| With clanging accents, 21.5-minute Hindi-flavored Sita's Walk of Fire enters in a caustic glare; soon thumping ethnodrums and frenetic harpsichord runs overtake (several prolonged minutes of those hyperactive twinkles can get a wee bit grating...). That presentation shifts into discordant screels and a dizzyingly dense rhythmfest with female voice and strings wailing along. After a few locational recordings of (outdoors Middle-Eastern conversations and animal sounds), a musical ethno-blend thunders in deeply infused with roaring crowds, then switching to a more-acoustic reel which winds up as a frenzied of strum'n'drum so speeded-up you could whirl your dervish right off.
That impressive though overburdened (and frankly exhausting) production is followed by lighter (but quite busy) One Ride Pony (10:38); cool piano mingles within an intoxicating raga decorated with half-there loony wails. Everything grooves until a twilight-zone soundshift breaks the piece down the middle. Not to worry, more body-moving bizzaro musical interludes emerge one after another, seemingly from all walks of life.
Beginning with somewhat atonal woodwind atmospheres, Roman-themed and more neo-orchestral Satyricon 2000 (22:58) moves into a subdued, moody realm of brassy swells and anticipatory suspense. Increasingly active arabesques swirl to drummy accompaniment with dazzling intricacy. As you may imagine, the piece continues to pop up in unexpected places... hear grand piano antics, mellower string-plucking moods, soft woodwind expanses, technoclub percussion, watery electronic impulses, warbling violin strings, oddly ripplling children's choirs, filmic action-jazz, etc., etc. Whew...
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