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Guts Of
Darkness (CAN)
Golden Children was written at the same time Certamen worked on The Storm
is Here. And, like this one, it is build with three long tracks. Titles
that have this same flavour and audacity. The opening act starts with
nervous keys. Limpid, they fly on a stable circulatory line, wrap in a
fine bass structure and a mellotron synth witch draw celestial choruses.
Exploiting the crescendos, this beautiful sequential melody whirls with
ease and grace, marrying a heavier sequential line. Synth becomes animated
and the percussions start a lascivious dance at the rhythm of hypnotic
tinkling and tablas surrounded by something that looks like African
children chorus. Subtly, a mellotron on strings mode rises, giving birth
to a nervous sequence which whirls with intensity on famous Certamen
solos. A minimalist movement which continues on heavier sequences and more
animated synth chants, that look a bit like Vangelis’s ones. Successors
of Honour offers a lugubrious start with wolf barks. The air is heavy and
intriguing. A dark voice recites an English poem; `' The death song of
Lodbrog `'. This ode opens an ambient mellotron line and, always in a dark
atmosphere, a soft piano spreads out its nostalgia. A symphonic
atmospheric synth breaks this soft breeze of complaint. Gently, a
pulsation infiltrates with a discrete keyboard which draws the way to a
more powerful synth which rocks the last sighs the crystalline chords.
Paestum, a title inspired of the famous temples, deploys an austere synth
on a suave mellotron with soft and unsteady notes of keyboard.
Crystalline, limpid and dreamy, these notes dances in the lapse of memory
until a round and heavy sequencer imposes its slow tempo. This hypnotic
sequence is visited by synth solos which whirl and invest the atmosphere
of circular lines on orchestral mellotron moves. The final sees its first
blows of percussions being clutched with a sequence in spiral which
buckles the loop, with another string arrangement and the sumptuous
Certamen five fingers madness. Golden Children is a work which shows the
dexterity of Adam Bownik Certamen on synths and arrangements. A bit
quieter than The Storm is Here, it remains intense with nostalgic aura and
the sensitivity of its movements.
Sylvain Lupari, 2006
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