Mythos – Surround Sound Evolution – Stephan Kaske, computers – Sireena Records

by | Mar 6, 2013 | Pop/Rock/World CD Reviews

Mythos – Surround Sound Evolution – Stephan Kaske, computers – Sireena Records (Dolby Surround encoded) 2109, 78:29 **:

This CD from Germany had me scratching my head. It is the second effort after Kaske’s Surround Sound Offensive of several years ago, and as far as I could see on my display screen, it is just a standard 44.1K/16-bit CD, not any sort of current multichannel format. An email exchange with Herr Kaske produced the answer: this is a now-defunct format of Dolby Surround, which can be imposed on a two-channel signal while still in the 44.1/16 form. However, no place in the notes or on the album does it state it is Dolby Surround and that you require a proper decoder to play it back, such as Dolby ProLogic IIx. Hmm.

OK, the disc got a second spin on my system using the analog outputs of my Oppo deck and running it thru ProLogic IIx height on my preamp. Yes, there’s lots of great surround effects, and the music is typical pop electronic stuff of several years ago. One or two tracks are OK to hear, but they all seem to be in a similar key and a few are rather strange—such as the penultimate track, whose title is all in German and it sounds to me (sorry, but it does) like a bunch of marching Nazi robots with too much starch in their shorts. But according to the publicity the disc is “a standard amongst high tech fans worldwide.”

—John Henry

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