THYX – Headless (2016 album)

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Introduction: With this album review, we’ll be very nearly caught up with the THYX discography. I may come back and pick up some singles later. And of course, I still have to go back over to the latest chapter in the Mind.in.a.box story, but I had to hold out for over a year after 5ynchr0ni7e so you all cn at least wait a month.

 

Anyways, this album is almost definitely the highest point of the THYX discography so far. If the quality continues to climb upwards… well… I’d like to see what Poiss will do to top this (Spoilers: this album is great).

 

 

 

THYX – Not My Deal (7.75): Poiss start this album off slowly with this song going at a relatively slower tempo compared to much of the upbeat trance I review. But slow does not mean still. The song begins with just the bassline and a kick and it easily expresses that this song will be able to pick up some good momentum despite its slow BPM. Some of this may relate to the variety of drums added in between the primary kick and snare, but I feel the bassline itself does provide the necessary groove to keep this song moving.

 

That being said, as far as the music goes, this song doesn’t really have all that much variety to it. For much of the song, it’s the same bassline and melody played over each other with only slight instrumental variations. But other than that, there is very little variety to be seen. Normally, I’d find that to be a bit of a problem, but I’m a bit forgiving in this case as that bassline is certainly worth listening to for five minutes and the melody is nonintrusive. The vocals and lyrics are the main focus anyway. At least that’s how I feel for many of the songs on this album (though the musical quality gets exceptional later on as well, so we’ll split it 50/50).

 

The main theme of this album is overcoming bland monotony in order to find one’s true identity. Uproot the prisonous system that holds you down and instead embrace one’s destiny.

 

But we’re not there yet.

 

First, we must establish the prison. Due to the technological theming that we automatically expect from Mind.in.a.box and THYX, it can be determined that the singer of this song isn’t fully human. The biggest piece of evidence is in the first verse where the singer mentions that he believes that he’s being rebooted by a mostly unseen entity. I have to say mostly unseen because while it’s vague who exactly “they” are, it sounds like they’re the ones giving commands to the singer always promising him that they’ll only ask one more task of him before promptly coming up with a new command, trapping the singer in an endless cycle of repetitive tasks and empty promise… an empty life.

 

And the song takes it a step beyond simple emptiness, for this singer isn’t only losing any sense of purpose, even his identity seems to be fading away (Totally haven’t seen that before in any of Poiss’ other works). He tries to take some time to analyze himself and try and sort out who he is, but he’s unsure of what thoughts are his and what thoughts have been falsified by those that appear to control him. As long as he’s in this prison there is no way for him to know any sort of truth.

 

He must escape.

 

THYX – Don’t Get Alive (7.5): Well, that’s a bit of a nihilistic looking song title if I’ve ever seen one. Must be a great song then! And I will agree with my initial assessment that this song does fare a little bit better than Not My Deal, at least musically. The song has much more variety, allowing for a better contrast between the verses and the chorus. There admittedly isn’t quite as strong of a beat backing the song up, but the contrasting melodies between the verses and the chorus more than make up for it.

 

Throughout, the song, there is a strong focus on the arp, regardless of whether or not it’s a verse or chorus. But when it comes to melodies, that’s where the music shows its true emotions. In the verses, there’s one simple melody rising and falling in the background, but you have to be looking for it in order to notice it as everything else, bassline, arp, and drumbeat, are a bit louder and have the ability to drown out the melody. It still sounds good and I believe the melody does have some subtle effect on the song, though not nearly as much as it does in the chorus, which brings a second melody into the mix along with some extra ambience, bringing the song to its emotional heights.

 

And that’s saying something, because the vocals in this track, don’t really sound too emotional. Oh, the lyrics are still meaningful, but when it comes to delivery, the vast majority of the song is distorted to sound like it comes from a robotic AI of some sort. All humanity is stripped away from these vocals, leaving nothing but the existential call to not get alive. To not exist. I’m not exactly sure how one doesn’t get alive, but I get the feeling I’ve already failed at that. Last I checked, I had a pulse, which is pretty standard for things that are alive, such as myself I think the song is directed at a group of unawakened programs created by the speaker of this song. For the world is meaningless. Nihilism.

 

And as if nihilism wasn’t enough, this song has touches of loneliness as well. The singer recalls a time when they dreamt of companionship, a friend to break its lonely solitary existence. It seems at first to appear to be a simple solution to an existential problem. Find a friend. Find meaning. End nihilism. But it’s a bit more complicated than that as the speaker of this song soon finds out. Nothing changed when they finally succeeded in creating some sort of connection, some sort of friendship. But one friendship doesn’t solve one’s existential quandary. And as the speaker realized this they slipped away further into their nihilistic worldview. And as they lost all hope, they shut the world out fully, They are dead to the world and refuse to come back to life.

 

Kind of a depressing message for this song to display. But it’s all the more important for the arc that serve’s as this album’s purpose.

 

 

THYX – Headless (9.75): Those first two tracks were just a warm-up. Headless, the titular track of the album is a turning point in album, because from here on out nearly all of these songs are Cream of the Crop for THYX (one song ruins the streak but still, this song is a huge step up from the ones surrounding it). And this song, despite receiving a very high 9.75 rating., is not even the best of what’s to come.

 

This song wastes no time, dropping a heavy half time drumbeat a solid bassline and a distant background melody, so subtle that it almost feels as if it’s not there. From there THYX continually adds new instruments. In the first verse, he adds some distorted guitar riffs, an equally powerful snare to add onto the existing drumbeat. In the second verse, some hats subtly fill in the empty spaces between the kicks and snares, and there’s a second melody in the background that slowly builds up to find itself rising above the initial softer melody but still suffocated by the harsher drumbeat and bassline. Most uniquely, there’s the calmer chorus that strips all of the gritty elements from the verse and provides a breath of fresh air with nothing but clean vocals and a piano. And for the finale… Actually, let’s hold off on that finale for the end of reviewing this particular song. I feel it deserves some special attention.

 

The lyrics fit well into what the album has displayed so far, depicting the societal system we have in place as a trap for the individual, suffocating their identity and ideals behind lies and untruths, destroying one’s authenticity and blighting potential futures that would lead to a more satisfying lifetime. And yet, despite the philosophical horrors of the whole ordeal (at least from my point of view), I find myself still looking for the next job to follow mindless (or headless) tasks simply for a paycheck.

 

Ok, that’s getting a bit personal, but there’s one last thing I wanted to mention about this song. I’d held off on the finale for a reason. It’s easily the best part of the song. The slow downtrodden half time beat has plagued this song long enough. Oh, it’s not horrendous or anything but it pales in comparison to this switch-up in which the song reaches its full potential. The tempo is doubled, the guitar riffs are accelerated, the stringed ambience grow more intense and the melody that had been stuck in the background this entire time finally brings itself to the forefront of the song as it serves as the highlight of this high-energy conclusion.

 

There may be some musical symbolism caught in there, but I think I’ve said enough for you to make the connections on your own.

 

THYX – Doomed (7.25): You want something groovier?  How about Doomed? Don’t mind the nihilistic title. Just focus on the upbeat groove. There is nothing depressing about this song at all, it’s just an illusion, my friend. Just an illusion…

 

But groove can only take a song so far. The bassline and drumbeat introduced at the song’s very beginning, do provide a very good groove, but that’s very nearly all this song has to offer on the musical side of things. There is very little change from there on out until he last chorus.

 

The lyrics are a slight bit odd as the lyrics in the second half seems to apply to a completely different person in the first half. I have a better handle on it now that I’ve listened to it a few times, but Poiss missed an opportunity to slightly alter the voice in the second half. I know he’s capable.

 

This song seems to be about the social status of the CEO of a company and those who work under him. The first verse and the chorus depict a supervisory character that gives commands from the office on the 300th floor. High above all the other workers, referred to as fools. There’s so much callus in these lyrics, taking pride in controlling the lesser and refusing to take any of the blame when anything in this little game of ruling the fools goes wrong. Not to mention the use of fools is incredibly demeaning. But then you hear the fools’ side of the story

 

This song, again, is more about being trapped in the societal cycle than escaping it. And it does admittedly take a nihilistic approach to the situation, thanks to the so-called fools declaring that they are doomed to remain in this game, following the rules of another, never ceasing for any sort of individuality, accepting that the paradise they desire is an unreachable illusion. If that’s not a nihilistic approach to one’s place in the world, then I don’t know what is.

 

Yeah, this is the track that feels a slight bit lesser than what’s to come. Makes that whole turning point thing I mentioned in the last track kind of moot. But the song’s still pretty good so it doesn’t really bring the whole album down all that much seeing as I can now say the rest of the album is truly Cream of the Crop.

 

THYX – Gravity (8.75): This song is perhaps the calmest song on the entire album. It begins with nothing but foreboding ambience and a simple piano melody, and for much of the first minute of this song, that’s all there is, but the simplicity here is quite beautiful in this case, and as an 8 minute song, it has plenty of time to allow the relaxation to seep in and soothe the soul (which I need all too often). The arp comes in with the beat and some strings not long into the song, but it’s all so slow paced and subtle that it doesn’t intrude on the relaxation in the slightest, which is really important for a long pathway to slumber like this one. Everything about it is subtle and even though the back half isn’t exceptionally eventful, it does have just enough development to make the song length worth its while.

 

There are some minimalistic lyrics to this minimalistic song as well as the calm development. Most of the song is dedicated to showing that this song is depicting a force other than gravity. Another true constant in the universe that keeps us grounded. On its own these lyrics are completely vague and seemingly existential with very little point. But thanks to the last song, we now know that there is a game that we must play in life, whether we want to or not: a game of forces. Once again, this one does seem to indicate that there’s no escaping this game. Comparable to the constant of gravity, society is merely another force that keeps us grounded.

 

And as the song concludes, the whispers of gravity and forces of nature, slowly fades out, distorting into something more robotic as it brings itself to a defeated conclusion…

 

THYX – A.I. (9.75): Headless may have been an extreme change in quality from its surrounding songs, but this is another turning point in the album. For there is an arc to this album. And while we’ve been dealing with a lot of nihilism up to this point, that’s about to end. And boy this song is the way to do it. I mean before even getting into the lyrics, the music probably gives me more chills than any other THYX song I’ve heard (prior). Even more than Forgotten from the last album (which has a sequel I’ll get to shortly).

 

But let’s get to A.I. first. This song is definitely among the best this album has to offer, and I’m having troubles figuring out whether or not it’s better than Headless. When I’d first listened to this song, I immediately was worried it would be tricky to figure out which song is the absolute best this album has to offer. Thankfully, a song later in the album made this choice much easier, but we’ll get to that in a little bit.

 

Like Gravity, this song is a mixture of simplicity and complexity. One of the only main consistent instruments is the arpeggiated synth introduced about a minute in. And I consider it to be the most iconic part of the song especially when it begins to wind down in tempo before throwing the song into double time right afterward (similar to the switchup in Headless). There’s plenty of ambience going on in the background, including some great strings that give the song some sort of victorious gravity for at the beginning. There’s also some good influences from the bass in the remainder of the song following the switchup (which is obviously one of my favorite part of the songs if you know my preferences)… though I think I actually prefer the slowing of the iconic arp a bit more. That stuff gives me chills.

 

I’m getting carried away a bit in a chaotic manner. The vocals are also intensely important to my enjoyment of the song and I’d argue that they’re some of the most intensely emotive vocals that Poiss has ever put out (but not necessarily the best) If the mood strikes me just right, the sheer emotion can bring tears to my eyes accentuated by the arp which is constantly giving me chills throughout much of the song beyond the first minute. Every moment of of Poiss’ undistorted vocals is sheer passion and paired with the lyrics, the song really cuts me deep.

 

This song is indeed a victory cry as indicated by the chilling passion that I feel throughout the experience. This is the moment, the moment, the breaking point in which one overthrows the constricting patterns that serve as the most existentially horrifying part of life (at least that’s how I feel about the constrictions; this song is very personal to my current situation). This song is about breaking free from the mold that can crush the spirit and embracing a new future of promise. I must break free of my limitations. I must find a way to escape the future of monotony. It is time for change.

 

THYX – Forgotten II (8): Forgotten is, unsurprisingly the sequel to Forgotten, my personal favorite from the last album, Super Vision. Like I’d said then, Forgotten should have definitely been the closer as the best song of the album. I love some good musical storytelling and really tend to gravitate towards enjoying those songs the most when looking at Poiss’ work. But on an album with so many exceptional songs that could make good finales in their own right. I don’t mind as much. Actually, this sequel gets overshadowed by a lot of the more positively emotional songs. This one, while fitting the narrative of the original Forgotten, is a slight bit more pessimistic.

 

Musically, this song has a lot of similarities with the original Forgotten. It still has a general upbeat vibe and continues to have the same main melody. The verses and bridge also share a lot of the same structure as the original, similar to how Mind.in.a.box’s Machine Run and Redefined had some lyrical similarities between the two songs. The mood has simply switched to something a bit darker (interestingly the opposite direction of the Machine Run/Redefined dichotomy).

