THE MASKIT CHAMBER
4th Wave

1 song / 50 minutes
TMC
- 6 -

 After the disappointing "Heaven Machine", the year 2001 gives us another Maskit Chamber album, and where the previous effort was an awkward mix of prog rock, ethno and videogames sounds, "4th Wave" goes into a diametrically opposed direction. Instead of using cheap sounding rhythm machines, this new album nearly needs no rhythm at all.
To call this album progressive would be daring, as only a hint of mellotron sounds and lots of hats off to 70ies ambient sounds reveal the roots. Anyway, "4th Wave" is a one-song album, and this one song clocks in at more than 50 minutes. If you expect a 'Suppers Ready' squared, I have to disappoint you at once, because there is not that much at all happening on this piece. Takes about 7 minutes for the first mood change to happen, and then still not so much going on. But why did I double the score from a meagre 3 points for the first album to a nice average 6 for this new one? Well, because '4th Wave' mostly works the way it's supposed to work. Not that this is a world moving ambient piece, and most Tangerine Dream and Eno albums are worlds apart from this good but not excellent piece of music, but compared to "Heaven Machine", this is truly a revelation.
Ambient prog fans might go for this one, and even only if for the curiosity of a 50-minute-song. More information at Djam Karet's official homepage.

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