I listened to this CD during a journey through the Austrian Alps a few years ago, and I found the music very stimulating. Taking a closer look, "Hyperborea" is just an arty patchwork of difficult anti-rhythms and well-known space-rock ingredients. And that's exactly the point why TD's early-'80s work is so attractive and easy to listen to. The title track with its slow, relentless beats and mighty synth sounds is impressive and corresponds to the cover image. "Cinnamon road" is sparkling and refreshing high-tech pop in the style of TD's early-'80s soundtracks like "Flashpoint" and "Risky business". "No man's land" and "Sphinx lightning" are densely percussive tracks with a somehow claustrophobic atmosphere. Although this album contains music which is as stiff and desolate as an Icelandic glacier, it's well-devised and enjoyable. After this, Schmoelling's departure proved to be a severe blow for TD's creativity. When Franke also quit a few years later, this once pioneering band had already slipped down into the realm of mediocre adult alternative music. So, I would say "Hyperborea" is TD's last album which shows some progressive elements.

This album has grown with me a lot through the years. Initially I bought the LP, but I think the CD version really does it justice. Hyperborea is totally synth-based, and there is a strange concept in it: The concept of Death! For, how else can one reconcile Hyperborea, the mythical land of eternal happiness with the 'tomb' culture of Ancient Egypt? This is, by the way, my own personal interpretation, and no TD fan has to agree with it. Edgar Froese once stated that every listener should feel free to draw their own conlusions about the themes of the TD music. The music of H does reflect, however, a strange duality: The first track, quite upbeat and pleasant, industrial sounding towards the end, has a definitive Mid-Eastern flavour, and develops a theme that TD revisited later in the song Valley of the Kings, from Lily on the Beach. The awesome composition Sphinx Lightning is a dark marathon through desolate lands and twilight areas. It begins with a heavy, ominous theme, develops into a rhythmical and sophisticated techno, then enters a strange, lingering atonic scale and, after a pure electronic percussion passage, concludes with a glorious (resurrection?) theme. Hyperborea is certainly not a melodic album (the title track is the only exception). In fact, I think that this is the least melodic CD of all the Schmoelling albums. The synth sounds selected by the band are harsh, unreal, unlikely. The first track, for example, offers a weird combination of exotic and industrial sounds. Cinnamon Road is one of the most aggressive and vibrant songs TD ever recorded. Thrilling tune! The title track, Hyperborea, on the other hand, is so majestic and beautiful, that some TD fans bought this album just for this song. Personally, I do not favor any song over another in this album, simply because every one of the four tracks that consist H has its own personality. I do find, however, Sphinx Lightning the most interesting of all. The vast majority of techno and industrial music today pales in comparison with this 1983 TD album! There is soul and heart here; there is mysticism and spirituality, not just a pathetic manipulation of wave files and all that nonsense that is considered by some today's 'progressive' or 'experimental' music.

By the time "Hyperborea" came along in 1983, the TD line-up of Froese, Franke and Schmoelling was well established and was churning out high quality, original composition for film scores, live performances and the annual studio releases.

To be objective, there isn't a great deal of difference between "Hyperborea" and "White Eagle" (the previous studio album) from a sonic perspective; the same studio set-up, perhaps? There does seem to be more use of sampling (orchestra stabs and bells most noticeably) than on most TD albums,but it's never intrusive, certainly TD didn't embrace the Fairlight with as much enthusuasm as, say, Jarre!

"No Man's Land" has an Eastern flavour, synthetic sitar and toms working well together and slowly building to quite an intense ending (with the aforementioned orchestra stabs). This is the most radical track on the album, and the trick of taking an ethnic theme (in this case Indian) and synthesizing it was used later on the "Poland" album, with the Polish polka of "Tangents".

The title track is treading on "Cloudburst Flight" (from "Force Majeure") territory, and while the atmospheric theme works beautifully, the track is somewhat spoilt by the uninspired drum track. (Well, I did say it was almost flawless)!