 

Unfortunately, there is one section of the song, that completely transforms: the chorus. Now the new chorus is fine, it fits in with the vibe of the song. And I’ll admit that the original chorus’ tune might be a bit too dynamic and upbeat, for this song has a slightly more nihilistic mood. That is somewhat the problem with this song. While it makes sense as a sequel to Forgotten, it doesn’t really fit into the arc that this album has overall. I guess it’s supposed to serve as somewhat of an intermission between the fully nihilistic half of the album and the second half in which nihilism is pushed aside. Personally, I think that the second half has already somewhat started though so it still feels like an odd place to interrupt this ar. I’d rather have had it either before or after Gravity, but that’s just not the way the album is written.

 

Enough ranting about increasing nihilism, interrupted arcs, and track order. This song is about a narrative and I intend to take a look at what the next chapter of the Forgotten story has to offer. Last we’d left the main character of Forgotten, he’s been wandering the desert alone, sending out a signal, a message, hoping that someone out there would answer his call. Time has passed… so long that our character (which I’m almost certain is robotic at this point) has completely lost track of how long he’s been wandering (I guess, measuring temperature is more prioritized than measuring time). But even after all this time, there has been no answer to the message for one and all. No one has answered his call. There is no one else to be found on this forsaken and forgotten planet.

 

And so, he is defeated. The signal is disconnected. The battery is running low. There is no one here. It’s time to shut down.

 

Honestly, I can’t find myself accepting this as the conclusion to the Forgotten story. Even as bleak as things have become, something inside me yearns for a final installment in this desired trilogy. The story looks like it’s found its ending, but it still feels utterly incomplete. This is the most recent album of THYX as of now. I can still hope that the next album will feature a song that brings the story to a satisfying close.

 

THYX – The Phial (10): I wasn’t expecting give out a ten today. I do not throw that rating around lightly, but this song is not only easily the best on the album, it is an absolutely gorgeous piece of art. Like A.I. it reaches to the limit with the passion that Poiss puts into these vocals. But not only is the passion here stronger on a performance level, every single sound that this song produces works in unison, accentuating every surge of emotional connection, bringing me to tears by its end. But let’s start at the beginning.

 

The song follows a relatively simple feeling, with minimal instruments, slowly developing over time. However, I feel like this one is a much more emotional experience, taking everything A.I. had to offer and doing it better. The ambience here gives the song a much more chilling base. It has a shimmering feel to it as if the whispering tone is sent through an auditory kaleidoscope. This along with a very subtle pluck for a bassline serves as the main structure holding the track together.

 

It doesn’t take long for the vocals to come into play, as Poiss begins to bring out the lyrics with quite a dark tone, barely above a whisper. And the dark tone fits quite well with these first lyrics, depicting a dark silent world, decrepit, lifeless. There is a longing to find a light in the darkness, to hear something to break the silent shimmering plane of existence. But there is nothing but a silent starless sky. A suffocating silence that deceives those who are enveloped in it into a nihilistic mindset, disposed towards monotony. A silence that kills.

 

But from there, more and more elements are brought into the song in an attempt to fill the silence. It all starts with an incredibly subtly plucked bassline that gets slightly stronger over time. Whispers can be heard in the background as Poiss sings out the darkness of the soul.

 

And then comes the chorus. It’s here that the piano is first introduced, and it’s here that the tears begin to form in my eyes as this song infects my soul with deep emotions. The piano brings no complexity to the song, only enunciated the chord progression with a tone of beauty. But because of how starkly it stands out among the rest of the instruments, it resonates that much deeper. Though the song does also owe to Poiss’ vocals for some of its emotional impact, as they’ve risen to a higher somewhat more confident level. There are hints of a path out of the dark silence here.

 

For the world is a mysterious void, an unknowable enigma. But the unknowable is not necessarily out of despair. With consistent willpower to remain conscious of the world around you, you can begin to find beautiful lights in the darkness. They may shimmer. They may fade in and out. But there’s always some star hiding there, ready to shine if you’ll let it.

 

Let the star burn bright.

 

The second verse begins much like the first, though the piano has been temporarily removed. Instead more focus is given to letting other elements of the song grow in intensity. The ambience reaches new heights of glory. The bassline becomes slightly more prominent but certainly not overbearing. And the vocals have maintained their energy they’d gained in the chorus. No longer will the lyrics be spoken barely above a whisper, though there still is a truly whispering voice that echoes lyrics as it did in the first verse.

 

The journey continues on. The darkness and nihilistic thoughts don’t fade immediately. They will always threaten to creep back into prominence as the journey of life lengthens. We seek knowledge. We seek truth. We long to overcome the silence and look to the skies to finally find the pinpricks of light that represent the far-off stars of hope.

 

The piano returns as the second chorus begins, this time accompanied by a slower arp that easily matches the energy of the rest of the song. Poiss’ final lyrics of the song reach near the height of emotional conveyance as a final victorious chorus is sung out.

 

In order to find a new beginning and escape the shimmering cloud of silence that suffocates, we msut choose the path towards peace and light ourselves. It I then that our new sould and identity can be birthed. It is then, that we can open our mind to new visions that pierce through the darkness. It is then that we can create the stars in the sky that we long for so much.

 

The time has come.

 

An explosion of light erupts.

 

There are no more lyrics, for the vocals have now reached new heights of passion beyond words. I can feel the emotion resonating from within as the arp gets stronger and stronger and a drumbeat finally joins into the mix, cinematically building up for the next minute. But I think the best thing that gets this finale moving is the rolling bass. I’ve used the phrase, rolling bass, several times before, but I feel like there has never been a better time to use such a phrase as right now. This bassline is a paradoxical combination of a harsh scream smoothly easing its way through the rest of the song. At points it nearly overwhelms the rest of the song, but it never fully takes over. The light does not relent until the song reaches its close. And Poiss’ voice is there the entire while, crying out with passion. It’s a cry against the darkness that much of this album conveys. It’s a cry for victory, a cry for hope, a cry for peace.

 

This final minute is the absolute best minute in the entire album. There is no moment in the entire THYX discography that can match this moment. This is the best thing to come out of the THYX project. And I am unsure if it will ever be topped.

 

THYX – The Pain of Silence (8.5): Not to be confused with Mind.in.a.box – Silent Pain.

 

The last few songs have been great (especially The Phial), but the album has been feeling a little slow. The Pain of Silence changes that trend with an amazing synthwave rock song continuing on with the arc of escaping the mold. I guess, this song is breaking the mold of slow (though immersive) experiences. But I’d say it breaks the mold so far, that it doesn’t even sound like a THYX song anymore. Not saying that’s a problem. It’s not like THYX defines the epitome of quality music and anything that could possibly deviate is invalid. It’s just an unexpected genre switch. I’d try to come up with a good example of a synthrock artist to compare this song to, but I’m honestly drawing a blank, trying to find something that fits such a similar mood. I’ll admit that despite my enjoyment of the synthwave/pop/rock side of music, I’m not exceptionally experienced enough to confidently name a band or artist that perfectly exemplifies the genre switch.

 

But hey, maybe I could just dissect the song on its own to explain it. That’s how it’s always worked in the past. I think what makes this song stand out so starkly from the rest of Poiss’ material is that there are very few overly distorted unrecognizable instruments. There are definitely some distorted vocals (can’t escape those), but other than that, a lot of the song is made up of guitar riffs and solos played over a great varied drumbeat that switches up the mood consistently throughout the song. There’s also a few clean synths and what sounds to be the occasional choir serving for an extra little bit of melodic variety. Really, out of all of these, it’s the guitar that serves as the main draw to this song. The guitar is nearly always present throughout the entire song. In the introduction and bridge, it’s calmly picking at notes as the ambience and vocals sample take the spotlight. In the verses it spends much of its time on the downlow underneath the vocals but, it bursts out of hiding any time Poiss takes a breath. In the chorus, the guitar is allowed even more time in the forefront, allowing it to deliver high energy riffs for longer periods of time. And the outro of the song has some of the most upbeat riffs and a soaring solo on top of it all. All the while, the drumbeat is also changing energy consistently with the guitar that envelops it, finalizing the victorious drive of this song.

 

And victory fits, because the Pain of Silence is, again, about gaining victory over the monotonous chains that imprison us. This theme continues onward from the last song and will be present for the remainder of the album. This song is a bit more certain of the chance for victory. Yes, in the first verse it definitely focuses more on the flawed system that entraps us. It points out possible conspiracies of what’s going on in the background, what’s driving us to stay in this loop of monotony. This verse takes on the same nihilistic view of the front half of the album. However, when the second verse comes around, the focus changes from the resignation to the cycle to the struggle to escape it. And in typical Mind.in.a.box THYX fashion, it does so with a slight bit of representational lore depicting a group of people who have rebelled against the monotony, calling themselves The New Knights, a physical representation that it is indeed possible to escape the allegedly inescapable monotony.

 

But the meat of this song appears in the vocal sample, a speech about the modern world and how it is constantly changing. The crux of this song is that change must happen, whether we like it or not. The world is plagued with societal flaws, but when you boil all of the problems down to their source, it’s clear that the tainted hearts of mankind are to blame. No amount of money or resources could truly cure the world. You have to start by reaching out to the people, to encourage them to change the world around them individually, eventually changing the world on a global scale. This song’s message to one and all urges any who hear its call to become a part of this change. To be part of an overwhelming ocean of change that can hopefully improve the world into a better place for all.

 

The song is aiming a bit high. Songs hoping to reach for a utopia always seem to do so. To accomplish this goal widespread would not only be difficult but probably impossible to accomplish. I’m no sociologist or anything, but I can’t imagine that such a massive paradigm shift would go incredibly smoothly. But perhaps, it’s best to look at this song on a personal level. By trying to break our own personal cycle of monotony and embracing something greater, we can at least change our world for the better. And that’s certainly some measure of progress for now. Keep those greater aspirations in mind for the future, but for now, find out how exactly it is you want to live in the present and focus on achieving that. Honestly, this album is serving more as a pepe talk to myself more than anything else at this point.

 

THYX – No Place For Me (8.25): It’s clear from the last few songs, that this arc has exited the initial cyclical monotony that dominated the first half of the album, The Phial being the initial glorious breaking point and The Pain of Silence continuing to illustrate some of the resistance one will face during this escape (though not abandoning the hope that the escape is very much possible and worth it). Now that the mold has been established to be broken, one must wonder what’s next. Where does one go from here? Judging from the title of this song, that question isn’t too easily answered.

 

I think that of the many songs of this album, this one would probably have fit into the Mind.in.a.box story the best. I’m not just talking about the lyrics (though admittedly, Black’s initial plight after being freed from White’s control does somewhat relate to this song’s theming), but the musical style also feels a lot more similar to the general feeling of most Mind.in.a.box songs. Perhaps it just seems that way because this song finally has a groovy technological upbeat style in comparison to the last several, which were either fitting an immersive calm vibe or pushing the limit to what seems like an entirely different genre. This song, however, spends its entirety catering to the classic technologically arpeggiated synths and a few short melodies here and there.

 

As for the lyrics, this song homes in on the largest source of difficulty one might have when trying to move forward in life after escaping the cycle of monotony. Where does one go next? In this world so focused on making the next dollar, how does one truly escape without turning back to the monotonous nightmare that one can’t feel complete in. The singer in this song knows he mustn’t give in and return to the darkness from whence he came, repeatedly depicting it as a nightmare, but he has no idea where else he could possibly go.

 

One can escape the monotonous nightmare but that doesn’t necessarily make the life that follows an easy one.

 

THYX – Free (9.5): Fittingly, after an album full of struggling to escape, we conclude with a song titled Free: a beautiful fitting closer to this album (I would have also accepted The Phial as an ending, but that might just be because I love The Phial so much). Free returns to a relatively calmer feeling that was so prominent in the middle third of this album, From Gravity to the Phial. It still maintains a slight bit more of that technological feel similar to the last song, with a heavy focus on an echoing bassline, which over the chorus of the song, will evolve significantly throughout, growing stronger in sync with a few piano chords as it builds up towards a lightly funky beat in the second half. There are some other more technological elements developing here as well, most noticeably in the second half. Plus, the most distorted vocals on the album round out the technological side of Poiss’ work quite nicely.

 

But like I said, this song embraces some of the calmer elements of this album as well. Much of the calmer elements of this track work in the background behind the bassline drumbeat and incredibly distorted vocals. I’d already mentioned the piano that accompanies the drumbeat, and while piano may be a significant instrument, It’s not necessarily my favorite in this case. I may slightly prefer the stirngs introduced about 2 minutes in as they rise along with the vocals in preparation for the sl8ightly more upbeat second half of the song. It’s one of the more beautiful moments of this song.

