Delerium

(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Among the many projects of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, the one called Delerium, which over time specialized in ambient and gothic pieces, proved perhaps the most interesting.

The first album, Faces Forms And Illusions (Dossier, 1989), created with the collaboration of Michael Balch and without Fulber, includes moments of dark suspense such as Monument Of Deceit (warm African-style beat, background chants, faint swirls of electronics) and Inside The Chamber (rhythmless electronic music for sound effects only, in the style of Klaus Schulze's cosmic music). Among the more melodic tracks stands out the exotic synth-pop of Mecca. Brian Eno, transglobal dance, and horror films converge in the exotic vignettes of Swords Of Islam. Minimalism and exoticism flow into the ceremonial ballet of Certain Trust. But overall, it is still too vague and timid to be more than a diversion from the main work of Front Line Assembly.

Equally clunky is Morpheus (Dossier, 1989), with the magical visions of Gaza and Temple Of Light, the Requiem, and a pale, decadent Morpheus.

Syrophenikan (Dossier, 1990) does not add much to the goal of blending the solemn tones of new age with the feverish rhythms of techno.

If anything, Stone Tower (Dossier, 1990), a monumental work of Teutonic romanticism, manages to forge an original style from that multitude of premises, from that mix of synth-pop, minimalist, pan-ethnic, gothic, and electronic influences. Stone Tower is the manifesto of the new approach: a slow crescendo of metallic percussion and elongated drones. In the track, almost nothing happens, yet it happens gradually. The technique consists of layering sounds and letting them evolve, following the principles of minimalism. In Aftermath and Spirit, this practice is almost an end in itself. Elsewhere, it serves strong emotions: Lost Passion, the opening track, is a mournful dance that would be the ideal soundtrack for a Siouxsie Sioux spell; the obsessive and chameleon-like percussion transforms Bleeding into a futuristic symphony; the long Tundra spreads industrial and cosmic noises across a desolate landscape, a perfect score for a sci-fi apocalyptic film. Delerium made a record of timbres, not of songs. By paying more attention to the quality of sound than to the emotion of music, they nevertheless achieved the allure of the inscrutable.

Preceded by the EP Euphoric (Third Mind, 1991), Spiritual Archives (Dossier, 1991) pushes the experiment toward even more baroque excesses. The novelty lies in a tragic, claustrophobic, apocalyptic atmosphere, seemingly inspired by the “Wagnerian” sound of Laibach and In The Nursery. The Delerium, however, compose suites like Drama almost entirely percussively (even the electronics and samples serve to drive the rhythm).
When this method is combined with solemn background drones and anguished melodic vocal lines, the album achieves the pathos of Rise Above. Barren Ground employs, moreover, a vast array of tricks, from funeral bells to extraterrestrial signals, from the wails of an Arabic trumpet to the mechanical flutter of a harpsichord, from opera choruses to sounds of nature.
The pinnacle of their minimalism is perhaps the robotic ballet of the reworked Aftermath, in which multiple pulses overlap fluidly and elegantly, producing highly atmospheric results. The melodramatic peak, instead, is Awakenings, whose long mantra suddenly erupts into a driving techno beat and then a symphonic crescendo.
For the first time, the Delerium also experiment with entirely abstract harmonies: with the fading, fragmented sounds of Ephemeral Passage, and the slowly evolving clouds of chords in Fathoms, evocative frescoes of imaginary worlds.

The six suites of Spheres (Dossier, 1994), Monolith above all, abandoned the dark medieval atmospheres for a more futuristic “spatiality,” in the style of Tangerine Dream, which the second volume pushed into lighter and more melodic territories (especially the ending of In Four Dimensions), with a touch of Kraftwerk in Hypoxia. It is perhaps the most austere, and perhaps the most important, work of the entire career of Leeb and Fulber.

The great success of their rivals Enigma pushed the duo to record a more commercial, almost educational album like Semantic Spaces (Dossier, 1994), which, with Gregorian chants, sensual whispers, trendy samples, and a strong techno beat (even outright plagiarizing Flatlands), comes remarkably close to 1970s disco with Sensorium and ventures into pop territory with Flowers Become Screens (featuring Kristy Thirsk of Rose Chronicles) and Incantation.

Karma (Nettwerk, 1995) builds on that more danceable and airy sound, light-years away from the dark visions of the past, yet the duo’s artistry has truly reached a stage of radiant elegance. Most of the tracks feature a female vocalist. Enchanted sets adrift a gentle Morricone-like contralto (again Thirsk) over a soft disco beat. Silence is a sophisticatedly arranged ballad, perfectly tailored for Sarah McLachlan. The gothic and ambient Delerium finish with Euphoria, competing with Madonna (vocals by Jacqui Hunt of Single Gun Theory).
The similarity to Dead Can Dance is accentuated in Forgotten Worlds by the sampling of Lisa Gerrard’s voice (over a driving flow of flutes, tablas, sitar, bells, violins, and bagpipes). A version of this danceable electronic ethnic music that is both playful and austere is found in the frenzied dance of Duende, enhanced by vocal effects reminiscent of Enya.
Even their futuristic ballets have changed considerably: Lamentation uses all the old devices (from monk choirs to Arabic flute), but the result is infinitely more brilliant and sensual. And Remembrance (with an even more prominent choir and disco-style sequencers) reasserts Delerium’s supremacy over Enigma in the fusion of techno, sampling, and world music.
The avalanche of samples and the sheer number of instruments do not overwhelm—they entertain. The album accumulates clichés and returns them slightly distorted.

Perhaps too prolific and certainly inconsistent, Delerium have hinted at interesting developments for the Front Line Assembly venture, but they have almost never succeeded in turning them into reality.

Poem (Nettwerk, 2000) is perhaps the most predictable and radio-friendly of all Delerium albums. It can be accused of being a sonic montage of new age, trip-hop and Enigma cliches Daylight (sung by Matthew Sweet) wants to repeat the success of Silence.