Product Format: CD
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JARRE/TANGERINE DREAM style Synths & FLOYD/PORCUPINE TREE style Guitars in melodic, passionate & powerful brew of instrumental electronic Prog-Rock.
Back in 2008, we were totally blown away by former PYRAMID PEAK member Axel Stupplich’s ‘Voices At Dawn’ album issued under the name AXESS. Playing analogue, digital & native synthesizers, AXESS delivered over 67 minutes of powerful, melodic, rhythmic electronic music on an album that was a total thriller from start to finish, alive with sounds that echoed classic JEAN-MICHEL JARRE and TANGERINE DREAM!
When ‘Fusion’, the stunning follow-up to ‘Voices’ came along in 2010, we just had to delve further into the AXESS and related catalogue, where we discovered not only a series of solo albums by MAXXESS - a multi-talented German musician Max Schiefele playing electric & acoustic guitars and synthesizers, but also two exciting releases produced in 2004 and 2010 where the two artists teamed up under the AXESS-MAXXESS banner, and ‘Contact’ is the first of the two releases.
As with the MAXXESS solo albums the AXESS-MAXXESS releases make you think of instrumental PINK FLOYD or PORCUPINE TREE meeting TANGERINE DREAM - A progressive-electronic crossover, where synthesizers and electric guitars meet in an exciting meld of instrumental fusion that delivers high-energy, melodic music with an added progressive edge brought by the melodic but heavy feel of the MAXXESS guitar sound.
When we first heard ‘Contact’ back in 2004, we felt that it was about time that someone had put synthesizers and electric guitars together in equal measures, stuck two fingers up to the genre disease, and made an album featuring the type of music that THEY wanted to produce, regardless of whether or not it “conformed” to a particular style.
As a result, with ‘Contact’ you have a CD that is melodic through and through, full of driving compositions, executed superbly, ranging from powerful to beautiful and with a full sound from start to finish.
In fact ‘Contact’ is the sort of album you might imagine you’d get if you stuck PINK FLOYD & TANGERINE DREAM together in a studio for a month and said, “don’t come out until you’ve got something worth coming out with!!!”
The way the music soars so high is a wonder to behold, and the fact that the guitarist uses overlaid riffing in an almost metallic way, brings a positive breath of fresh air to instrumental electronic rock, while the synthesizers provide the all-round filling and co-lead navigating.
The opening two tracks on ‘Contact’ will knock your socks off with their sheer energetic power and passion, as the huge expanse of synths and keyboards, plus almost downright dirty electric guitars and electronic drums all combine to produce music that glows as it goes for over fifteen minutes of pure enjoyment. ‘Indian Skies’ starts with relaxed sequencers but just as you think it might develop into some kind of “retro” thing, the duo immediately switch patterns, head the starship out into the cosmos on melodic overdrive, power up the bass and percussive engines, and simply soar starwards on fuel concocted of electric guitar and synthesizer magic. As ‘Indian Skies’ ends in a hail of storming guitars over a delightfully cascading sea of synths, ‘Close Encounter’ starts out in an altogether chunky mood, with a wicked lead guitar melody soaring over powerful drum rhythms, while all around the synthesizers swirl, cascade and bounce over a seriously atmospheric pervading backdrop – A magical mix of melody and muscle.
The latter of the next two tracks has a distinctly PINK FLOYD / TANGERINE DREAM–esque ring to it, and completes what is a refreshing, easily digestible, long-lasting and enjoyable musical treat.
Also available by MAXXESS …
AUTHENTICITY (2005 Album) CD – Stock # 832753
ELECTRIXX (2001 Debut Album) CD – Stock # 1387616
GREEN FAIRY (2014 Album) CD – Stock # 1692767
OFFROAD (2006 Album) CD – Stock # 205508
REACTIVATE (2021 Album) CD – Stock # 2205151
SEQUEL (2003 Album) CD – Stock # 1387615
ULTRA (2010 Album) CD – Stock # 1290717
And as AXESS-MAXXESS …
IMPACT (2010 Album) CD – Stock # 1389314
AXESS-MAXXESS: CONTACT Track List:
01. Tsunami (10:10)
02. Contact (8:38)
03. Indian Skies (7:35)
04. Close Encounter (5:59)
05. Exile (6:46)
06. Behind The Mirror (24:13)
TPT - 63:23