 

Free concludes the arc this album had developed from the very beginning. Now that the mold has been broken and the fog has been cleared, there is nothing left to do but to figure out where to go next. No Place for Me somewhat brushed on this, though it admittedly didn’t have a very positive outlook on the future. Free takes a second glance at the situation and looks forward to the future in a more positive light, vowing to follow a new destiny without letting the past weigh down on the present. Combining all that we’ve heard before and reaching a satisfying ending to the vague narrative this album possessed, this song masterfully summarizes the transformation that this album desires to convey: You can escape the monotony. It won’t be easy, but the struggle is worth it. Life is worth it.

 

So, go and live.

 

Conclusion: This is currently the best album I’ve reviewed so far. Not only does it contain The Phial, one of the few songs that deserve the elusive 10/10, but there are several other songs that come ridiculously close (Headless, A.I. and perhaps Free). There aren’t really any tracks here that disappoint. Some perhaps a bit on the lower end in comparison to the rest of the album (see Doomed). Bit the arc that this album has throughout makes it one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.

 

I may possibly have some biases. I’m at a point in my life right now, where I’m really feeling the message of this song, suffocated by societal expectations and all. Really not sure if that’s anything worth complaining about or if it’s just better for me to suck it up and deal with what life gives me.

 

But someday, I shall be free.

 

Final Score (8.75/10)

Bliss – The Rhythmus Gene (2005 album)

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/blisslive/sets/the-rhythmus-gene

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/00nvFS8x2O6fR9KD6QODP7?si=ltEwTWI7ShKIXHYLu0aQyA

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kMONMGpiXUiLdoKVVVytq4emgic9raziU

 

Introduction: I have returned.

 

Looks like we’ve got another new artist today. So, I guess that calls for an artist introduction. This ten-song album serves as the debut of Bliss, one of my top 3 psytrance artists, the other being the subject of my first review, Infected Mushroom and the other being an artist I have yet to introduce. I’ll save him for later. For now, I’d rather focus on Bliss.

 

 

 

Bliss – The Love Hack (6.25): What is the love hack? The secret to fulfilling our desire for acceptance in this world? Well, it could be something existential like I’ve just described (I do tend to latch onto such interpretations) but it could also just as easily be about Bliss’ secret to making music that I love. A mysterious hack indeed. Well, perhaps not entirely mysterious. I am able to put into words why I like this guy.

 

This song, as well as many of the other songs on this album focus a lot on the classic psytrance vibes, similar to the Infected Mushroom albums I’ve reviewed so far, though this came out shortly after the early Infected Mushroom years. That being said, Bliss is still recognizably different from Infected Mushroom, concentrating more on throwing heavy energetic basslines into the mix rather than the more mysterious soundscapes that Infected Mushroom focused on in early years.

 

This song is a decent introduction to Bliss’ style, mostly due to the fact, that I don’t have too much exceptionally special to talk about it. It simply fits in with the rest of the usual Bliss soundscape. It has the grooviest possible psytrance bassline and a drive that pushes the song forward, but I don’t feel it does all that much from point A to point B. There are a few moments that stand out in the second half. The build-up around three quarters in takes on a slightly different chord progression than the rest of the song and leads into a good finale, but the rest of the build-up just wasn’t exceptional.

 

It sounds like I’m a bit harsh, but there’s just so many other tracks that will display Bliss’ skill better. This beginning is just a slight bit underwhelming in comparison to what’s to come.

 

Bliss – No Gravity (7.5): So, by the title, I would assume that this song is going to float, but that begs the question. Why does this track have such a good bassline grounding it? The last bassline was definitely groovy, but this one seems to dig a slight bit deeper somehow. While never truly the main focus of this song beyond the first couple minutes, the bassline always makes its presence known, even if it has to compete for my attention?

 

Which brings us to the competition. It all starts about a quarter into the track, with the development of some glitchier bassy instruments that develop over time. They eventually trade the spotlight with some more melodic synths along with some whispering of the song’s title: No Gravity. And while the bassline may have originally defied the idea of lacking gravity, the synth introduced about three quarters in after the whispering ends serves as the true weightless highlight to the song, easily losing one’s consciousness briefly into the song, before emerging with a few other new melodies that bring the song to an eventual close. This song is definitely more of a journey and I feel it’s definitely well deserving of the eight minutes it’s given.

 

Bliss – Upside Down (7.5): This song’s introduction is the strangest beginning that this album has to offer. The first thirty seconds have a bit of a minimalistic feel to it. With one oscillating tone slowing down to reveal a synth that must perform a solo until the rest of the song has a chance to catch up. It’s an odd introduction to be sure, but it definitely leads to an interesting technological build-up filled with acceleration and a healthy amount of distorted variation on that original first melody.

 

And really, that distorted variation makes up the majority of what this song has to offer. Not saying that that’s a bad thing and that the song needs more, because Bliss does plenty with said variation that, like No Gravity, makes the song worth its eight-minute runtime. I think my favorite area has to be the section surrounding the three quarters mark of the song, as it features the most drum variation and serves to be one of the more interesting moments the song has to offer. And there was definitely some stiff competition from the odd beginning to the moment in the end where the song deconstructs itself into oblivion (Yes, the conclusion is even weirder than the introduction. Go figure.)

 

Bliss – The Rhythmus Gene (7.75): And now for the titular track of this album: The Rhythmus Gene. And this psytrance bassline does definitely do a good job of proving that Bliss has rhythm is in his blood. In his DNA.

 

In his genes.

 

But don’t worry about that. One doesn’t necessarily need to have rhythmus genes within themselves to enjoy this song. As the vocal sample says, “Things don’t always go as you expect… Sometimes, it’s more fun to throw in a few more unplanned twists.” This song does just that in the second half with a good focus on an entirely separate bassline, this one less traditional for a psytrance song. Instead of the usual rapid constant groove, this new bassline has a bouncier feel to it and it’s accompanied by a long rising tone that allows the song to build up. The preceding more traditional psytrance half was good as well, but I feel like it’s this second bassline and the way it meshes with the rest of Bliss’ psytrance style that really makes this song work.

 

Bliss – Dirty Boy (7.25): Oh yay. Dirty Boy is one of those songs. I mean it’s not a surprise, considering the song’s title, but the vocals used in this particular song are a slight bit seductively suggestive. It’s not a deal breaker, and I’m sure this style appeals to some people, but it’s just not for me. Thankfully, her odd moans and whispers aren’t incredibly present throughout most of the song and the rest of this song’s content is actually some of the best the album has to offer (outside of a couple of other songs). The bassline, as usual, is at a maximum groove factor and there are some good synths here and there that seem to be a bit common in Bliss’ debut album.

 

The best parts of this song have to be the guitar that plays throughout the first half. Unfortunately, it becomes a bit absent as the song continues and focuses more on this lady’s speed preferences and some twist contest that we’ve all been waiting for, but there is thankfully a bit of an extra funky groove to take over and keep the song interesting. It doesn’t truly feel the same as the guitar, but it still keeps the song fun and enjoyable up until the last thirty second outro that allows the guitar to lead us out with

 

I still think I’d like it a bit more without the vocals though. Just my preference.

 

Bliss – Pause (6.75): I’m going to be brutally honest here, a lot of this song sounds so very similar. And repetitive. There’s very few moments where this song decides to deviate from the psytrance norm (though the second half is lightly better), which does make it a slight bit less enjoyable to listen to, but thankfully, the moments that do stand out are definitely quite enjoyable. Interestingly, each of these moments are relatively evenly spaced with one at the beginning, one in the middle and one in the end. Let’s take a look.

 

First off, it’s important to note that the first few seconds of a track can create an image in the mind that will affect the general tone of the song. This particular song opts for the creep factor focusing a lot on eerie ambience, simple melodies and an echoing artifact introduced not long before the song pick up. This intro serves as one of the better portions of the songs, before it reverts to some usual not all that risky psytrance with a cameo of the original creep melody (which seems to lose a slight bit of its effect with the bassline, but it keeps the song alive.

 

The next divergence from the usual occurs when the song begins to slow down, accompanied by a vocal sample of those very two words I’d just mentioned “Slow Down.” And for the namesake of this song, it slows down to a pause, starting the track off from the zero. Allowing a bit of a build-up from nothing in a way. I mean the song did just screech to halt (or pause, if you will) and left the song with a second or two of silence. Anything from there would be at least some sort of build-up from literally nothing.

 

Anyway, the build-up from nothing does, as you’d expect, serves as my favorite part of the song. With the bassline and drumbeat hidden away softly into the background, the other distorted slightly bassy instruments get a chance in the spotlight slowly building up to a point where the song can return to its full psytrance form, with a few more good moments throughout as the song continues to build with some variety with the instruments from the build-up as well as a few notes that slide up in pitch to bring a bit more energy. All until the song begins to fade out.

 

Bliss – Tidal Waves (5.75): Tidal Waves definitely has some oceanic themes to it. How do I know this? Well, there’s a bit of evidence pointing to this theory of mine than just the tidal title. Also, there are repeated mentions of sharks throughout the song. You may be asking what the sharks are doing. And I will admit that that is a good question. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit difficult to try and find the source of these vocals, so I’ll have no original context, but from hat I can parse, it sounds like consuming mushroom puts you in a mindset as if you were a shark. Now, I’ve never consumed mushrooms, and I’ve certainly never been a shark, so I can neither confirm nor deny that this is the case, but that’s how this song continues its oceanic themes.

 

The final element of oceanic theming is the song’s flow. I am definitely forcing this pun, because pretty much all of the songs on this album have a good flow, many better than this one. But good flow is just something Bliss does well. The drums are bit more prominent here than in other songs, but the bassline more than makes up for it by making its presence known as well. The rest of the melodies are mostly absent, meaning this song doesn’t really have much to stand on to keep me interested. It’s by no means bad, but I see no reason to come back to it.

 

Bliss – Monitor Access (8): Now, of all the songs, on this album, this one is the most familiar to me. Of course, it does have to do with my Spotify listening habits. I have occasionally dabbled in the This Is <insert artist here> playlists and when it comes to Bliss’ version, this is the only song from the Rhythmus Gene that made the cut. The playlist instead focuses a lot on his singles and collaborations (tons of collaborations with Azax Syndrom). To be perfectly honest, I do enjoy the rest of the playlist a bit more as his singles focus on a slightly more modern 2010s style for Bliss that I happen to enjoy a bit more than the contents of his albums.  Not saying that Monitor Access and the rest of Rhythmus Gene is bad. As you can see so far in this review, there’s plenty of good stuff to offer and I’d argue that this song quite deserves to be highlighted as one of Bliss’ best. At least, it’s certainly my favorite on the album.

 

Anyways, enough introduction about the fact that this song is worthy of being declared good. The important part of these reviews is why I (and Spotify’s users apparently) consider this to be the best song off of Bliss’ original two albums. Honestly, a good chunk of that has to do with the sheer variety this track has to offer in comparison to the last two. Pause had some interesting elements to it, and I did roughly enjoy Tidal Waves more than some of the lesser tracks of the album, but nothing comes close to Monitor Access.

 

I’ve quite taken a liking to a good melody developing over a psytrance beat, as evidenced in other songs I’ve spoken of like Upside Down off this album or Meduzz off of Infected Mushroom’s IM the Supervisor. This song is no different, focusing on one melody in particular throughout the song as it transforms over time along with the rest of the soundscape. This especially begins to pick up momentum at about three and a half minutes in where the melody has a solo with no bassline or drums to interrupt, followed by an amazing rising chord progression. The most transformative portion occurring at about 6 minutes in where it changes entirely from its normal cleaner tone to match with the song’s secondary bassline as it plays alongside the main psytrance bassline. In fact, the are other points in the song where the main melody and the bassline work in tandem with each other to create a shift in the chord progression which I also like.

 

Also, I wrote down in my original notes that there was syncopation somewhere in the song, but now I can’t seem to find it. I guess that just means that I was rocking to the beat so hard I just assumed it was my favorite type of beat. Regardless, this song does prove to be the best on the album and does indeed deserve its spot on the “This is Bliss” playlist.

 

Bliss – Miracle Whip (6.25): Like the mayonnaise? I don’t really like mayonnaise though. And I have to deal with 10 full minutes of it? Oh joy. Longest song on the album is about a condiment that I’d prefer not to consume. Does it at least make its ten minutes worthwhile musically? Well…

 

The song starts off strongly enough with a piano setting the mood in the introduction of the song, with a creep factor similar to how Pause started out. I feel like it devotes itself more to the creepy vibe throughout the song than Pause. But Pause had a few more enjoyable moments, so that kind of evens out with the creepy advantage. The main thing this thing has to offer is that piano intro and its reintroductions later into the song. It’s the only thing that sets it apart from the rest of the songs on the album and the new melodies it plays at the end, make for an excellent conclusion. The rest of the song’s development?

 

Unfortunately, the majority of this song is missing the piano glue that holds this song together. I think a lot of that has to do with the absence of a main melody to truly develop. There are some distorted synths jumping around here and there and a couple of one note melodies, but other than that, there’s not much else for the song to offer.

 

It’s just not as good and juicy and fun. Guess I better find Bliss and inflict some pain on him.

