Trip Hazard by Brotherhood of the Machine

"Atmospheric and interesting" - Dave Jackson, ex Van Der Graaf Generator
"I am listening to Meditation of the Blue Serpent and enjoying it" - Jean-Herve Peron, Faust

Review of Trip Hazard on Prog Archives - 1 - 4/5 stars -

"Starting off with Meditation of the Blue Serpent, Trip Hazard lures you into a slow moving ouverture with a simple hand drum pattern, electronic carpeting (like in thick cashmere rugs and prog rock beards from the 70s) and this deep melodic saxophone that very eloquently takes you by the hand while evoking pictures of sand dunes and Middle-Eastern bazaars. The feel is enigmatic, larval and pensive like a man contemplating what the heart of the mountain really looks like.

After this wonderful welcoming the album unrolls it's piece de resistance with Hin und Zuruck. With it's 36 minutes of delightful delirium it, perhaps inadvertedly, challenges today's music fans and their short attention spans - hopefully taking them prisoner in a beautiful dreamscape where music that pulses, writhes, contorts and floats with time transforms into something completely different - something I find electronic music does with great gusto and conviction: elegantly and with much ninja-like behaviour erasing the need for the tangible and straightforward in music. The hypnotic and almost stroboscopic gestures of the synths slowly but comfortably work their way into your mind and after a while you sense a change - you feel ripples multiplying in your inner head lake and suddenly the music echoes from within you and the very line between the sounds and you vanish, disappear. Hin und Zuruck very eloquently showcases this slippery idea of mine, and to anyone interested in the arts of meditation and the ever persuasive wormhole of the mind, please take a chance with this thing. When it works and you really disconnect your brain-seatbelt, you change or metamorphose and go from the hard surface-like structure of the human body to the sparkling and flowing entity of a white rolling river............ I'd recommend this album to anyone into psychedelic music and sure to fans of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze - just don't expect it to sound the same. This is music for tunnel-digging in your head - for watching cloud movies in the sky - shooting the breeze without bullets and perhaps most importantly: for proving to the world that similar sounding instruments don't necessarily equate to clones.....but sometimes, rare as it may be, lead you into altogether new sonic avenues."

Review of Trip Hazard on Prog Archives - 2 - 4/5 stars -

"Trip Hazard is Brotherhood Of The Machine's second release, and it's a great album that manages to blend spacey and psychedelic music with strong electronic work (or is it the other way around?)
The first track, 'Meditation of the Blue Serpent', starts by setting the mood with some interesting industrial-like electronic sounds and arabic percussions that sets the stage for the hypnotic saxophone solo, which leads the rest of the song.

'Hin und Zuruck' is the central song of the album with more than 35 minutes. It features an extensive use of sequencers, in a very classic Tangerine Dream way, and great programmed drums, that slightly reminded me of early Ozric Tentacles/Porcupine Tree's work. The mixing and panning throughout the entire song are very well done, contributing to the psychedelic mood. There's also an high level of details, like lots of sound effects (including train sounds, as the cover suggests) and some occasional guitar bits with flanger effects that keeps this epic very interesting.

'Flying Saucer Patrol', is a bluesy guitar-driven track accompanied by sequencer and programmed drums.

Overall, this albums is very good, although the opener and closer tracks pale in comparison with the epic. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Psychedelic/Space Rock and/or Progressive Electronic."

https://www.facebook.com/brotherhoodofthemachine

BROTHERHOOD OF THE MACHINE is an electronic music project which harks back to the classic electronic music of the early synthesizer days.

"Atmospheric and interesting", according to Dave Jackson of Van Der Graaf Generator.

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