,synth arpeggios,and an overall feel that brings to mind the melodicism of Vangelis and later Tangerine Dream without the saccharine(or saxaphone)excess that they were prone to during the late eighties.This is a great album which is as different again from Restart from Sedna(Krautrock) as that was from Planet and Gongs(space/cosmic),and sees Harald Nies exploring more melodic ground.