 

Bliss – Spaceless (7.75): As we near the conclusion of this review, we have one final song from Bliss, Spaceless. This song, like many of the others on the album, spends a good amount of its time catering to the general psytrance elements. You can tell straight from the beginning with the vocals sample that we’re in for some psychedelic fun. And of course, it’s followed by speech in the middle rambling on about some trippy existential topic that one might focus on when on drugs, or when you’re me. I think about this kind of stuff all the time. This one focuses a bit on entropy… Is the inevitable deconstruction of all of reality a bit depressing? Sort of. But we’ve got more relevant problems to worry about in the present than reversing entropy. Though if someday we can learn how to defy entropy… Actually, I have no idea what will happen, this whole concept is out of my field of expertise. My true job here is to explore the music.

 

So, let’s dive into the music of the rest of the song. Does it have anything special to offer? Well, I will admit that this does strangely sound a bit like some of Infected Mushroom’s early work with tons of distortion, and a few extra percussion elements, like the bongos that appear about two minutes in. There’s no true melody to this song (except maybe a couple subtle elements, during the occasional calmer portions of the song), which does make it a bit trickier to enjoy in my opinion, but it still does have a good distorted feel that gives the song a tiny bit of flavor.

 

However, I think the best part of this song is the bassline. This song goes a bit beyond the iconic psytrance bassline at the midpoint and conclusion of the song, and it spends these moments with a slight bit more of a groovy bassline, making these short sections, my favorite moments within the song. And seeing that the second iteration of this bassline occurs at the end, it seems this album has ended on a satisfying note.

 

Conclusion: And so, ends the beginning of Bliss. This album is a bit lesser than some other recent reviews, but it seems that quite a few of my favorite artists do have subpar debuts. Usually, at the conclusion, I’d spend a little bit of time summing up my thoughts of the album as a whole, but there simply isn’t much to talk about. It’s a good debut, doing a bit better than Infected Mushroom’s debut, but there is, of course, more to come from Bliss. And what’s to come is quite a lot better.

 

Final Score: (7/10)

Mind.in.a.box – Memories (2015 album)

Album Links:

 

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mindinabox/sets/memories-44

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5A0Ko45IIZKgPgvZn84hFF?si=Cy_-2NnZTnO3VYMXYlxUgA

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nq-wTovKWFVHcHeOu9kki0HCHgsJTVHbM

 

 

 

 

I̸̧̪̱̻̬̟̜̖̓́̍̃ṋ̵̨̬͓͔͚̣̞͖̘̒̇̓̓̈́̊̒̿̍̄̈̕͝͝ͅt̶͓̖̠̮̜̙̓r̵̨̞̹͕̝͎̜͓̥̩̤͔̈̑̑͒̔̀͐̈͊̈́̽̎ō̷̝͕̗͇̦̪̰̩̩͎̖̱̳̒͆͘d̵̢̑͌̋͋̏̐̔͗̽̽͒̑͒͜͠͝ụ̴͔͎̺̜̗͍̖͔̹̟̞̥͙̤̆̇̾̃̆̄̐̔͆̂͘͝͝ĉ̴̡̛̳̟̦͈̮͇͉̭̫͉̦͈̀̃̿͌͋͒̑̋̂̉͘̚̚t̵̢̧̛̯̟͕͙̖̪̻̩̗́̾͗̐̈͑̋͑͋͆̓̾̋̂ͅi̵̛̻͎̤̣̝̣̇̋̄͊̑͑̌͌͜͝͠ó̵̧̟͒͆̈̊̋̀̓̽͘͠͝ň̵̞̣̘̩̣͔̗̣̝̪͉̲̠̰͂̏̉͊̏̆͐͐̊̋̆͐͠: ……………………………………………………………………….

 

 

 

Last time on Mind.in.a.box: As Black’s journey continues, reality begins to unravel around him. In the beginning he was a simple man, living his life out as an Agent employed under White. Working for the Agency against a group of rebels known as the Sleepwalkers. The Sleepwalkers had eluded Black and the rest of the Stalkers for quite some time. Their leader, a man later known as “The Friend,” had killed himself as Black had closed in on him. And another member, a woman named Night, had escaped Black’s trail in a club full of hypnotic music that has been pulsing in Black’s brain ever since the incident.

 

It was then, that Black had first glimpsed the Dreamweb.

 

It was then that White began to lose control.

 

And so, The Sleepwalkers took the opportunity to rescue Black from White’s clutches, recruiting him for the resistance against the Agency Black had once worked for. Transitioning into a brand-new life, Black has understandably had a bit of an existential crisis. His past and his future no longer align. The path forward is more unknown than ever. Black must live with the mistakes of his past. He hopes to redeem himself. To find new meaning.

 

Cast all memories aside, now is the time for the future.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Travel Guide (8.75): As per usual, Mind.in.a.box starts out this album with a recap of past events, making my recap kind of redundant. But this song doesn’t just recap previous events. There is more information here, that’s been lurking in the background and many of them are quite world changing. I believe that this is probably the most narratively intense chapter in Black’s story so far. It’s debatable whether or not this or the one in Broken Legacies blows my mind more, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

No need to talk of Broken Legacies here. There’s plenty of material within this song. The very first line of the song metaphysically changes the way you might look at the entire discography. Mind.in.a.box is no longer just the name of Poiss’ narrative cyberpunk project. It’s now the name of a band that’s important to the narrative. They were the ones playing the music in Dead End that first exposed Black to the Dreamweb. They are the band that Black and The Agency have been searching for ever since that incident. It is their music that Black rediscovers at the end of the last album in the songs, Transition and Sanctuary. This adds entire new levels of meta and immersion into the Mind.in.a.box universe.

 

And that’s not all this song has to offer. This song exposes a lot of intel on the Dreamweb and how it works, even clarifying past events back in the first album when The Friend had supposedly killed himself. He’d cheated death by escaping into the Dreamweb, another world that the rebels had used to elude the Agency, keeping them at bay, always one step behind (you might want to take a peak back at Stalkers from Crossroads now). This song even clarifies past events back in the first album such as when The Friend had supposedly killed himself. Black has now discovered that he’d cheated death by escaping into the Dreamweb. Much to Black’s surprise, the Friend is still alive.

 

Now is the time for Night and The Friend to show him the hidden world the Dreamweb. A world intricately connected to the reality Black had once known, and yet so distant.

 

But they have a key.

 

The music of Mind.in.a.box

 

And what fantastic music it is. I mean this isn’t necessarily the most stellar of Mind.in.a.box, but I’d definitely consider it on the upper end of his work. This song has less of a technological vibe than most, focusing mostly on varied guitar work than arpeggiated synths, but it does a great job of energizing this reading of Black’s journal, provided by Night.

 

But his story isn’t finished. Now that he’s conquered his past under White’s control. Black is ready to enter a new chapter of his life.

 

It is time to join the Sleepwalkers.

 

Mind.in.a.box – I Knew (7.75): Now this sounds a bit more like the classic Mind.in.a.box I know. Heavy focus on an arpeggiated bassline paired with the synthetic female voice used from the very beginning of the discography in Light and Dark (though I can also hear Black’s voice echoing in the background so perhaps that’s something to note). Add in a bit of melody and some dramatic drums and you’ve got yourself a Mind.in.a.box song. I don’t have too much else to say about the music, but the real matter of importance here is the lyrical content anyway.

 

This song takes on the tendrils of the last album’s themes of retrospection on Black’s past. It only makes sense to explore his memories in an album titled Memories. However, I feel like this song does feel a bit more positive, focusing a lot more on the new clarity that Black is now experiencing and how he’s beginning to find the answers to the questions he’s been asking his entire life. There seems to be a brighter future ahead of Black…

 

For now…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Unforgiving World (8.75): Unforgiving World has a subtle beginning with a low arp that soloing softly at the beginning. The drumbeat does come in not long afterwards, but this low arp still works well as the song’s backbone. Its influence is never lost, even when it’s covered up with several melodies, especially in the choruses. The variation in the melodies in this song is what I’d consider to be its main selling point. All of the usual technological elements in the verses blend seamlessly with the more organic strings in the second verse. And the chorus features a healthy variety of melodies in its chorus, from the most melodic portion preceding each chorus, to the longer notes underlying the distorted chorus (the latter of which seems to get more intense as the song progresses, though I feel that the hats may have some influence on that.

 

As for the lyrics, Unforgiving World is surprisingly much more positive than you’d think. The unforgiving world that Black lives in does take up some focus on the song, urging Black to give up his hopes like the numerous people hiding in the shadows, accepting the darkness as part of their life.

 

But Black doesn’t relent. Instead, he defies the darkness. He defies this unforgiving world, rejecting in his fears and refusing to fallback into the blind life he’d once lived. Instead he holds on to hope. Hope that one day, he shall find peace within this world.

 

There is hope…

 

Mind.in.a.box – No Hope (7): There is no hope…

 

Seriously, the contrast between this song and the last one is quite odd, to say the least and it feels like it doesn’t belong in the story as the next on the album continues towards Black’s positive path. It just feels completely out of place in his arc. And I feel that the album as a whole would be slightly better without it.

 

There is an alternate solution. The song could very well be following a different Stalker, one still under White’s control. The song does seem to share a similar tone to Stalkers after all, focusing on robotically oriented vocals in the front, with the familiar undistorted vocals in the background, commonly associated with Black. And the Stalkers are quite important to this chapter as you’ll see later (I’m sorry for slight spoiler, but it’s relevant. I won’t go into detail until later).

 

Anyways, since the lyrics are so sparse and vague, I’m going to judge this song mostly on the music anyways. The drumbeat in this one is very solid whenever it’s present, not holding back at all as it’s paired with a great bassline in the introduction. It gives the song a slight bit of energetic edge over the rest of the album, which for the most part, is slower paced, focusing more on dramatic moments than energy. And so, with some great arpeggiated development, this song, while not the standout of the album is good enough to fit within.

 

Barely.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Synchronize (7.75): Synchronize stats off distorted, but quickly introduces a good simple melody and a solid drumbeat. The verses are decent, implementing the more computerized vocals, which makes sense considering that this song is especially heavy on the virtual themes of the Dreamweb. But before I get into how this song affects the narrative, I want to first remark on the chorus, or rather the introduction to the chorus specifically. It’s short, but the drum solo preceding the chorus is easily my favorite part of this song’s instrumentation, though the calmer bridge at about three and a half minutes in comes close.

 

But this is Mind.in.a.box. I can’t go exceptionally long without talking of the narrative. And this album is full of some of the most important developments yet, this song starting with Black’s journey into the Dreamweb, synchronizing with the musical frequencies of Mind.in.a.box and allowing his consciousness to become part of the machine.

 

You could say that he places is his mind…

 

In a box.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Bad Dreams (8.25): Like Unforgiving World, Bad Dreams is a more positive experience of a song, with a deceptively depressing title. Even the vocal tone is a bit deceptive. The odd near whisper in the verses feel especially uneasy. The soft metallic melody doesn’t really do a good job easing the tension, only making the song feel a slight bit more ominous. Not to mention the chorus whose vocals inspire a feeling of passionately loud desperation.

 

But like Unforgiving World, this song depicts Black’s escape from his bad dreams, from his never-ending nightmare under White’s control. But Bad Dreams takes this escape a step further, as Black has now synchronized with the Dreamweb, a reality that Night and The Friends have leading him to ever since Dead End (The music is the key) and Introspection (waking up underwater). Here, Black and the other Sleepwalkers are safe from White and the unfreed Stalkers. Even the Friend, who’d died back in Forever Gone from the first album, has found a way to escape death itself.

 

This nightmare is over. Black’s journey towards redemption is coming to an end…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Silent Pain (8.5): Silent Pain is, fittingly, one of the calmer songs on the album, focusing a lot on soft melodies set over an ambient bassline. It picks up a little bit more with a couple of other melodies and the essential Mind.in.a.box arp. Not to mention the emotional climax that builds as Black ends his journey of silent pain. It still remains to be quite a relaxing song with a great atmosphere to it, even though it doesn’t quite keep the calm it had in the beginning.

 

But that’s perfectly reasonable, quite fitting actually, because Silent Pain is about a journey. Black’s journey to acceptance specifically. Throughout Revelations, Black had struggled with the ramifications of escaping White’s control, but it’s here that I believe that Black has come to terms with is past. Or, at least, he’s fully committed to embracing the future ahead of him, setting the past behind him forever.

 

What matters now is the next step of his journey…

 

It won’t be an easy one…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Timelessness (9.25): Timelessness is easily the catchiest song in Mind.in.a.box’s discography. I’m not sure what it is about this song, but the chorus gets stuck in my head more often than any other song Poiss has made and is among the songs my mind regularly defaults to when it decides to fill the silence with mental music. Yes, I do indeed do this sometimes. My musical obsession is simultaneously a blessing and a curse.

