The Kyteman Orchestra - The Kyteman Orchestra Review

Track one is an intro, but a god damn proper one, which I really like. 2:38 is a good intro time. The horns here are forlorn, and they remind me of the opening orchestral piece from 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, they set themselves apart fairly soon, and give off this sort of loneliness that I can't describe properly... however, it breaks out into some hopeful noise towards the end, and actually brought a small smile to my face. Seems to have been a ruse though, for the very end is anything BUT hopeful.

Track two stars off slow and quiet, with a pitter-patter of drums and some piano. However, it soon becomes something of a dangerous piece—the violins set an atmosphere of terror in. It breaks down into some horns that are less frightening, but with some soft vocals, over tribal drumbeats, this is still a somewhat ominous piece. The vocals are actually very well suited to the music, and if it were not for the already uneasy atmosphere set up, I'd say these vocals could easily be mistaken for calming. The piano changes a bit to be something more beautiful, but as a crescendo rises with chanting voices, I can't help but think it as something inherently satanic. The music dies down again, but only momentarily, and soon the chanting is back, as another crescendo builds. While somewhat unsettling, this is far from an awful piece—this is that perfect level of disturbing that makes me love music like this. It's otherwordly, in a sense. Simply... otherworldly.

Track three starts off with a more traditional beauty, but there's something lurking under the skin of this song. This is a hip-hop song, which doesn't distract from the credibility of the song. However, it is a genre shift from the last song. This is a funky straight up hip-hop song, as opposed to the grandiose, nearly demonic orchestra chanting from the previous track. The chorus is catchy and anthemetic, with tons of horns to support it.

Track four opens with some marching bad drums and some quiet, almost murmured vocals from the singer. A crescendo begins to build, with some vague wails from background supporting choir singers. The crescendo breaks, and the hip-hop influences from the previous song are present once more. The genre clash is rather obvious, but the song itself does not suffer from it. The hip-hop bridge lasted for but a minute, and we're back to the orchestral elements combined with the soft but intent filled voice of the first vocalist. The choir returns a another crescendo begins, and towards the end, the rapping picks back up, but it's almost concealed by the cacophony of instruments and the choir wailing the glories of since-long dead empires.

Track five starts off with some light piano, and a jazzy trumpet. It's a calming beginning, and evokes black and white film and cigarette smoke-filled bars. As the vocals kick in, so does some synth sounds and some bass drums. The vocals themselves fit the feel of the song thus far, a mourning, almost regretful piece. The music swells, but the voice does not raise, it simply gains a quality of sorrow. The music however continue to build on itself, and soon bursts out into a full scale, loud eruption of sound, the vocals adapting with it to a wailing. The choir returns too, echoing in baritones around the vocalist. The track draws to a close with some dwindling, drawn-out trumpets, some faint piano memories and the drum continuing on the beat.

Track six starts out with a quiet droning, and some sort of stringed instrument being tested against the sound of the drone. An operatic voice, swelling yet almost contained, breaks in, setting a grim tone to the song as the instruments in the background remain vague. There is a pause of silence, and then a sudden break into a full scale roman-like theater soundtrack brings the song into what it truly is—a cleverly disguised opera piece. There is a small break once more, and then there is an eruption back into the bravado louder than ever before. This happens once more, once again even louder, and then drops upon us some meandering piano before we are treated to the loudest rendition of the bravado.

Track seven starts off with some electronic noise and violins approaching a very hectic song. The violins are almost... urgent in a way. Horns are soon thrust into the song, and some sound that I can't place nor describe is introduced and it sounds... rather enthralling, actually. Not quite beautiful, but it sounds fucking awesome, frankly. This might be the most upbeat song on the entire record as of right now, and with more electronic noises and some keyboard added in, this once hectic mess is just becoming a hyper, almost frantic song.

Track 8 begins with light, beautiful piano. Entitled "The Void", I've actually got high hopes for this song, hoping it's an instrumental like the last, and sticks to an ethereal beauty. If this piano here is any indication of the rest of the song, then I am rather pleased. It's reminding me of a snowy night in the mountains in the dead of winter, oddly enough. Or snow streets in a small town. It's got a calming quality too it, and if I'd have to pick favorites at this point in time, I'd give it to this song. Violins are introduced in, and much to my delight, we are given the treat of the song staying a delicate beauty. Horns, if somewhat muted, are added in to give the song a little bit of depth. The atmosphere created is just phenomenal—the horn addition is rather enjoyable and completely justified. The violin goes from stats of taking a subtle backseat to the piano to flowing alongside it, smoothly and majestically. This whole song is the perfect example of beauty and serenity in music, and is actually tempting me to get the album just for this piece.

Track nine comes in with some strings and horns, setting an odd tone. Not exactly foreboding, but still somewhat uneasy. The vocals are barely discernible at first, but once a quick crescendo builds, the vocalist takes the forefront, and this song shows its true colors: it's a song about facing the unknown, but with a strong leg forward, and without letting fear drag one down. It's an upbeat song, and it's second only to track seven. There is an order to this though, and without either rapping or choirs wailing, the vocals here are the ones closest to conventional singing.

Track ten has a ominous beginning, and branches out from there to have a sort of reserved, sorrowful beauty trapped within it. As lighter instruments are introduced, it's given a little edge to it, and even begins to swell into something that's neither sorrowful nor hopeful—some sort of purgatory lies within for it, and it seems to be the interlude for something of great importance to be happening. The end of the song contains some piano which does convey a hopeful tone, but it is overshadowed by some grim horns that follow it right after, and end the song as they fade out.

Track 11, starts off with some rather metallic drums, and a violent beat with electronic inclusions. Some loud hip-hop influenced vocals (I hesitate to call it rapping) in some language beyond English are introduced. The whole feel of the song is something between funky and orchestral, bringing back the feeling of track three. The end of the song has an instrumental part that includes a lot of reverb, and seems to end the song on a feeling of... vastness.

Track 12, the final track, begins with some piano reminiscent of track 8, and the following instrumentals continue to evoke that feeling. At about four minutes in, it deviates from the beauty to build up with more pronounced horns, and even begins to become something more... sinister. The beauty is still there, no question, but there is a darkness in there for certain. Two Steps From Hell vibes are present in this piece for certain. The sinister feeling deteriorates over time in the song, but doesn't leave completely. It's still lurking their under the deceiving piano and violins. I can feel it there. The song ends with a fade out.

Alright, that was a... rather decent record. It was sort of hard to get into, but at around track six I was feeling it. The rapping wasn't my bag, but I feel it didn't damage the record a massive amount.

Subjective rating: 7.3/10
Objective rating: 8.5/10