Never before have I been more impressed by a solo effort than with Thomas Thielen’s absolute masterpiece ‘Voices’. From the first notes until the final chords, the artwork and the concept, everything has been taken care of to the smallest detail. It’s not without reason that T (as Thielen calls himself) needed four years to work on the follow up on the 2002 debut ‘Naive’.

The attention of the listener is caught from the first seconds of the opening track, tempting to mislead the listener from all that is to follow. Soft percussion, distorted and rather mystical (some might even call it sickening) vocals slowly creating a fragile atmosphere just crying out to be disturbed. The electronic beats and the eighties vocals that follow leave the listener wondering where Thielen is taking him.
From the second track on, the story slowly unfolds and the more experimental parts fall into place. I admire the way in which Thielen builds up his compositions.

The acoustic guitar intro, the addition of strings, followed by piano and percussion that characterizes the second track ‘August In Me’ (great title), is clever. The way the tracks evolve into the next is absolutely brilliant. Thielen shifts up a gear and shows yet another side of his writing (and playing) capacities, creating electric mayhem. An excellent bass melody forms the bridge to the orchestral closing section of the track. This two minute orchestral section is a piece the biggest names in the progressive scene would be proud of. Every following track is a story in itself.

I won’t bother you with an endless review of all tracks. ‘Voices’ is an excellent release that will be appealing to the larger part of the progressive rock scene because of the excellent variation in sound, melody, atmosphere and tempo. The fact that it`s all derived from the brain of a single German makes this release sensational.