 

Anyways, I’m quite certain that the simplicity of the chorus’ lyrics is what helps it stick in my mind. It’s not exceptionally quick paced and it only has two lines of lyrics (or four, if you want to divide it into an ABCB rhyme scheme rather than a single couplet). And despite being computerized, the chorus still has an emotional charge to it, depicting the experience of what it’s like to reside in the Dreamweb (again, talking of the lyrical content while analyzing the musical content is quite risky but hold on a second while I finish this off).

 

The verses, while not as catchy as the chorus, still have a grand effect on the song overall. The vocals may be the star of the show in the chorus, but here, it’s all about the bassline and melodies (and arps of course, always the arps). Everything here meshes quite well with the lyrics, and if it weren’t for the catchiness of the titular chorus of this song, I think I’d have preferred the verses. (Oh, and one last thing, the rising frequency at the end of this song makes for quite a great finale).

 

Anyways, seeing as this is likely the most story-heavy album of the Mind.in.a.box discography (the next five songs especially, I might not even mention the music in most of them), it would probably be a good idea to go into detail of what this song is about. Along with many of the past few songs of this album, this is about the experience that is the Dreamweb, which Black has finally fully entered, falling asleep in one world and waking up in another. Now in the Dreamweb, completely free of White’s influence, Black now has more clarity in his life than ever before. It is now that he feels at peace with the truth of the reality around him.

 

Surprisingly, he had to leave reality in order to discover that.

 

And then he came back…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Face It (8): Ok, this is probably the grittiest edgiest sounding track in the Mind.in.a.box discography. It has a very slow tempo with a heavy rock guitar serving as the main source of energy. And the namedrop of the song is much harsher than anything else in the Mind.in.a.box discography. But it also is a very important turning point in this album, not as artful as Redefined, but still a very important moment in Black’s life, transitioning into the most narratively driven stretch in the entire discography, five entire songs dedicated to Black rising up from his depressed slumber and actually standing up to White and the agency. It is time for him to face his past, to cut off who he was and to embrace the future.

 

This song is the perfect blend of Black’s past regrets of his time under White’s control and his desire to change the world. Mulling over his past has done nothing for him so far.

 

Now is the time for action.

 

Black exits the Dreamweb…

 

And makes his way to the Agency.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Up there (8.75): Enter Stalkers.

 

This is it. These next four songs will display the showdown between Black and White, concluding a major arc of the Mind.in.a.box story. Think of it as a finale of sorts (though not the final finale, there is more to come). Black has sought out White and found his way to the Agency’s headquarters. He and White stand on the rooftop of Black’s previous workplace (somewhat depicted on the album art, though there’s only one person there so I’m not certain), now in a stand-off between a rebellious Stalker and his previous employer. But Black is at a dead end. There is no way out for him. It’s all or nothing.

 

And then, the rest of the Stalkers show up, their face blank, with all of their emotions stripped away, fed to the machine.

 

White has an army under his control, an army that Black was once a part of. Before the Sleepwalkers had saved him. Recognizing their previous coworker, the Stalkers welcome him back to the Agency. They welcome him back to his “home” as a Stalker. There seems to be no way out for Black.

 

And then something happens. Something strange, mysterious and currently unexplainable as the Dreamweb is still so enigmatic, it’s quite impossible to tell the true limits of its power.

 

The Friend briefly appears, the musical arps taking over a more technological vibe to the song as he uses some sort of weapon to wound White, searing his skin. And just as quickly as he had appeared, The Friend departs, leaving Black alone with White and the Stalkers…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Pedro (7.5): Enter… Pedro?

 

This is the absolute hardest song to figure out how it fits in the narrative. Why? Well, there’s no lyrical analysis to be had. This song is all instrumental other than maybe a few vocals at the three-minute mark, but it’s practically impossible to figure out what they’re saying, if anything. That being said, the music in this song does stand out from the rest of the album, sounding more like something from THYX or off of the R.E.T.R.O. album. The song clearly needs more musical focus as opposed to the four surrounding it, which get away by having some exceptionally good additions to the narrative.

 

I’d describe the mood of this song as quite relaxing somehow. There are some more driving portions of the song near the end, but up until that point, it’s just a mysterious soundscape.

 

And then there’s the name Pedro. Where do I even begin? Seen only in the title of this song and nowhere else in the discography, I have to ask, who is Pedro? Whatever theory I come up with it will be impossible to determine whether or not it’s true unless the name shows up later in the discography with some more detail. But that hasn’t happened yet, and I have my doubts that it ever will.

 

My theory? Well, it is quite possible that Black has finally remembered his name. It’s ridiculous, I know, but it is a possibility, and you can’t tell me I’m wrong because he can’t remember his name as evidenced in Into the Night from Crossroads.

 

It makes sense narratively to have a song about Black between the Stalker’s beckoning him to rejoin the Agency and Black’s final stand against White. Speaking of which…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Shake-up (9): Enter Black.

 

Black is a Stalker no more. White no longer has control over him and he will never be loyal to the Agency again. Now is the time for ultimate redemption, the end of an arc as Black stands up to White and his legion of Stalkers, up on the roof of the building that had destroyed his memories. Black may have unknowingly been on the wrong side of the story as a Stalker in the first two chapters in this narrative, but over the last three (including this album), his life has changed completely, uprooted from what he once knew as truth and reality.

 

And now, standing before White, Black holds his ground steadfastly. He will not give up. He will not give in. His path in the future may not be perfect. His path to this moment wasn’t flawless either. But his actions have not damned him to failure. Just because he stumbles, that doesn’t mean he will fall. Until the end of his time, Black will stand up for the reality and truth that he has discovered with the Sleepwalkers in the Dreamweb. As the song concludes, Black gives on quiet speech before it all ends, now at peace with the past that had haunted him, the future that daunts him and the present in which he must fight for his memories

 

Now, he remembers.

 

Now, he knows the truth.

 

But the song comes to a strange end. Something that makes me uncertain of Black’s fate in this face-off. Despite the way this arc seems to end, Black seems to be absent in the next song, leaving White alone to… well, I’ll get into that in a bit. But it doesn’t quite make sense that Black would simply leave White alone after rising up to face him, dedicating his life to the future…

 

There’s one tone at the end that makes me worry…

 

A long tone that seems reminiscent of a flatline…

 

Black’s fate is uncertain…

 

Mind.in.a.box – 5ynchr0ni7e (9): Enter White.

 

With Black’s fate uncertain, it’s time for a shift in perspective. It’s time to take a closer look at the man who’s remained roughly enigmatic up to this point: White, Black’s employer, leader of the Agency, and controller of the Stalkers. So many questions have arisen about the Agency and their relationship to those that inhabit the Dreamweb. White has been chasing the Sleepwalkers for so long, but after losing control of Black, his search for a way into the Dreamweb grows ever more frantic.

 

It’s through this that we get a good look at White as a character. What kind of person runs the Agency and what thoughts must run in his head as he constantly takes the free will of others, turning them into Stalkers. He’s a man filled with regret and horror at what he has done. He is a man who fears that he will be found by the Sleepwalkers as much as he desires to find them. He is a man who is feared by all who work for him. He is a man who refuses to look at the face of a murderer, his own face. He is a man who dedicates everything he has to a cause. And right now that cause is unlocking the Dreamweb.

 

Thankfully, at the same time that he’d lost Black, the Agency was able to record and recreate the music that Black had heard in that club, the frequency of Mind.in.a.box. And so White has led a division of the Agency to conduct experiments on human test subjects to try and enter the Dreamweb.

 

It’s not working. Several lives have been lost already to this cause, but White cannot enter the Dreamweb. Not unless he knows the secret of synchr0n17ing with it…

 

Conclusion: There are several questions left unanswered at the end of this album. The fate of Black is still undetermined, though I believe his physically body has died, perhaps in a similar manner to how The Friend had killed himself back in the first album. But as we now know, the Friend is not dead. He’d survived death through the Dreamweb. And seeing as Black has entered the Dreamweb as well, it’s quite possible that he could do the same. The power of the Dreamweb is still relatively unknown.

 

But White desires that power. He vows to reach into it and destroy the Sleepwalkers who’d been evading him for so long.

 

It’s worth noting, that when I’d discovered Mind.in.a.box, this was the latest album. This was my cliffhanger, leaving me to wonder what was next in the struggle between the Agency and the Sleepwalkers. I had so many unanswered questions, some of which have been revealed since then.

 

But sometimes unanswered questions are good. It pushes me to dig deeper into the music. It pushes me to find as much information on this narrative as I can. And most of all, it makes me await somewhat patiently for the next chapter in this story.

 

You don’t have to wait though. Go ahead and listen to Broken Legacies right now! I won’t review it for a bit, but you can always listen ahead of me.

 

Final Score: (8.25/10)

Infected Mushroom – IM the Supervisor (2004 Album)

Album Links:

 

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/infectedmushroom/sets/im-the-supervisor

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3KK4WXqbiP7MKuAfQhbhjf?si=ZivYQJOWTA281WyNYGG3zQ

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL36054862CF29783C

 

Introduction: First off, I want to comment on the album art. To my knowledge, there are two different album arts for IM The Supervisor. I honestly just chose the version that I could find the best quality image for, but if you’d rather look at some shroomed out version of Medusa (Hey, maybe that’s where Meduzz gets its name) holding an orb of some unknown origin or purpose, then go ahead and google it. I’m using this one.

 

Regardless of what album art I choose, I had taken a bit of an extended break from Infected Mushroom after Converting Vegetarians. After dominating two straight weeks with Infected Mushroom, it only felt fair to let other artists, whether or not I’ve reviewed them before, a chance to breathe new life into the Red Hat Reviews blog. This is also why it will likely be a while before you see the next Celldweller review. Three weeks dedicated to an artist that I like the least out of the ones I’ve reviewed so far is two weeks too many. I’ll get back to him and all of his other projects at a later date.

 

But this is not about Celldweller. This is about Infected Mushroom, my favorite psytrance duo of all time, despite the fact that they often deviate to other genres while keeping their style (variety is part of why I enjoy them). However, this time around they are sticking to the psytrance genre, though they have developed their sound design to match closer to Converting Vegetarians rather than the first three albums with a lot of focus and distorted vocal lines blending with the rest of the music.

 

And so, as we reintroduce Infected Mushroom to the world of Red Hat Reviews, we also enter a new era of Infected Mushroom themselves. Things are about to get interesting…

 

Infected Mushroom – IM the Supervisor (7): Starting off with the titular track of the album, I feel like now would be as good of a time as any to discuss the title: IM the Supervisor. Now you may be wondering if I’m suffering from a massive typo every time I type that title. Well, the thing is there’s a bit of a conflict on what the title actually is. Is this song short for “I am the supervisor,” a popularly held theory, or is it short for “instant message the supervisor,” which is my preferred theory. Why do I prefer said theory? Well you see, I distinctly remember seeing a story somewhere clarifying the confusion and telling the story behind the song in which Duvdev confirmed that it was instant message. Now I can’t find the story anywhere and half the sources are titled “IM” and the other half are titled “I’m.” Spotify is one of the ones to use the contraction, but they aren’t always perfect at getting titles right anyway (See Koan – Costline EP and the next song on this album, Ration Shamtio).

 

But that’s enough on the track’s title and lyrical content. In the end, such lyrics have very little influence on my opinion, as either way, they’re generally pretty meaningless, serving as just a few words for Duvdev to grumble as the song’s chorus. I personally prefer the portion where he’s screaming out “Dance with me,” as it’s a bit more energetic and there’s some great toms played in that section periodically. That’s a bit closer to the end of the song though… Perhaps I’ll review this song backwards… That’d be something different.

 

So, the middle portion of the song is what most closely matches the distorted feeling that I know Infected Mushroom best for. Not only is this where the main distorted lines with divided interpretation begin. It’s also home to many stretched lengthy notes that slide up and down in pitch. I hope you’ve enjoyed their brief occurrence her, because that’s not the last we’ll see of them in the album.

 

And lastly, I want to talk about the first minute of this song, before a single word is uttered. The odd two note bass rising and falling paired with sparing drumbeats interspersed set the tone immediately for the entire album. Much of it will be of this darker, deeply disturbing tone. The pianos to follow immediately reinforce that theme, serving as the most melodic instrument this song has to offer. Not my favorite part, as I’d originally gotten distracted by the toms that had played while the song begged us to dance (I obliged), but still important to setting up the mood for the rest of the album.

 

Infected Mushroom – Ratio Shmatio (7): And interestingly, the unconventional reviewing of methodology I started out with worked quite well into transitioning into the rest of the album. I’m not going to keep doing that though. There are some songs in this album, mainly Frog Machine, that must be reviewed front to back. This isn’t one of them, but I’m starting with that near silent arp in the intro anyway. Or at least silent in comparison to how loud it could be as quickly demonstrated by how it builds up over the next minute.

