Reviews: Agnus Dei: Ballet Sans Dance

When I tore open the envelope and saw the review copies of two CDs from Agnus Dei from Austria, I immediately wanted to love them, as the cover art appealed to my mythical and mystical leanings. One CD was called Lemuria, after the mythological land that was supposed to have existed in the Indian Ocean. It's cover art was like something from a good fantasy comic book, depicting a crystalline city on a craggy mesa rising out of a mirror smooth plain. The other CD was called Merlyn, after Arthur's magical CIA agent, with a cover drawing of a beautiful wilderness waterfall and a giant planet hanging in the sky.

Being a fan of the Arthurian legends, I ripped the shrink wrap off the jewel box cover of Merlyn first and plopped it in the CD rack on my computer to give it a listen. Unfortunately, the music didn't seem to be my cup of tea. On first listen, it appeared to be nothing more than the atmospheric New Age “elevator music” I deplore, with piano and synthesizer droning on and on and on. I returned the CD to it's case, and laid the two of them atop my computer's scanner, which has become a most inconvenient catch-all in my work area.

There they sat, for two or three weeks. I'd see them as I sat working on columns or surfing the net, their covers almost mocking me for the anticipation I'd felt when I'd first seen them. Finally, I could take it no more and gingerly reached over and picked-up one of the CDs and gave it a closer inspection.

It turns out that these two recordings represent a new art form of sorts. New to me, at least, for if such projects have been tried before I've somehow remained ignorant of them. Lemuria and Merlyn, you see, are instrumental CDs – with lyrics. How's that for an interesting twist?

Agnus Dei is a husband and wife team from Vienna that formed in 2001. Gerald Krampl, who plays piano and assorted electric keyboards on the recordings, was already a known commodity in his neck of the woods, having been a part of the Austrian symphonic rock bands Kyrie Eleison and Indigo. His wife Hilde, evidently something of a New Age renaissance woman who practiced Reiki and studied Huna, is the group's lyricist.

These two projects are interesting, to say the least. Hilde has fashioned two lyric poems, mini-epics if you will, that tell sort of novelized stories. Husband Gerald then composed and recorded some New Age instrumentals that were meant to enhance and illustrate her work. In the CD sets, the poem stories are included in a booklet, which is meant to be read while the CD plays. The poems were written in German and translated into English by Carolyne John, and the booklet contains them in both languages.

Most listeners/readers will probably find Lemuria the most interesting of the two, for here is a tale ripped right out of the pages of good comic book fiction. It's also a story with much appeal for most New Agers.

Lemuria, it seems, is a city that's kept happy and in-tune by a magical crystal that lays hidden deep within a secret cave. Jago, the immortal, is the only one who knows the location of the crystal, and he is also the only one who knows how to use it. The peacefulness of this setting is shattered, however, by the arrival of Moloch and his army of evil doers from outer space, who are intent on destroying Lemuria, where everyone lives in New Age bliss. In the end, Jago manages to destroy the threat by using white light and love, and everything is all right in Lemuria again.

The experience of listening to the CD while reading the poem is akin to a ballet without dance, where the dancers are performing in the imagination. Or maybe it's like a silent movie, with images projected within the mind instead of upon a screen. Then again, maybe it's not like either, but is a unique experience of it's own.

The second CD set, Merlyn, is a much different experience than Lemuria. Here, it seems that Hilde Krampl, who died of cancer in 2002, is coming to terms and making peace with her own impending death. The result is a very moving and poignant poem.

“The time has almost come/to make a decision,” she writes. “Will I cope with it/who will be with me then/or am I all alone/I feel the fear/and the doubt in me/the wind whispers/everything is fine/nothing can happen to you/even death is only an illusion/we must die in order to live.”

I'm not sure that the idea of lyric or epic poetry accompanied by an instrumental CD will catch-on. The experience, however, was more gratifying than I thought possible. I can only wish Gerald Krampl good will and moral support as he continues with his endeavors.

Lemuria and Merlyn are both available through Amazon.com. Learn more about Agnus Dei, and listen to music samples, at http://www.indigomusic.at.