Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mesmerizing, June 11, 2000
I first heard Alkaemy on a different CD called Celtic Journey while looking for traveling tunes for my trip to Ireland in April of this year. From The Merlin Mystery were two tracks, "Le Morte D'Arthur" and "Nimue's Lament", they were the initial and final tracks respectively on the Celtic Journey CD. The others in between were beautiful in their own right, but they were gravy. Alkaemy's tracks were truly the best I had heard in a long time. Not since Loreena McKennitt's "The Visit" had I heard such ethereal vocals and music. Wonderfully mesmerizing. The "Merlin" narration by Joss Ackland, who has one of those great narrative voices, featured on Alkaemy's CD, is an added bonus. If you like a mystery, buy the Book and buy this CD to accompany you on a quest for Merlin's Wand of Alkaemy. Who knows, you might even find the prize, but even if you don't you won't lose with this CD. I've about worn out my copy and I still find myself singing Nimue's Lament in my head while I'm working.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I haven't heard a CD this good for YEARS - non-stop play!!, November 17, 1998
By A Customer
This CD is a truly magical experience. From the opening swirl of wind, strings and pipes and incantantions of Merlin's Wizardry, you KNOW this is special. The style is a wonderful fusion of the Celtic new age and classical, so popular with the Titanic soundtrack. However, this record has very much its own sound, somewhere between Enya, Enigma and Elgar, but with subtle looping rhythms and soaring, emotion-packed vocals. Later on, the music is not afraid to build to a real big noise - particularly on "Uther" and "The Cave". But the strength is really in the subtle, quieter passages. Le Morte d'Arthur and Nimue's Lament are haunting tales of lost loves, of angels and mermaids. The vocals recall Adiemus at their finest - but that isn't surprising when you see that Miriam Stockley, the voice of Adiemus, is part of the Alkaemy experience! The CD is linked to a fiendishly difficult puzzle book (I've spent hours listening to the music but getting nowhere with the challenge of "the Merlin Mystery"!). It loosely acts as a "soundtrack", but it is a superb stand-alone record as well. It has a real freshness every time you play it. A joy. A real joy. Buy it. I predict it will never leave your CD player....
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, if slightly tacky music., October 12, 2000
This CD has some truly ace tracks on it. 1,3 and 6 are really cool. The song Nimue's Lament is better than Celine Dion's song from Titanic. I am comparing the 2 because the sound similar but the lyrics are better in this song and whoever is singing it can sing very well.
Thru out most of the trax on this CD you have female vocal effects that make a genuine magical atmosphere and in the later trax you have some really cool sound effects that place you right in the magical world the music creates.
I highly reccomend this CD to you and the book that accompanies it. It will stand out in any collection.
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by Alkæmy 