 

Building up instruments is a lot of what this song is about. The arp reaches its full potential quite soon, leaving room for other instruments to have the spotlight. I’m talking about the melodies, both the distorted glitchy synths that are a bit more infected than the other more natural instrument: the piano. And while not unique to Infected Mushroom, I think I prefer the piano. It compliments the rest of the song well and builds up gradually from its introduction a bit after 2 minutes in the song. Here, it blends in tune with the other distorted synth playing the same melody. However, not long after that, we have a build-up that involves shorter more repetitive notes from the piano, giving a dramatic flavor to everything around it.

 

Also, I lied, the arp does build up once more about three quarters into the song, resulting a great chord progression switch-up that serves as my favorite non-piano moment in the song. Would appreciate it more if it worked as a true finale, but there’s a few other squelchy instruments taking the spotlight from there on out. I haven’t much to say about them…

 

Oh, and before I forget, the song is called Ratio Shmatio, regardless of what Spotify says. I’m pretty sure that the intention is to make this rhyme as one does when mocking a particular word. Whether or not the song has some sort of ratio hidden within its progression and sound design is unclear to me, but I’m going to bet at no. It’s not like the title of the song is very respectful to that mathematical concept of ratios anyway.

 

Infected Mushroom & J. Viewz – Muse Breaks RMX (8): I shan’t spend long talking about the music in this one. There’s lots of odd things to remark about the vocals for this one. However, it’s also important to highlight the introduction and conclusion of this song. They’re roughly similar, bookending this song with mystery. These quiet moments are made up of soft simple melodies and some longer stretched notes that create the most chilling atmosphere this album has to offer. The conclusion also adds in some strings to create a sense beautiful finality. There isn’t nearly as much to say about the middle portion, but it does have a good drive and compares well to the “original” version of this song.

 

Oh yes, I put original in quotes? Why? Well, the trick is that the remix (or RMX) was released nearly a year before the original was. Makes sense? Of course it doesn’t, but somehow J.Views and Infected Mushroom got together and decided that Infected Mushroom should make an alternate version of J.Views’ unreleased song to promote the upcoming debut album for J.Views (fittingly titled Muse Breaks). Between this and the instant message fiasco, it’s clear that there are some ridiculous backstories to some of these songs. I’m not sure which version of Muse Breaks I prefer, as I discovered Infected Mushroom about five years ago and only got around to listening to J.views’ version… today… but both are definitely solid enough tracks. Perhaps I’ll review J.Views sometime so I can go more in depth to that version. Someday.

 

Well, J.views does definitely have an influence on this track through one third of the vocals. He sings the first verse of this song, though his vocals have been slightly, let’s say, shroomed (I like that term and I’m using it from now on). There’s another iteration of this verse sung by Duvdev midway through the song. He gives the song a feel that dances the line between classic Infected Mushroom and modern Infected Mushroom (this whole album seems to dance that line actually).

 

There’s also a female vocalist in there singing her own verse a couple of points in the song. And her part is definitely the most beautiful. I don’t usually prefer female vocals for singing along, but I think I may have to make an exception in this case. Unfortunately, I’m not able to figure out who she is. I know she likely isn’t Michelle Adamson from Blink and Illuminaughty off of Converting Vegetarians, as this voice is far more beautiful with very little edge to it. So I guess I’m a bit at a dead end trying to figure out who is responsible for the most beautiful part of the song. I’d love to credit her in the heading of this section of the review.

 

The lyrics of Muse Breaks are a bit strange and I’m unable to get a hundred percent deciphered analysis from what I have. I honestly am still not quite sure what a Muse Break is. But my guess it’s got to do with some sort of interruption to one’s artistic endeavors if I’m going to take it literally. There is a sense of inevitable sorrow in there as well. Rain is mentioned repeatedly and there’s a desperation to hold onto the sunny days, but it doesn’t sound like there’s much success in that endeavor. Instead, it feels like there’s an unsettling depression looming over this song. There is a struggle here though. It’s not over yet.

 

Infected Mushroom – Meduzz (7.75): Of course, if this was Mind.in.a.box, the album would begin to take a turn to tackle the existential dread and fight it with determination. But this is Infected Mushroom. Not saying we’re going to wallow it. I’m not reviewing Ashbury Heights right now either. Instead we’re going to take a more neutral vibe and check out a return to the funky groovy side of Infected Mushroom, with a funky bassline introduced almost immediately after some good shroomed up synths. There’s also notably a healthy variation on the drums as the song does change consistently letting all the kicks, snares, claps, and hats move in and out of the track as they please, even when it means all are absent.

 

But when, pray tell, would they all be absent? Well, I’ve got an answer for you, because that’s when the main theme of this song is introduced in the form of a stringed melody for this calmer portion. But as soon as the beat comes back in, you’d better be ready for a transformation. It’s the same melody but now it’s played on a guitar to give it a slightly harsher vibe rather than the dramatic strings. Both instruments represent the melody well and it’s a pleasure to listen to as the most memorable part of the song.

 

And that memorable main theme is definitely what makes this song stand out to me among most of the other instrumental songs on this album, not the most memorable mind you, but it’s close. And we can consider the fact that it’s more memorable than IM the Supervisor to make up for a certain other instrumental track beating the odds. But we’ve got a bit of time between now and then.

 

Infected Mushroom – Cities of the Future (8): After the instrumental break we had that is Meduzz, we’re onto the second most vocal oriented track (right behind Muse Breaks RMX), Cities of the Future. I want to say that this song has somewhat of a belchy groove, but I’m only making myself question how strangely disgusting my adjectives have become. It’s not like the instruments in this song are all that disgusting, just odd. But when you listen to Infected Mushroom, odd is what to expect. The distorted basslines serve as the most outstanding instrumental part of the song, though that could be because they are just about the only instruments. There’s thankfully some variety from moment to moment as well as some vocals to round out the track.

 

Speaking of vocals, let me attempt to do a tiny bit of lyrical analysis. For the most part, this song seems relatively straightforward, depicting the actions anyone would take upon the discovery of time travel (unless they’d rather try and change the past, but don’t even get me started on that mess). Make your way to the fantastical future and figure out how to bring the technological wonders back into your current life (and I’m not entirely sure if that strategy is scientifically sound either, but this is time travel we’re talking about).

 

And then there’s the bridge. Surprisingly after the shroomed vocals singing of Cities of the Future for so long, there is soon an introduction of some slightly cleaner vocals with a bit more meaning. Instead of just running to the cities of the future, the song now focuses on running away from the present to find one’s self, leaving all thoughts behind and fully creating a new self. And if you compare this theme to the titular section of the song, running to the city of the future seems to be about reaching for goals beyond our present state.

 

Or, alternatively, there could be a darker meaning to these lyrics. What if, instead, running to the future is no more than an escape. Look to the future and ignore the present. There’s nothing in the present worth concentrating on. All that matters is this imaginary uncertain future. And I’m not certain if that’s a swell way to live one’s life. I honestly don’t think ignoring the present sounds that fulfilling.

 

Honestly, I never quite realized this dichotomy until I took it upon myself to truly take an analytical look at these lyrics. This song is a bit more thought provoking than I thought it’d be.

 

Infected Mushroom – Horus the Chorus (6): Oh, we’re really pushing the shroomed vocals in here, are we? It’s not lyrical or anything. Far from it. It’s just the sound design. Not even the main standout element of this track. That credit goes to the bells that first appear at the two-minute mark. They’re an essential element that make this song as unique as it’s allowed to be.

 

And… uh… You know what? I really don’t have all that much to say about this one. It’s got a decent vibe but there’s just so little variety to talk about. It fades so easily into the back of my mind that it might as well not exist.

 

Infected Mushroom – Frog Machine (8.25): Frog Machine is a very odd one for me. Because of the interesting title and splendid variety that this song has it progresses, I ended up making narrative in my head for this song. If there was a music video, I know exactly what I’d want it to look like. I mean, what is a Frog Machine anyway? A machine that makes frogs? That’s what I’ve decided.

 

Though it’s less like a machine and more like a factory. Or maybe a very large complex machine, not too far off from one that makes chicken pies. Either way, it’s quite common knowledge that all frogs start as an egg. Well, that’s quite similar to what happens here, though instead of a frog laying the eggs. A machine pumps them out onto a conveyor belt, letting out round globs of an artificial blob of frog DNA known as frog fluid. Does it make scientific sense? Of course not! My vivid imagination (which isn’t drugged by the way, I’m just odd) wouldn’t necessarily match up with reality. I’m not a geneticist after all.

 

Anyway, these globs of frog fluid are where our journey begins. They are gathered by the bucketful (of a quite large bucket by the way) and transported across the frog machine factory. And due to the process of these frogs being genetically altered to expedite the aging process, it takes a mere minute for the eggs to be ready to hatch. But just in case, there’s a machine to manually hatch those eggs anyway, carefully holding the young enclosed tadpole in its grasp and piercing its thin outer shell, dropping the young not quite a frog yet far below…

 

Directly into the pipes, which is a lovely place for a tadpole to be, since it’s nice and wet and all. Not sure how the eggs survived this far without that water, but hey my imagination cuts corners. Let’s just assume that they’ve been sufficiently moistened up to this point. However, it’s important to note that it’s not exactly pure water running through these pipes. It’s got some Croak Juice in it. What is Croak Juice you ask? I just made it up, but basically it expedites the maturity of these tadpoles shooting them through twisting tubes. And by the time they reach the other end, these tadpoles have sprouted legs and are ready to traverse land.

 

But there’s one more step left, each of these frogs need one last shot of croak juice to truly reach their maturity as strong healthy frogs with an above average physique (for a frog). They hop down a conveyor set over a heating system to make sure these cold-blooded animals get the warmth they need to survive. They haven’t quite seen the sun yet, and I’m not sure if they ever will.

 

Because something goes wrong.

 

The final Croak Juice injector starts to clog, letting a few frogs go past without reaching peak maturity. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem as no machine is perfect, but this isn’t the end of the problems. For when the clog is cleared, the pressure of several too many doses of Croak Juice are injected into one frog which causes it to grow to a significant mutates size, towering over the rest of its amphibious friends.

 

Unfortunately for his amphibious friends, this guy has an appetite.

 

The Big One begins to eat its smaller equivalents as they are merely like bugs to its size. As it cannibalistically consuming the flesh of its brethren, the rest of the frogs understandably flee. Hopping at a tempo much faster than the Big One could handle. Unfortunately for them, the Big One can leap quite far. Far enough, to not only keep up with the stampede, but to trample those that lag behind as well.

 

The conveyors were not meant to support a frog of this magnitude. Its support begins to fracture, and the conveyor swings off course from where the frogs would finally be able to feel the sunshine on their wet slimy skin. Instead the conveyor hangs over the furnace, dropping all of its contents into the deadly fires below. The frogs scream as gravity leads them down towards their demise. Instantly melting as they reach the bottom.

 

But the Big One survives. Barely. While it had fallen into the flames, its body could withstand the heat long enough to climb its way out of hell. But it’s too late. This frog collapses, dying and decomposing as it gazes over mass graveyard of hundreds of batches of frogs gone wrong.

 

This has happened before.

 

So… I’m not sure where I was going with this? I made this up about five years ago so I’m not certain how it all goes. Probably something about the futility of society. I was just beginning to stretch my edgy wings around then, like I was ready to come out of Crow Factory or something. Wonder what that would sound like.

 

Infected Mushroom – Noon (5.75): Ok, we’re on the final stretch of songs for this album. Unfortunately, after Frog Machine, there aren’t really any more fantastic songs to point out. The problem is that, in this album, Infected Mushroom’s style began to stagnate for a brief bit. The vocals songs definitely had a lyrical advantage to gain their own identity. And Frog Machine was able to inspire some strange visualized music video in my head, despite the fact that there’s no music video to exist (this happens quite often, though I think this is the first time I’ve reviewed any outside of Mind.in.a.box’s entire discography).

 

But now we’re reviewing Noon. And I’m not incredibly impressed. It does take on a good funky vibe in some sections of the song, a decent bassline in the beginning and a few odd overly shroomed vocals introduced not long after. And there’s another half-decent melody to follow.

 

But other than that, I’ve got nothing to say to you about the rest of this song. One of the weakest on the album.

 

Infected Mushroom – Bombat (6.5): Bombat has a bit more to offer than Noon. It’s still one of the lesser songs on the album, but it creates a bit more of a creepy playful atmosphere than the previous song, making it stand out a bit more. Would it be better if it stuck to one mood and expanded upon a singular feeling rather than this dichotomy? Maybe, but the contrast works well enough with an odd minimalistic intro providing the creepy highlights and the incredibly shroomed vocals introduced about halfway through providing something a bit more playful. And then there’s the melody played throughout the rest of the second half, simple and dancing on the line between something enjoyably fun and something chillingly foreboding.

 

Personally, I think the best part of the song occurs midway through right before the shroomed vocals are introduced. This switch-up is what makes this song stand out among the rest of the songs that don’t stand out (don’t overthink it). There’s a new arp introduced about three minutes in and this arp serves as the heart of the song for me. As it dances up and down along the song’s scale, letting the bassline follow, the entire song feels like it’s a living breathing thing that continuously changes, at least for just minute. It makes a reappearance at the end of the track, ebding the song on a good note before we move on to the next.

