Release data:

Akikaze – The Age of Deception
CD-R, SynGate, 2008/1995

The musician behind Akikaze is the Utrecht-based Dutch musician Pepijn Courant, who studied classical music for over seven years.
The concept album “The Age of Deception”, Pepijn’s seventh by now, was already finished in August 1995, but only saw the light of day as physical release due to Lothar Lubitz’ Syngate-label.

The first few tracks on the album (which contains quite some nicely rendered acoustic guitar sounds next to analogue percussion) didn’t do much for me, sounding rather flat and incoherent, but the moody title track changed that.
“Two years of wasted love” is a nice (Garrison kindred) sequencer tune -reminding me of his piece “The Master and the Apprentice” from the sampler “Land, Sea and Sky”–

“Catharsis” follows in the sequencer footsteps but by far isn’t as strong and captivating. “Farewell” is a simple moody, melancholic tune echoing Simon and Garfunkel’s “El Condor Passa”.
Although the 14-minute track “Critical Incidents” contains several unusual and rocky elements, the sequenced parts with the warm solo voice on top are nicely done.
The driving (again Garrison-similar) sequence with retro textures also makes the 9-minute “Point of no Return” an enjoyable piece.

Overall, this accessible album with versatile melodic and rhythmic structures holds something for everyone.

Website: www.akikaze.nl

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Akikaze artist page