Wende: Vorspiel Einer Philosophie der Zukunft

Even though this album came out in April 2015, it's fitting that I'm coming to it in November 2015. After one of the warmest Octobers of recent memory (at least in Utah)—things are finally getting cold and somewhat dreary. As I write this, my hands are just barely warming up after having been outside. I was looking at the clouds, a massive covering of them, and thinking about how snow is soon to come. As everyone knows, there's some sadness connected to Winter, a depression that sets in as we bundle up and wait for Spring.

If my first paragraph is somewhat reflective, that's OK. This album, by the artist's own admission, was meant to provoke thought. Look at the song titles and the way they all bring to mind a broad philosophical topic: war, death, truth, selfhood, and the like. Not every song includes lyrics, but those that do are designed to be reflections on the topic in question. Three of the tracks are metal-oriented while the other three are more ambient-oriented. I liked the overall mood of the album, but sometimes I found the individual tracks to go on much too long. Wende is a one-person project by an artist named Zamiel. I have little trouble valuing discussions of large human questions, but I think the intellectual ideas don't always come through as well as they might have. For example, the track "Of Solitude and the Self or 'Dasien' is dealing with broad questions of being, but the track is mostly a simple keyboard composition with some sound effects that sound like someone walking through snow and then opening a drink. Yes, it was reflective, but how was it different from other opportunities to ponder notions of selfhood?

Ultimately, I'm torn. I liked much of the album's creative energy but I was less interested in the overall execution. Some of the tracks are too long and don't engage me at the intellectual level to the degree suggested by the album title and the individual song titles. For a good ambient track, check out either the aforementioned "Of Solitude and the Self" or maybe "Of Death."

Track Listing:
1. Of War or "Der Ritter"
2. Of Death or "Verklarung"
3. Of Truth or "Nichts und Schönh
4. Of Solitude and the Self or "Dasein"
5. Of Time or "Der Ring des Kosmos"
6. Of Nature or "Hercynian"

Added: November 5th 2015
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1495
Language: english

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