by &Blue& Gene Tyranny
Subtitled &The Mystery& and &The Mystery Pt. 2,& these two symphonies concern themselves with the two big questions: Life and Death. They are both scored for eight guitars, two basses, keyboard, drums, vocal and two conductors. Symphony No. 8 has two movements: &The Passion& and &Spiritual Anarchy& that both build upon sustained tones that create a counterpoint by means of delays in scale and other patterns and microtunings. The effect is tremendously intense and beautiful. There are also two movements in Symphony No. 10: &The Final Problem& and &The Horror.& These are built in a similar manner to the techiques in No. 8 but the tuning and scales employed are different, creating another sensation yet still as intense and continuous in rhythm as No. 8. Especially successful is the final movement, &The Horror,& which employs masses of moving clusters that are very close in tuning and thoroughly convincing in the image they portray. It is a gigantic chant of worlds never before imagined. Incidentally, the CD comes with a nifty holographic cover that visually simulates Branca's dense textures.