Sagittarius — Songs From The Ivory Tower
The project is fronted by Cornelius Michael Waldner who started his musically life playing keyboards and singing in German black metal band Hailstorm, here he handles vocals, the ever present piano and flute. The rest of the project is made up of Marcel P(who also in Von Thronstahl ) who's sound engineering, plays cello, bass guitar & does live vocals and Dimo Dimov who plays guitar. There’s also guest contributions from the likes of Herr Twiggs (Kammer Sieben), Damiano Mercuri (Rose Rovine E Amanti), Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R. / Seelenlicht) and Philipp Jonas (Secrets Of The Moon). But really this Waldner’s baby as his piano and vocals play the most prominent role in almost all of the 15 songs on offer here. He’s an adequate enough and emotionally feeling piano player with a keen melodic and dramatic ear. And while none of this is particularly ground breaking or original, it has a got a great mix of elegance, atmosphere and melancholy grace.
All in all a consistent and atmospheric collection of mainly neo-classic piano based songs that are executed with real feeling, harmonic flare and elegance, which will appeal to those who enjoy their neo-classical fair fairly organic and sparse yet rich sounding and laced with Germanic vocals.