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TNR - Samsara

Artist:	TNR
Title:	Samsara
Label:	Mellow Records MMP 220
Length(s):	46 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1994
Month of review:	02/1996

Line up

Ohm - vocals, piano, keyboards, occasional guitar
Fabrizio Daicampi - guitar
Sergio Zuanni - drums
Emanuele Martini - bass
Most songs by Olivotto and personally I think that this is Ohm actually.

Helping out are many, including David Lord and Stuart Gordon, known from Peter Hammills recent work.

Tracks

1)	Someone Who Forgets	3.48
2)	Il Crollo/The Breakdown	3.00
3)	Your Ghost	4.41
4)	Lovelorn	3.08
5)	Silhouette	4.14
6)	Stabbing Shadows	4.05
7)	The Unspeakable Rest	pt. 1
8)	Samsara	4.53
9)	Poor Land Of Ours	4.52
10)	The Third Reason	5.13
11)	The Unspeakable Rest Pt. 2	6.01

Summary

This band has been hailed as the follow up to VDGG and I was very curious about their work having heard good things about them. This is always the best way to get a negative review, because it's never as good as you thought. From the track lengths nobody would have guessed that this is a progressive effort by the way. In this sense they at least differ from VDGG.

The music

From the beginning to the end the album reminds me much of Peter Hammills later solo work and the in some places the last albums of VDGG. The music is quite accessible and a touch more dramatic and dark than the said works by PH. Like PH this album is a not progressive hallmark but a singer/songerwriter album that by its very nature should appeal to progressive rock fans. Although most of the music is quite slow and depressive there are some tracks that go against the trend: the more rhythmic Silhouette, the very rocky, organ drenched Stabbing Shadows and the jazz/rock instrumental The Third Reason.

The rest the album is filled with dramatic songs with good melodies, playing, arrangements and vocals. Production is in the hands of David Lord (PH and Peter Gabriel) and also Stuart Gordon plays along.

A track worthy of notice is the second one, being the same verse sung in different language, first Italian, then English. Because

In a track like Samsara, the spectre of Still Life haunts and very appreciably so. A very good emotional track. The following track has a not so interesting vocal melody but the very haunting end lifts the track out of the morass of anonimity (hmm, where have I heard THAT before).

Conclusion

I'd never thought I'd say anything like this, but in a way this album is the darker side of Fireships. And although the high points of this album are not as high as those of Fireships, as a whole it is better. Recommended to anyone interested in mature depressive pop/rock or having a like for PH or VDGG.

Best tracks are 3, 4, 8