Tribal A.D. - Tempest

The album 'Tempest' is by the Belarusian tribal industrial project TRIBAL A.D. The idea of the album according to the artist is to take us on a journey of dark and light in its eternal struggle. The journey is intended to take three phases: before the tempest, the tempest itself, and the time after it.

"La Nicotina", could be described in no other way than as Tribal, it's both ethnic and ambient. Great drum beats accompanied by more mechanical horn type sounds. It also has a Latin feel. "Fields Of Dystopia" uses a sitar sound from the start, combined with the Indian drums you could not describe it as anything else but ethic. Not sure if I am on the same journey yet, but I do envisage wandering along the dirt roads of Goa once again. This track is also more trance like which naturally causes that journey effect on the listener.

The track "Fatuum", sounds more experimental from the beginning. Psybient is the term best used with its dub influence. We are on a journey but at the moment I am not sure where to. "Danza Del Mel" (Dance of Pain) brings a smile to my face having a more standard industrial dance beat yet still retaining the underlying tribal elements, employing ethnic samples to complete it nicely. The combination of drum beats and synths in "Atmos", lost me a little and my enjoyment dropped away. I would say much the same about the following track "Innocence", it was just to much for me, I would describe it as annoying if anything. The more Arabic sounds and experimental noises combined on the recent tracks have lost me.

"Lunar" continues with what I think is an annoying drum beat, but has a more Latin feel to it once again by use of guitars, which give it something. "Recoil" presents a more ambient sound, I think its telling me the Tempest is over at least, a bit more chillout and easier to listen to. "Tormenta" makes me think of the "Andes", some nice sounds in there to chillout to again.

The album is completed by two remixes. "Recoil (Fla Vector Remix)" is a bit more industrial and less chillout than the original, but neither really impress me very much. "La Nicotina (Na-Hag remix)" really adds little to the original track and the more I listen to it I expect to hear Gloria Estefan burst into song while we are headed for Downtown Miami.


Conclusion:
The music includes dark tribal and ritualistic and ethnic elements. Not as exciting as This Morn' Omina except in places, but contains some good chillout music. The album attempts to create a musical journey or perhaps sonic voyage would be a better description and does but I don't think I went to the right place. It is a free download, I can recommend it for fans of the Tribal Industrial genre. Also maybe for those who are looking for something to relax to, although I am not sure if that is the artists intention. There are some highlights for me particularly "Fields Of Dystopia" and "Danza Del Mel". Jun 01 2012