Review: The Deserts of Tr?un “Part III: The Lilac Moon” CD

Basically all of the music and orchestration on this disc was masterminded by drummer Dave Murray, and the project is very uniquely described as "a musical adventure allying the use of jazz, funk, classical, black/death metal, rock, fusion, world, video game, ambient, and electronic music to sonically describe settings, character personalities, and events to an original science fiction comic book epic". Now, I personally don't feel like I'm taking away from this music any settings, characters, or events from any "original science fiction comic book epic" - nor do I know anything about said comic book, but I can say that all such musical genres are represented here, with a slew of musicians lending Dave a hand on guitar, bass, steel guitar, violin, mandolin, Rhodes, saxophone, flute, bassoon, and then some - with Murray himself taking on drums, electronic drums, additional percussion, didjiridu, guitar, keyboards, melodica, bass, flute, Rhodes, and vocals. Wild stuff! The end result is nearly an hour's worth of strange music in 24 generally short tracks. There's definitely a soundtrack quality to the work, and it plays out continually as such, with a number of different atmospheres and a rather effective flow. Now, some of the synth orchestrations, while well written and performed, do suffer from the common problem of poor patches that just sound a little "fake", if you know what I mean. Many metal bands that employ synths for intros and such run into this problem, and some of the keyboard work on this CD is very similar in atmosphere and texture. Unfortunate, but a fact of life. I know that a certain electronic element (the "video game" sort of approach) has been employed here to offer more of a cartoon-y vibe to the "audio imagery", so to speak, and while I'm not really into that it doesn't detract from the work as a whole. Everything seems very deliberate here, and despite some of the brief funky moments sticking out a little too much, the meshing of influences is impressive. "Searching the Swamps" is the second longest track at just over four minutes, and also the first with vocals (appearing in the form of deep spoken lines and snarled screams akin to a black metal sort of style), as well as some of the most tangibly "metal" moments, which is nice. The jazzy stuff in "Escape From the Crystal Caverns" is fuckin' great too, as are the more metallic moments - expertly written, and the perfect framework to show off Murray's rather intense drumming skills with lots of flashy fills and perfect timing. "The Desert of Tr?un" is the other "long" segment (4:36), blending some excellent progressive rock moments with some trippy metal that makes for a strong latter half (and another stellar drum performance) - leading into the oddly upbeat "Greetings From the Lilac Moon", which would be at home on any light radio station out there... yet I still enjoy it!? "Battle Upon the Space Galleon" is two minutes of chunky metal through and through, complete with growled vocals and some brief blasts, leading into the somberly bluesy "Awaiting the Sun" (a surprising standout). "The Cave" is certainly the most effective of the orchestral elements, hitting on a rather emotional melody that segues beautifully into the addition of acoustic guitars and additional synths in "An Unlikely Visitor". One rather small setback I'd cite is the recording. It's mixed perfectly and all of the layering is great, but the sounds do come off a little flat. Not really considering the synth tones (which sound fine but are of a slightly less "rich" quality than I prefer), the guitars, drums, bass, etc. sound good, but just not "there", you know? A little more brightness here, a smoother low-end push there... it would really make a massive difference. I'm sure budgetary constraints played a massive role in this, but if ever there was a way to really kick the production values into overdrive, this dude could come up with some impressive shit. The disc comes in a full color slipcase with paintings of desert scenery and minimal credits on the back, so things are pretty minimal in that regard, but it looks okay. This is supposed to be an enhanced CD of some sort, but when I popped it into my computer there was nothing there? Oh well. I'm giving this a solid score based largely on the fact that it's a creative and original effort that has a lot of sweat behind it. It's admittedly not the kind of thing I could listen to regularly at all, but it's an impressive and interesting affair that's sitting on a wealth of potential. I'd love to hear, for example, some of these compositions expanded into longer and more "complete" feeling "songs" (especially the incredible acoustic guitars and orchestral synths in "Prisoner in the Brig", which ends all too soon). I think Murray could work wonders in an instrumental unit all his own, based around some sort of quirky jazz fusion/metal hybrid with plenty of avant-garde artistry at the fringes. As a performer and composer his skill set is immense, and this disc appropriately represents that - just not to its highest degree, in my opinion. There are certainly some brief throwaway tracks herein that I have no interest in at all (namely "Seeking the Navigator", though the techno-ish sounds in the longer "The Gift of the Whirlpool Vortex" are also rather annoying), but by and large the album plays out as a nice piece... one that changes up very frequently, but one that does make it from start to finish without much of a falter. It's impossible to really represent all that's going on here in a review, not only because there's a wealth of genre-crossing, but also because there's no way to be aware of the massive amount of conceptual planning that went into this from the musicians' perspective. So... I'll just pat this guy on the back and hope that in the future I'll get to hear something more from this project... something that delves deeper into some longer songs, possibly even those that have no real connection to one another thematically? Either way, this is quite an undertaking.