Adiemus IV is going to make a lot of people very happy, keeping the essential Adiemus approach which has proved phenomenally popular over the three previous Adiemus releases from Karl Jenkin's hybrid folk/classical/new age ensemble. However, the subtitle "The Eternal Knot" refers to the fact that some of this music was originally written for the Scottish television series, The Celts and this aspect is going to draw inevitable comparisons with Riverdance. Play the opening track, "Cú Chullain", and there is just no getting away from it (nor is there any possibility of keeping the feet still), the thunderous, exhilarating Irish sound is irrefutable. The comparison runs throughout the album, particularly in the attractively melodic "The Wooing of Étaín", though in arrangements which mix acoustic instruments and massed voices with electronics there is also an echo of Clanad. Ultimately, though, Adiemus IV has its own sometimes ethereal, sometimes traditionally atmospheric, sometimes barnstorming sound; making for a disc which draws on many styles but can not be fitted into any particular pigeon hole. If the densely packed voices sometimes evoke memories of the Swingle Singers, Miriam Stockley's lead vocals float attractively over the soundscape, binding everything together into an evocative Celtic fairy-tale soundtrack. --Gary S. Dalkin