 

Infected Mushroom – Stretched (7.75): Well, the last two songs were a bit underwhelming, but thankfully, there’s something a bit better to conclude this album. Not as good as Muse Breaks or Frog Machine mind you, but I’d put it just under Meduzz. They’re of quite similar quality and I am sensing some nostalgia from it, but it’s just not quite as memorable.

 

That being said, there is a decent amount of of variety stretched across this 7-minute conclusion. Throughout most of the track, this song maintains a good funky rhythm as the song is well supported by a consistently groovy drumbeat and bassline. However, everything else about this track changes. The short plucked melody establishes the song quite well with the way it matches the groovy backbone I’ve already described to what I’d consider to be the main melody played on what sounds like an electric guitar, backed by a distant choir that gives the whole scene a bit of tension. Following that there’s some vocals that continually cry out for beauty. The wish is granted with some beautiful piano and some returns of some of the previous instruments already introduced.

 

All in all, the song serves as a somehow relaxing conclusion to this album.

 

Conclusion: I know I’ve rated this album fairly similarly to the other Infected Mushroom albums so far, but it still feels like it’s a bit underwhelming. Converting Vegetarians is supposed to be introduce a new era of Infected Mushroom to the world and the following album just doesn’t feel all that new. Instead it feels as if Infected Mushroom’s style has slightly stagnated, still in need of an upheaval to make some unique songs worthy of their stature today. Maybe I’m just feeling a bit biased because the next couple of Infected Mushroom albums are my absolute favorites, defining the new post-Converting Vegetarians/pre-Converting Vegetarians II era. This album just can’t help but live in the shadows of where my love for Infected Mushroom originated.

 

But that’s a story for another review. Perhaps I’ll tell you more in a few weeks… or months… I haven’t decided yet when I’ll get back to this duo.

 

Final Score: (7.25/10)

Andy Hunter – Colour (2008 album)

Album links

 

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/akim777oficial/sets/andy-hunter-collide-1

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0IZD93MVZfN2K9Regou0sT?si=i7Gptf_8QSWH65He5GGAsg

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9eZ1oUPc-CBmFJ6dvzxeSBhbFXq7tM0Q

 

 

 

Introduction: Andy Hunter! It’s been a good while since I’ve reviewed what I’d consider to be the most nostalgic artist of all time (for me, there’s an incredible bias here). Well, this one isn’t quite as nostalgic as the others as it had slipped under my radar when I’d first discovered Andy and all future albums hadn’t existed yet. But that doesn’t fully matter, because this album is still filled with nostalgic tracks that reach up to the highest heights of Andy Hunter’s production (sans Lifelight, nothing will beat Lifelight). There are definitely some beauties in here, that’s for certain. But enough talking vaguely about nostalgia. It’s time to get into the details of Colour (spelt in British because Andy Hunter is across the Atlantic from me, an American, but I like the British spelling anyway and shall be using it throughout the rest of this review).

 

Andy Hunter – Sound Pollution (9): Sound Pollution is, by far, the best introduction to any of the Andy Hunter albums. It does share a lot of similarities with Go, starting calmly and then slowly building up to a more intense energy ridden breakdown that hypes up the rest of the album. I will admit that Go, at first, does a better job with it’s beautiful strings and pounding heartbeat (this one starts with some nearly as beautiful ambience and perhaps some Morse code that someone who isn’t me can decipher).However,  Sound Pollution easily takes the lead as soon as the song kicks into high gear. It’s cleaner, smoother, more energetic and simply a better produced introduction in every way. This song is dense with dozens of amazing moments and a variety that few songs can measure up to.

 

Listen to that Bassline roll in. Oh, it sounds just like Go at first, but this one sneaks up on you more quickly with some auditory artifacts crowding around as it builds up the energy towards its first switch up. Changing chord progressions, beat dropouts, new instruments introduced every couple of measures or so for a solid minute including a distorted groovy synth and a variation on the bassline that gives the song a brief breakdown every once and a while (and it’s fresh every time). There’s also a piano melody, a return of the strings which occasionally stab the song with some extra energy and a few synths complimenting the bassline. All this and I’m sure I’m forgetting something because this song is so incredibly dense it’s impossible to go over it all. And this all builds up in barely a minute and a half, not even a quarter of the song. It’s then that the vocals kick in, as all of the instruments dance around dropping the title of the song. And despite the incredible variety of noises and sounds intruding and possibly polluting this song, it all fuses together so well that it turns out to be an intricate masterpiece. The vocals are able to remain in the spotlight with every single other element of this song playing just as strongly. And the instrumental break about three quarters into the song is especially incredible with the breakdown leading ack into the chorus. This is one of the best introductions to an album I’ve ever heard

 

And this isn’t even the best song on the album. There is so much more to come.

 

Andy Hunter & Mark Underdown – Stars (5): But unfortunately, I will admit that this album isn’t perfect, there are a few songs in here that are clearly lesser than the rest in my book. Oh, they’re not bad. It’s just that about half of the songs are so incredible (or at least great) that they leave songs like this in the dust. Unfortunately, this is one of the more popular songs in the album. Or at least, it’s the one that spawned a remix EP with seven remixes on it.

 

But I guess it’s just the type of song that lends itself best to being remixed (though I think a Smile remix would be quite possible as well, and definitely better, but that’s simply my opinion. Also, I’m getting ahead of myself). To give credit where credit is due, Stars is still a beautiful song with some good piano and guitar melodies that create a safe relaxing vibe throughout the song. But there isn’t much special here. There are some decent vocals from Mark Underdown (redundant last name is kind of redundant, but sometimes that’s just the way it is), as well as some lyricless female vocals that provide an extra layer of beauty to the song, but neither of them really strike me as interesting. My guess is that I’ve probably because I’ve heard these vocals way too many times while shuffling through Andy Hunter’s discography. The only other song that comes close is the four versions of Spiral, but that’s half as many versions of Stars.

 

The lyrics due provide a bit more depth than many of the songs on this album which just blurt out the title of the song Mark concentrates on admiring the beauty of the world we live in, and I’ll admit his lyrics do a good job of illustrating the wonders of this world. It’s something I should appreciate more instead of holing myself up on the World Wide Web. They don’t go extremely in depth but it is still a good message that saves this song from feeling too mediocre.

 

I’ll give this song a slightly above average score to give it the benefit of the doubt due to my overconsumption of “the stars in the sky,” but in most cases (unless Phonat is involved), I’d probably skip this one.

 

Andy Hunter & Shaz Sparks – Shine (6.25): Shine begins with glorious beauty with a quick stab announcing the gorgeous ambience joined together with Shaz’s vocals… and that’s the best part of the song right there, great job.

 

Ok, the rest of the song is still good. Shaz’s vocals are pleasantly refreshing to listen to, even if they’re not extremely different from the vocals in Stars (for all I know she could be the same singer as Stars’ female vocals are uncredited). They encapsulate beauty quite well and fit quite well with the ambience and slight groove this song has. Plus, the bell melody that’s added in about a minute into the song. But what else is there to mention? What else is there to talk about?

 

Not exceptionally much. The few lyrics this song has don’t have much depth at all, focusing on only five words, one of which is, of course, the title of the song. There’s not really a problem with that as Sound Pollution didn’t have an exceptional amount of depth with its lyrics either and I absolutely love that one. But Shine just doesn’t have the musical moxy to measure up to Sound Pollution in the slightest, causing it to fade into the background in comparison to most of the other songs on this album.

 

Andy Hunter – Miracle (6.5): Miracle is… strange…

 

Andy Hunter isn’t one to delve into the strange trippy category as much as some of my other favorite artists like Infected Mushroom (who I’ve reviewed a bit in the past) or Bliss (who I haven’t reviewed at all but give me some time, I will eventually), but it looks like he’s taken the opportunity this time around to combine lay some meandering vocals (from an unknown source) over a throbbing bassline, a soft, sometimes tropical drumbeat and… a washing machine? It sure sounds like a washing machine to me. Overall, this makes for a stranger experience than any other Andy Hunter song I’ve reviewed except maybe Show… Nope, still weirder than Show, but this one is also a bit better due to consistent quality, even if that quality is weird. Also, there’s some strings in the second half that give the song some beauty after a half time portion with the bassline (which is a welcome break from the throbbing that takes place in most of the song).

 

The lyrics themselves are pretty surface level again. Think of it as a simpler rendition of Stars’ theme. Life is beautiful. It’s a miracle. That’s what this song is in a nutshell. Life is also weird sometimes, but that’s okay.

 

Andy Hunter – System Error (8.25): The past few songs haven’t quite lived up to the energy of Sound Pollution. Stars was pretty much a pop song. Shine was a relaxing tune going for beauty rather than energy. Miracle was… Miracle. But here we have System Error, and make no mistake, we’re back into the strongest energetic portion of the album. Well, it doesn’t quite measure up to the masterpiece that is Sound Pollution, but it does have to offer many similarities harkening back to the introductory song (and by harkening back, I mean barely even twenty minutes ago), but that certainly doesn’t stop it from standing on its own.

 

System Error, unsurprisingly, involves the most distortion and glitched out instruments in the entire album. There’s a robotic voice repeating the song’s title through much of the song, serving as the centerpiece alongside the equally prominent main melody, played by a slightly off synth, which I love. It gives me chills every time I hear it especially when it combos with the piano, the other prominent melody. Other than that, we’ve got a couple of simple basslines (one rolling up and down in pitch and the other just sending rapid-fire notes into the air), and the syncopated drumbeat that serves as the true heart of this song’s energy. Oh, and there’s also tons of record scratching, giving the song an extra glitchy effect for the road.

 

The highlight of the song is the middle portion, in which the song takes its calm and highlight some previously unheard piano and strings, before re-introducing the other harsher elements of the song, creating that blend I love between the two stand out melodies. Plus, the whole concept of this song being a system error is quite enjoyable. So, this song definitely has the privilege of temporarily stealing second place of the songs so far on this album.

 

Andy Hunter & Midge Ure – Smile (8.5): And then Smile came along, stealing second place just as quickly as System Error had originally received it. This one comes bit closer to overthrowing Sound Pollution, but it doesn’t quite come close enough to Sound Pollution to overthrow it. But that’s perfectly fine. Smile is an entirely different song.

 

First thing you might notice about this song is the strings. The strings are easily my favorite nonvocal element of the song (not that the vocals are better, it’s somewhat of a tie actually). Not only are they beautiful as always, but these ones have a quite interesting groove throughout much of the song. In the first half they only make their presence known in the verses and sparsely in the chorus. It’s just a few short notes of beauty here and there, some of them flowing a bit more once we get to the chorus. Just a nice bit of beauty to contrast with the groovier bassline.

 

However, things change a bit in the second half of the song as we enter the bridge. No longer content to play only simple notes, the violin sees an area of silence between the vocals and grasps that chance to let its true beauty shine (no pun intended). Sure, it lets a short melody take the spotlight for a brief bit, but following that, it’s all long flowing notes from the violin leading into the chorus and then closing the song out. All in all, it’s a creative blend of beauty and funk: Beaunk… Nope don’t like that portmanteau. Moving on.

 

As I’ve already mentioned a couple of times, Smile has vocals. Not a minimal couple lines like most of the songs you’ve heard so far. You’ll need more than your two hands to count all the lines this song has to offer in comparison to the one hand needed for most of the songs so far. I mean, Stars has some variety in the lyrics department as well, but I’d rather not think of that song any more than I have to. The vocal performance in this one is much stronger anyway (though not the strongest in the album). The chorus is especially impressive as it contains a duality between two different singers, Andy (unless I’m wrong and that’s just Midge again) in the foreground and Midge in the back. It creates a nice echoed feeling to the main line of the song (which is “smiling” not smile as you’d expect). And both still have a unique feel to their performance, with Midge, being the better singer, reaching for much higher notes (high enough that I can’t properly handle so I’m just sitting back admiring the range) and Andy (unless I’m wrong and that’s just another recording of Midge as I’ve questioned before) aiming for a more mellow sound to carry the song.

 

This is a feel-good song, as you’d expect from such a positive title, so I’ll admit it’s not exactly my forte. The song definitely presents a Christian message that Andy Hunter uses throughout much of his discography (though sometimes in vaguer ways than others). It’s a rather simple one this time, focusing on the positive emotional influence God has on his life. Other songs in the future may get a little deeper in their lyrics, which may prove to be better. Is Smile about to lose its second place?

 

Andy Hunter & D’Morgan – Technicolour (9.5): Yup. Just as soon as Smile stole second place from System Error. Technicolour bumps it down to third. But this time is different. Technicolour isn’t stealing second place. Technicolour is the absolute best song on this album, my second favorite in the entire Andy Hunter discography. Lifelight still holds first place there and there is another song later in this album that comes very close (same rating, but not quite the same quality), but now is the time for Technicolour to shine (not the song) in the spotlight.

