.........cosmic . I guess "Bible of Dreams", Juno Reactor's bold foray into territory beyond their techno days, contains the best sounds. Aw, who am I kidding? It's the greatest album in the history of the universe!!!    1) Jardin de Cecile - 4/5. You might call it boring; I call it moody. This is not the standard "calm & slow" sound of Juno Reactor--in other words, it's not a droning, monotonous pile of neverending bull. This one actually has character, which is maybe not as evident in the first couple of minutes as it is later. We get some atmospheric, echoing notes that have a nice, dreamy quality to them. After a while, percussion joins in, along with this weird "sweeping" noise that pops in every few seconds. About five minutes in, the song undergoes a complete change of style and transforms to heavy percussion and a little synth. A nice intro that gives you a taste of things to come. It's like the POV of someone gradually waking up and joining the traffic jam of everyday life. While stoned.    2) Conga Fury - 4/5. You may have heard this in "The Animatrix" or "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" (so sorry for mentioning that movie). It starts off with a lone female voice whose harmonizing is soon joined by jungle drums and synth. It continues on with the drums and the synth and the voice until it quiets down and ends the same way it began. And what's really funny is the male voice that kicks in at two minutes. It's somewhat weird and out of place, but it's so hilarious that I can forgive Watkins. "Huela! Huela! Libalalibalalibalalibala..." Or whatever he's saying.    3) God is God - 5/5. It's funny. When I first heard "Pistolero", I thought that no other Juno Reactor song could ever be as good or better. Kids today, eh? Whatever melancholy quietude existed in the first two songs is completely gone here. We've left the jungle and entered the desert, and does it deliver. Don't be fooled by the spacy sound at the beginning--that soon gives way to a crazy beat with chanting and all the instruments you'd expect in the Middle Eastern culture. There are also sound clips apparently taken from "The Ten Commandments", which are weird at first and then as cool as the rest of the song. Sure, it's repetitive, but the main tune is WAY awesome, and as long as we have that...repetition matters not, grasshopper.    4) Komit - 4/5. Not bad at all. A remix of this was heard early on in "The Matrix Reloaded", and I must admit, I liked it better there. It begins with a series of notes that give one a sense of flying through the calm night air. I would've liked to hear these notes become more prominent, but alas, only in "Reloaded". Here, they stay in the background and let the Juno percussion take over. The song just gets bizarre at times, although the grungy tunes are worth it. That's about all. Overall, this is a more organic version of something you'd hear in "Transmissions".    5) Swamp Thing - 4/5. Ah, looks like they're tackling heavy metal. This starts off grungy and gritty, and doesn't let up until it's over. The usual percussion kicks in, and sticks with a sinister tempo for a while. When we hear the guitar solos at approximately 3:30, it seems kinda belated and anticlimactic, especially since they don't go much further than that; we slip right back to the percussion. I'm only giving this a 4 because it's rather catchy.    6) Kaguya Hime - 5/5. This can be compared to "Swamp Thing", but it takes itself a lot less seriously. It's got a similar setup and form: percussion accompanied by minimal synth. About forty seconds in, we're introduced to a very playful beat that sounds like the work of hollow drums played by chopsticks. Or something like that. Midway through, the drums "mature" into a heavier-sounding variety, with some more synth playing alongside than before. It's still playful, though. In fact, this is a very fun song to listen to if you don't mind a drum being the primary instrument. Reminds me of the final segment of "Jardin". I'm only giving this a 5 because it's supremely catchy.    7) Children of the Night - 5/5. And now for something completely different. While the previous six have different styles, one can tell that they're all Juno Reactor works. With this, it might be a little more difficult. At least for me. On the platter is a tune that sounds evil yet fun. Shall we say...giddy. It's very, very giddy. You can imagine an evil force approaching to kill you, but messing with your mind first by sneaking up on you from multiple directions, or filling your mind with images from your worst nightmares. It is giddy. There's not a lot of ways to describe it. Giddiness all around. "The children of the night are call-eeng...hehehehe...hehehehe..." accompanied by the sound of puppies allegedly whimpering before their horrible, gas-filled deaths. Brrr. Did I mention it's giddy?    8) Shark - 4/5. I know, I know, it's "calm & slow". But it's also not monotonous. If you haven't figured out from the title, this conveys an underwater feeling to the listener. It's very mellow and trancy, and in some parts, definitely reminiscent of Vangelis' opening score for "Blade Runner". It's down-time for the entire song, although there is a rough patch that's supposed to resemble a tectonic plate breaking apart or something. Ruins the calmness, I think. The length is another problem; it's over nine-and-a-half minutes long. When a song doesn't have a lot of musical variety, you might wanna shorten it. On the plus side, featured here are a bunch of trippy sound effects that sound underwater-ish, but I don't really know why. Without these sounds, this song is what you'd hear at one of those big aquarium display shows. With the sounds, it's...well...Juno Reactor at its calm & slow finest.    9) High Energy Protons (Orion Mix) - 5/5. I'm fully aware it's a remix. I'm fully suspicious of the guys for being lazy. But that doesn't stop the "Bible" finale from ruling. To make it easier for you, I'll just assume that you've already listened to the original version in "Transmissions". And by "easier for you", I mean "easier for myself". Some of the techno sound is still here, but the background choir holds much more presence. Furthermore, there's the addition of a few synth riffs that add another dimension to the whole thing. However, I still like the original mix better. Don't ask why. And if you're wondering about the dialogue clips, they've dropped "You're going to have a wonderful trip." All we've got here is "You're the brain and central nervous system", "High energy protons spilling over into our atmosphere", and "Everything's going extremely well." (YES! HAL-9000!!!
Output: POS