Zauberberg CD

Since its in initial release in 1997, Zauberberg has often been talked of in hushed terms. It was Wolfgang Voigt's second album as Gas and is now considered the most complete and detailed execution of his now trademark sound - a heady, hazy blend of treacle-think ambient textures, hissing vinyl crackle, faintly foreboding chord sequences and manipulated neo-classical loops. As this welcome reissue proves, what marks it out from later Gas albums is the fact that it's not wholly ambient, with many of Voight's included soundscapes featuring sparse, hypnotic rhythms, most built around subdued, heavily filtered kick-drum patterns. As a result, it's remains a mesmeric and genuinely mind-altering affair.