The second volume of
Delerium's
Archives series includes selected tracks from the Spheres, Spheres II, and Spiritual Archives LPs. It also features a bonus track, the previously unreleased "Infra Stellar," culled from the sessions for 1998's
Cryogenic Studio. 1993's
Archives begins Disc One with the industrial crash and drone of "Drama," before trudging into mechanistic soundscape territory, where sounds seem to ooze from landfills, and bursts of flame light up the night sky. While not necessarily upbeat, the twittering electronic instrumentals of Spheres do have a bit more warmth than their predecessors. The material from Spheres II stays the course, adding a bit of a beat, with here-and-there percussion and some FSOL-style ambient flirtations. There are still experiments in sonic landscaping ("Dimensional Space"), but by this point
Delerium seem to have shifted full-on towards electronic music.
Archives, Vol. 2, and its counterpart, are recommended for fans and "Silence"-inducted curiosity seekers alike, since the albums they cover had previously been pretty hard to find. ~ Johnny Loftus