A strange album this, one I've found very hard to come to terms with. Very fragmented, diverse; an amalgam of a whole range of styles from ECM style classical-jazz (i.e. like Eberhard Weber) to synth music in the recent Schulze vein, and virtually everywhere in between.Subtitled "Ballet of Death", it's not as dark and sombre as one would expect it to be, there's some nice tuneful moments, though I can't really imagine anyone dancing to this music. Whereas some parts leave me cold with their quasi-jazz meanderings, some pieces are really emotional, often stimulating and exiting, also the range of sounds on this album is quite amazing.Of the four guest musicians - Birgit Metzger is very welcome, her ethereal vocals add a dream like quality to the music. Stefan Plett though, is a different story, he blows a sax much in the vein of Jan Garbarek, a style I find particularly annoying. Stephan Manus, as always, adds some nice violin phrases and Oliver Plett plays the flute in a gentle spacey style.Peter himself plays various basses, synths, percussion, guitar and a rhythm composer (I wish he hadn't used this, occasionally it may sound like real percussion, but it lacks the power and diversity of what a real drummer can do). Again he proves himself to be a very talented musician, though I feel the styles he's mixing together here don't entirely work successfully. If you like music that challenges the listener, then this record may be for you!by Alan & Steve Freeman, first published in Audion 1 (1986)