New Beginnings is an impressionistic piece of orchestral music where the composer describes a moment in his life where he experiences an overwhelming sense of freedom. A momentarily state of detachment from all worldly things, caused by the influence of his new surroundings. New Beginnings was premiered live on 2 May 2010 at De Singel in Antwerp by the JMOA Orchestra, conducted by Ivo Venkov...

Over the years we've reviewed several of Alex Otterlei's releases including Horror on the Orient Express (2000); Xyanide (2005) and Where Evil Lurks: Special Edition (2006 edition of his 1994 album) and each time his skill at being able to manipulating the human senses never fails to impress.

New Beginnings is a five minute single which crams way more into it than you'd think possible. It's an extremely emotive track that will certainly leave you wanting more.

It's such a shame that orchestras are so expensive to hire, as this would really benefit with a full orchestra belting this out. That said, this is still a powerful track as it stands and the sampled instrument sounds are good enough that you aren't distracted by them.

Hopefully this is just the start of something that Otterlei plans to expand on in the future. I for one would love to hear an entire album filled with compositions in a similar vein.

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Darren Rea