"Cinnamon Road" is one of those 4 minuters that you get the feeling Johannes Schmoelling can knock out all day; catchy tune, strong voicings; one for the live encore!

The track that dominates the album, however, is the awesome "Sphinx Lightning". The opening chords are immensely powerful, this is the track that clearly inspired much of the "Poland" performance, with sounds and sequences from this track popping up all over the place on that album. From the dramatic opening we have one of the great sequences... ever! Similar in style to "Mojave Plan" from "White Eagle", but with strange vocoded voices lilting across the surface. Ten minutes through and the composition breaks down to a single melancholy sitar and introspective pad before the rhythm begins to resurface. Fans of Froese's solo work will recognise the opening sequence of "Pinnacles" in those watery droplets...

From here it's drama all the way; huge power chords and a soaring melody lead us to the climax; this is TD at their best. 20 minutes of ever changing themes, held together by ethereal meandering. For fans of the Schmoelling era, this is one of the defining moments. For further listening, try out the soundtracks from the same period; "Firestarter" and "Flaspoint" most notably, and for live genius, nothing tops "Poland".

I first purchased this recording on cassette. I don't think CDs had been invented yet; they certainly were not common. Now I feel like I'm going to have to get "Hyperborea" on CD. This is easily one of my favorite TD recordings, and the title track by itself it reason enough to buy it: It's a slow, resonant, and very beautiful track that I cannot help but sing/hum along to. "No Man's Land" and "Cinnamon Road" are exotic tunes that are aptly titled, and "Sphinx Lightning" is a good example of the long, "shifting soundscape" format that the band no longer seems interested in. Above all, "Hyperborea" utilizes one of the broadest palettes of electronic sounds and effects of any TD effort. It's a truly inspired album that makes TD's most recent recordings seem rather vapid and even awkward by comparison. Somewhere along the way Tangerine Dream lost its muse; but before that happened, thankfully, there was "Hyperborea."

This is one of the final releases before some major changes started taking place with TD. The transition marked more and more of TD's music actually having melody, rhythym, and percussion, while maintaining that ethereal TD sound that had become their halmark. I can't imagine any selective TD fan, from any era, not enjoying this one. At 41 minutes, it's a tad short, but the quality easily makes up for this.

Track 1 - "No Man's Land" - seems to jump from a Celtic feel to Jamaican so seamlessly, one has to pay attention to catch it. The engaging melody draws you along fluidly with enough edge to be exciting.

Track 2 - "Hyperborea" - this title track of 8.5 minutes is incredible. This is one of those "musical event" tracks, that makes you say, "This one makes me think of..." when you're listening. The title is a compound word meaning "over the north", and the music seems to follow a flight over the north pole. The first half is deep, dark, and cold - with minor keys, flats, and a chime-like tone that makes one think of approaching the north pole from the dark side of the meridian. Then, the tune breaks suddenly, as one can envisage the sun on the horizon, as the "flight" takes you to the sunlight side of the pole. This one's a real treat.

Track 3 - "Cinnamon Road" - ties well with several of TD's previous releases, i.e., Tangram, Riccochet, Thief, and Exit. It is very upbeat, thematic, and a nice tune pointing ahead to some of the mid-80's releases, at only 4 minutes length.

Track 4 - "Sphinx Lightning" - this is a true masterpiece of TD work, as thematic and visual as anything they've done. Here's what one can easily picture (I do not do any form of hallucinogens or narcotics!). You are sitting on top of Cheops Pyramid at night overlooking the sphinx. In the distance, flashes of lightning begin, the breeeze comes up, and you know a storm is coming. As it draws closer, the lightning becomes louder, as the first drops of rain begin. Then a torrent of several minutes begins, as you drink in the storm experience from this surreal vantage point. As the rain and wind subsides, dawn breaks, and the sweet, fresh post-rain smell fills your senses so refeshingly in a climate normally dry and dusty. There! If you think this is a "whacked" perspective, listen to the track, and "see" for yourself.

In two words, buy Hyperborea!