Average user rating:  |
 The BEST New Age music there is! |
| Patrick O'Hearns best. When you first get a Patrick album, the songs sound nice, but you don't love them immediately. You have to listen to each album every day for 2 weeks to fall in love with a few of the songs. I would call the style "Experimental Jazz-based New Age." Similar to Tangerine Dream, but the sounds here are not so exotic. The whole album is great; the tracks "Faith and Endurance," "Let Truth Prevail," and "Crossing the Divide" are masterpieces. Each exhibits his unique genius at playing the melodic line of a song super-slowly. (Taking many measures per note.) The second also has a wonderful experiment in playing the melodic line on a piano with one finger. I can't imagine how he made it so great! His 2 other great albums are Indigo, and Eldorado. If you love this album, try some Tangerine Dream! (I can't imagine why people call this music "dark"? -- It's very peaceful!) |
 Another Good Set From P. O.!!! |
| For those of you familiar w/ PO's work you'll find this to be a slight change of direction. This album finds Patrick using more acoustic instrumentation lending itself to a more tribal sound. There's no getting away from PO's signature arrangements and developments but the use of large skinned drums certainly gives you that Native American flavor. Patrick's previous work sounds much more atmospheric. This work finds itself grounded in a natural earthly meditational state as apposed to the ambient celestial stratosphere. But this is not a bad thing, it's just a subtle shift. Metaphor does not play through as well as some of his other works either, like Indigo & River's Gonna Rise. Those two discs are fantastic, beginning to end, especially RGR. Metaphor has a few pieces in there that I tend to skip over, kinda uneventful slow movers that never quite develop. You just keep waiting for some development....and nothin'. All in all, I really like about 5 of the tracks. Of course, recording and production are tremendous as usual for Mr. O'Hearn. If you're already a fan, you'll certainly want to add this one to your collection. If you're not, get River's Gonna Rise, Eldorado, Indigo & Trust then Metaphor. |
| Good but not his best work... |
| Of all his recording this particular recording is the least varied although at outset the primal tribal aspect is rather intriguing. Hmmmm.. Tribal electronic music. The problem is that there are less sonic colors than in any of his previous recordings. Of course Patrick set a pretty strong pace there and it's hard for all of them to be gems. I like this recording but I have to admit that unlike his other recordings, I have to be in the mood for it. It is not the Patrick O'Hearn recording I would reach for when I want to hear Patrick O'Hearn. This recordings is thematic somewhat like a short film soundtrack. A good recording but equal to his other works. |
