Asura – 360

English / Polish version

Asura - 360
    ULTIMAE RECORDS
    Asura
    360
    2010

      1. El Hai (featuring Ayten)
      2. Regenesis
      3. Altered State (Album edit)
      4. Atlantis Child
      5. Erase
      6. Halley Road
      7. Longing For Silence
      8. Getsemani
      9. Le Dernier Voyage
      10. Virgin Delight

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Let us strike the kettledrums! What we have all been waiting for three long years, finally became a reality – 360. Charles once again pulls out his hand in the direction of all fans of his artistic work. After an excellent and I have to admit already hackneyed LIFE 2, it is time for another fresh and without a doubt even better album, at least you will admit that a crossbar has been suspended really high. Let us check therefore, what you can experience, listening to the fourth album of the Frenchman Charles Farewell.

EL HAI – for a good start.
Starting a whole. Characteristic for Charles ‘gregorian’ vocals, gentle beat make an immediate hypotension. Without a doubt, here one can feel the atmosphere, to which we had been accustomed by Asura. Some ethnic sounds in combination with this female vocal, which sounds a bit like a prayer, may not herald the average album.

REGENESIS – if anyone still had doubts.
It begins very gently, I would venture to even say that ‘timidly’. Maybe it is a purposeful sleep of our vigilance for a moment? This is only the second track, and I have the impression that I listen to the album at least the third time in a row. It falls to get up. With a vigor and with redoubled force to wake us up again. And the cicadas that can be heard in the background, I associate with the warm, summer nights spent in the nature…

ALTERED STATE – never mind that it has been already.
It really does not matter that the track has appeared before on a compilation OPUS IRIDIUM released in 2008 by Suntrip Records. I like this version much more, well I can hardly imagine a person who would not like this track. It hides the devil under the skin and has a real power! It is a musical Bodhisattva.

ATLANTIS CHILD – to show that it can be done.
Even the entrance makes me feel blissfully and gives me an ecstatic state hard to describe, from which I do not want to get out. Deep, heavy beat in the first parts of the track gives the whole sequence a unique and complex character which complements a male ‘vocals’, thus creating a track lasting more than ten minutes, which even can be called a ‘dance floor’ one. Without a doubt it is my favourite, if we mention the album 360.

ERASE – some things can not be erased.
The fifth track in the album, which means that we are already at one hundred and eighty (assuming the name of the album 360 refers to degrees and a wheel that we come full, listening to the music of Charles, where the beginning and the end take place at the same point). A bit like something is missing here, or maybe it is as usual a purposeful ‘momentary sleep’, for which the Frenchman is already known to us? We will see?

HALLEY ROAD – because such places exist.
How does it happen that in certain moments in the lifetime there has always been the same feeling with us? You can just close your eyes for a moment and for sure you will understand what I am saying, and if anyone still had doubts, let him follow the voice that will guide us:
‘Comets are.. bodies that formed at the very edge of the solar system,
Out beyond the orbit of Neptune, where Pluto is
And they are the best preserved samples of the initial material that
Actually made the sun and earth and planets and even ourselves
Since we’ve been in orbit, we’ve detected maybe four or five such storms
This is by far the strongest that we’ve detected with Cassini
And it’s even stronger and there’s more activity than
The storms that were detected by the two Voyager spacecraft back in the early 1980s’.

LONGING FOR SILENCE – because the silence does not exist.
A very emotional track, forcing the reflection and involuntary, momentary contemplation of life. It is hard to resist, very hard. Some typical melodies for Asura maintained in the gentle and subtle atmosphere make a very soothing effect to me. Does silence really not exist?

GETSEMANI – the symbolism has a meaning.
This is a place in Jerusalem, in which Christ prayed and watched, before he was caught and sentenced to death on the crucifix. Known from the New Testament Gethsemani (Olive Garden) is a magical, sacred place, but filled with the sadness, regret and melancholy. The track in a masterly manner reveals even the character and symbolism of this place. By the way, Charles goes back to the Christian philosophy and refers to the Bible not for the first time – LIFE2 starts the track called GOLGOTHA.

LE DERNIER VOYAGE – a line is not equal to a line.
A riddle is solved for the people discerning the painting and appreciating the creation of Turner. Is there a more perfect way to give the excitement that prevailed in the sea? So once again, the symbolism takes precedence over the form? It is sensational.

VIRGIN DELIGHT – if someone had not been impressed earlier.
Well, we are approaching the point where we have started our circle. 360 degrees in few minutes, which surely will not remain unnoticed. The track ending the album is not much different from the other, of course I mean that is very fruitful and complete in every detail, I regret that it is over.

To sum up, it is hard to make a clear assessment of the album 360, comparing it with some earlier productions of Asura. Although each of them is quite different, however after the first sounds you can easily recognize the characteristic and typical style of Charles. However one thing is certain, 360 will surely go down in the history as another, excellent production of Asura, which was released under the wings of Ultimae.

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9 / 10
Marion