Customer Reviews

Syrophenikan

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My last Delerium album, "Spheres vol.1" left me a bit cold with the bizarre repetitive ambient sounds that came off as one continuous song throughout the album. Still it didn't stop me from looking further into Bill Leebs and Rhys Fulber's catalog with the latest purchase of "Syrophenikon". Now this is the album that I was hoping that "Spheres vol.1" would be but wasn't. From the very second I started hearing the dark rhymthmic beats of "Embodying" I just flipped over what I heard. "Syrophenikon" is a far cry from "Karma" and "Poem" but I knew what I was getting into when I decided to start delving into Delerium's earlier albums. Only 47 minutes long, "Syrophenikon" left this listener breathless and happy to have bought it. "Syrophenikon" remains firmly attached in the ambient sound that Delerium fans have come to love and know them for but layered with a darker, more gothic sound with heavy African percussion beats. "Prophecy" is my very, very favorite song on this lovely album but every song is good in its own right and it wouldn't be fair to them if I chose favorites among the tracks. After listening to "Syrophenikon" and thinking of their more recent albums, I am amazed by how far Delerium's sound has changed over the years. The transistion in the group's music is spectacular and I hope that Delerium's music continues to change with every album they put out.

Syrophrenikan is in my opinion the best "early" Delerium. This album has very heavy percussion, and mixes them with haunting, and fleeting "ghost sound" synth samples. Like many of Delerium's early albums, it seems to tell a story, without words. If this is the case, the ephiphany song is definately "Fallen Idols" which I used as the basis of a short-story I wrote for my school's literary magazine...oh the results. However, "Twilight Rituals" is also very good, hinting at Deleriums more laid back "new age" sound in later albums. I also recomend "Shroud" as it is VERY freaky sounding (what is that reacurring high pitched "whinnying" sound?).

I've got all Delerium releases (exept Spiritual Archives, pity...) and I'd say that Syrophenikan is the best album of the first Delerium years, when they played quite hard "industrial" ambient. This album is better than Morpheus and Faces,.... So, I recommend it to every fan of Delerium or Front Line Aseembly. You won't be disappointed for sure.

This should probably be a five-star album, but I hold Delerium to a higher standard than I do lesser bands, and this album isn't quite up to par with the rest of their early recordings. The drum machines are much more prominent in this album, even on ghostly ambient tracks like "Fallen Idols." The last two tracks break with this trend, "Prophecy" ditching the drum machines in favor of a lively synthesizer arrangement, and "Brianwaves" breaks the album's format altogether with an 8-1/2 minute ambient drone (very appeasing to an electro-purist like myself, but may be surprising to you Karma fans out there). The overall album sounds like a soundscape of a lost African civilization, producing a haunting feeling that is the trademark of early Delerium albums.

This CD is, in my opinion, Delerium's best one. It is a departure from their earlier more trance-like music, but I think that is perfect. There are many trance, techno, and dark-tech bands outh there, but this kind of dark jungle/medieval music is extremely rare. Many die-hard Delerium fans don't like this depature from the origional, and I can see that, but what they changed to is much better.

If you are a avid Delerium fan like me, then this CD is a must buy. Syrophenikan: Cleopatra, like most Delerium CD's has stayed true to the central theme of Delerium's beginnings; dark yet beautiful beats that will take you away into the Glorious world of reflection.

This is what Leeb/Fulber set out to accomplish originally with the D project. An outlet for the oddities and ideas that just wouldn't quite fit the FLA realm. This release and Faces, Forms, & Illusions are my two favorite early releases (and they were the first in my collection). Finding the original release on Dossier is next to impossible and it's fair to say the Cleo version is almost as difficult (and comes with a bonus track), but if you can get ahold of a copy...you will not be let down. Delerium before Nettwerk and the club haven. Check out the Synaesthesia project as well if you dig the old Delerium.

I have three Deleruim cd's and this one is lower on scale but is still a good cd. This one is less eletra and more drums. I'd look at other Deleruim cd's before I buy. Listen to the samples. What you here is what you get.

I find all of the Delerium albums to be relaxing and stimulating. This album is no exception to my opinion