 

Everything that was fun about Smile has been multiplied tenfold. The groovy bassline now has a new energy, keeping up with an energetic drumbeat (which is somehow roughly the same tempo but feels significantly faster), with several subtle synths, including arps and your usual rolling bass synth. Oh, and if you want some true groove, you just gotta look at that guitar, which makes up much of the funk this song has to offer. The only thing Smile has over Technicolour is superior strings. But Technicolour has something else that more than makes up for it.

 

For the real star of the show is undeniably D’morgan’s vocals, this time not on par with the strings at all, but exceeding them. I have never in my life heard anyone have so much fun singing a song. The first signs of D’Morgan appear int the intro of the song, echoing slightly along with the rest of the instruments as they develop (mostly the basslines), but when he truly begins to receive a spotlight, he starts so calmly that doesn’t show any hint of what’s to come. The comparatively soft spoken verse are immediately taken over by a much more energetic and passionate chorus that follows the same groove as the rest of the song, making the quality of every single element to be quite equal.

 

But then we get to the bridge. The bridge changes everything. There is so much passion in these increasingly dynamic vocals. Reaching heights that I can’t help but get caught up in his zest for the music. I mean, there’s absolutely no way, my voice can do anything that D’Morgan is doing here. But I sure try (and fail). And that bridge isn’t even the limit of D’morgan’s power. After another Chorus, he immerses himself into the best vocal portion on the entire album.

 

As for lyrics, we’ve finally reached a song having to do with Colour. Took us long enough. Most of the lines in here do depict the more negative aspects of life, with blue likely referring to depression and black and white referring to the apathy that follows. But the song isn’t fully bleak as the ideal technicolour life remains in reach, allowing for a truly meaningful and fulfilling existence. And as he stops his search for answers in the dark and steps into the light, that technicolour world becomes a reality, changing his life for the insanely better.

 

Good meaningful lyrics, but the sound design and vocal performance outshine everything else.

 

Andy Hunter – Together (5.5): Unfortunately, the streak of fantastic music must come to a close. The last three songs were all amazing, especially the unforgettable Technicolour, but this one is the exact opposite. Together is forgettable. I’m not saying it’s bad or the worst on the album (though probably the reason I hold it above Stars is that Stars is unforgettable in how average it is and how many times I’ve heard it). Together is truly inoffensive though. The music is simple, focusing almost exclusively on ambience and one melody. There are admittedly some strings in the second half that provide a little bit of variety, but it’s not enough to save the song.

 

There are vocals though!… I don’t care for them. The vocal performance is rather flat (or maybe that’s because I just listened to the dynamic Technicolour) and the lyrics are practically empty of meaning. It’s a very simple love song not unlike the simplicity of Wonderful from the last album. But at least Wonderful had something interesting about it.

 

This has nothing.

 

Andy Hunter & Cathy Burton – Fade (8): Now, if you want you calm relaxing track to have meaning and display some true beauty, then this is the song for you. Fade is gorgeous. The strings at the beginning take on the other end of the emotional spectrum compared to how they were used in Smile and Technicolour. Here, it’s not used for energy or groove, but for its sheer beauty and soothing tone of relaxation. Paired with subtle echoing drums and some Gorgeous vocals from Cathy Burton (who you may or may not remember from Translucent off of the Exodus album I’d reviewed.

 

Speaking of comparisons to songs off of Exodus, I am noticing there is an amount of bass in this song that stands out a slight bit among the other relaxing beautiful elements that this song has. And if you’re a hardcore Red Hat Reviews fan, you may remember that back in that Exodus review, I’d referred to Show as the worst song in Andy Hunter’s discography due to it’s clashing basslines ruining it’s attempts at creating an otherwise relaxing track. But that was because the sound design refused to mesh well (and there was that annoying little beep that irked me so much every time it appeared).

 

But this bassline works. It meshes quite well with the sound design only coming to the forefront in short rising spurts that fit well with the rest of the soundscape. They don’t feel like they’re interrupting or overwhelming the rest of the song. They don’t feel like a distraction or an unnecessary detour from the song’s mood. It’s just an extra bit of flavor in the verses that also appears subtly in the chorus.

 

But most importantly is the emotional meaning behind these lyrics. This one is probably one of the more undeniably religious songs on the album along with Smile and You. There is definitely a correlation between the darkness that occurs when the colour fades and the darkness that overtakes one’s life when one wanders from God and the peace one finds when they return. Seeing as peace is what I’d consider to be one of my main goals in life, I do quite enjoy this song. True peace is hard to come by, especially these days…

 

Overall, Fade is definitely a solid song and proves to be one of the most soothing and relaxing.

 

Andy Hunter – Sapphire (9.75): But then there’s Sapphire. Sapphire is absolutely gorgeous and probably one of the most soothing tracks I’ve ever heard in my life. It is also very difficult to review. Sapphire is a pure feeling. There are some vocals in there, though not lyrical. There’s a beautiful collection of piano melodies that make up the majority of the emotional impact that this song has as it climbs towards the end (though the vocals definitely help). And there’s a slow solemnly soft drumbeat and some deep ambience to back it all up.

 

But how do I truly describe Sapphire. How can I capture the immense beauty and peace of this track and put it into words? How do I truly explain how this song always can bring me to a stable state of mind whenever I listen to it? To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. This song isn’t just a piece of music. It is an emotion. It is the closest thing to peace that I’ve ever heard.

 

Listening to this more and more, I’ve come to the conclusion that I was wrong about saying Technicolour was my second favorite song of Andy Hunter’s. I was wrong to say that this song didn’t quite measure up to Technicolour. Because this song is absolutely beautiful and the only thing that can hold a candle to Lifelight.

 

Andy Hunter – Out of Control (7.5): And now for, something completely different. It’s funny how the most relaxing song on the album is immediately followed by what is possibly the most energetic song on the album. Just as the title would suggest, Out of Control is quite out of control in comparison to many of the other songs in this album. It starts off immediately with an oscillating synth that sounds like a soft siren of sorts, politely warning of the quick paced action up ahead. What quick paced action? Why the main bassline of course! The bassline is thrown into the song almost immediately after the sirens start to blare (softly). is fast, with an almost arpeggiated feel to it. Sure, it starts off soft, but it ends up building up to the become the backbone to the most energetic track on the album (sans Sound Pollution, that one’s hard to beat), especially when it starts rolling out the chord progression.

 

But the bassline isn’t my favorite part. You know what I love? Those vocals. I mean the name drop isn’t too special other than the fact that I like the distorted tone and all, but those da-da-da-da-da-das are incredibly enjoyable. They’ve got a groove to them and an overall fun tone. Really gives that song the bit of flavor it needs. There’s another melody in there as well which helps round out the song, but I don’t really have much to say about it other than the fact that I don’t have much to say about it…

 

Moving on!

 

Andy Hunter – You (6.25): And so, for our album’s finale we have You. Not You, the reader. You, the song. It’s a decent song. Certainly not bad at all. It’s definitely more memorable than… Not Separated? That was, the name of the song, right? Ah well, that’s irrelevant. What’s important is that this song now is a bit more memorable than whatever it was I was just talking about a second ago, but I wouldn’t come to this album specifically for this song.

 

See, this song does have some stuff to offer. It does follow somewhat of a similar structure to the beginning of Out of Control at first. But let me be clear, I’m only talking about the first bit. You know the drill. Start with some kind of fitting ambience and then introduce a decently bassline that you can buildup over time. At about a minute in, switch it up by adding a chord progression. And after that? Uh… hmmmm… a piano melody would be nice. I do love me a good piano melody. A piano melody can often be the highlight of a song such as this one. Probably drop out the beat for the first bit of that piano melody so it can get some good focus. Maybe add a few synths in there as the song is approaching its end, providing a last-minute touch-up of variety. Nothing too significant though. Keep the song consistent, you know?

 

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, You. Not You, the person reading this review, but You, the conclusive song of Andy Hunter’s third album. Hmmmm. Well it’s a bit long, first of all, longest song on the album actually, clocking at about seven minutes. I honestly don’t think it deserves such a length as it doesn’t go on all that much of a journey to justify that time. This song could have done just fine as a song of about four or five minutes (making Sound Pollution and Technicolour the longest songs on the album, which sounds perfectly fine to me). There are some vocals in there as well, depicting some vague worship lyrics that do nothing more than declare God the eternal trinity. It’s a fine song, but considering that there are three songs in this album that reach a score of 9 and higher, this one will go down as being kind of forgettable but not as forgettable as that other song I reviewed not long ago called “Two Things in the Same Place”… Yeah, that must have been what it was called.

 

Conclusion: This is probably the most divided of the Andy Hunter albums for me. Sure, neither of the previous ones were perfect. Exodus had Show, and Life had Open My Eyes… Actually, Open My Eyes was pretty decent, it just paled in comparison to the rest of the album as that was Andy Hunter’s best (and I could have probably given that more love than I did despite it already being my top-rated album so far).

 

But Colour had multiple flops. Stars and Together were painfully average. And Shine and You didn’t really fare that much better. And yet, there were also several gems on this album too, from the spectacular intro that is Sound Pollution to the overwhelmingly groovy Technicolour to the captivatingly beautiful Sapphire. Those songs truly deserve better. But as it is, this album does dip in quality from Life. Not to low. I’m rating it the same as Genesis, but it’s clear that Life was the highlight of Andy Hunter’s career.

 

Final Score: (7.5/10)

Thyx – Super Vision (2014 album)

Album links

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: n/a

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5aXV1Y6cXl16zqlvGD9NKd?si=Lg6MMEbrTOOX6VQM983xtA

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n8CBSooWqwMoKIK6Pd68vAuNqtjHenCeo

 

 

Introduction: It’s Thyx again! This way I can maybe maintain an illusion of not overloading you entirely with Mind.in.a.box! Is it working? I even skipped the usual “Last Time on Thyx” Joke to try and disguise the density of my Mind.in.a.box reviews. Did you know I’m reviewing Mind.in.a.box a lot? Well worry not. I think I am about half caught up with Mind.in.a.box over all so eventually I may have to give the man a break from reviews (until there’s a new release). But for now, let’s bring out the magnifying glass and give a close inspection of Thyx’s third album, Super Vision.

 

 

 

Thyx – Intro (6): Ok, I shan’t be too long on this one. This intro, after all, only lasts a minute, and there’s really very little interesting standout content that differs from any other album intro I’ve ever heard. I mean, at least with the one other short intro I’ve reviewed (“Welcome to Scatland”), there were some words establishing the theme of the album. This, however, is just some slight cinematics with a common arp. Overall, there isn’t really too much for a reason for this song to exist. It’s only a minute long and the next song begins with the exact same arp. I guess this song could be argued to set the mood for the rest of the album, but it just feels a bit unnecessary. The rest of the album sets the mood for itself, and with some edgy vocals and lyrics from the later songs on the album, it doesn’t quite match this victorious cinematic intro.

 

It just doesn’t quite fit.

 

But perhaps I’m being a small bit unfair. Album context, while definitely worth noting, shouldn’t fully affect a song’s quality. And if you ignore the context, this song does sound quite good. There is a slight bit of suspense here and it does have a great build. It just doesn’t really have the time to go anywhere and really explore the thematic mood it begins to express here. Bit I guess that’s what the next song is for.

 

Also, fun fact, since I’d spent so much time talking about this short intro, longer than I’d expected, you could easily finish listening to it before you finish actually reading about it here. “Shan’t spent too long on this one” indeed.

 

Thyx – Will They Learn? (8): Like I said in the last song, our second song of the album (or first if you only want to count full length songs), begins quite similarly to the preceding intro. It has the exact same arp. It has a very similar melody with the only difference being the instrumentation. The similarities don’t last long though, as the cinematic drums are completely absent, replaced with that good ol’ syncopated drumbeat I know and love. Sorry, Intro, but Will They Learn? is an incredibly significant improvement.

 

And that’s not even mentioning all of the other interesting elements that make this song stand out significantly in comparison to the last. Instead of cinematic drums, there’s an eerie synths that explodes into existence only fifteen seconds in, creating a chilling atmosphere that’s present throughout the rest of the track. Now this is an intro to the rest of the album. One small difference completely changes the mood and it matches quite well with this song. Also, as with plenty of Mind.in.a.box songs, there’ some great distorted vocals, these ones providing more variety than usual. Nearly every voice of Poiss is accounted for. The verses with a slightly nihilistic view on the crumbling world exclusively feature the edgier gritty side of Poiss’ vocals, not completely guttural, but certainly not clean either. The verses of existential pondering and perhaps hope, however, feature a mixture of the highly distorted robotic voice and the cleaner victorious vocals that suit Poiss best. And it’s this variety that really immerses me in the song the most.

 

But it’s not just about how the vocals sound. It’s also about what these vocals talk about. I’ve givn a slight hint to this song’s lyrical content already. A mixture of a nihilistic outlook on the state of society while still trying to keep hope that one day, we’ll find a way to live in peace. Again, this is a common theme in many of the artists I obsess over, likely because I agree that society isn’t in the most fantastic place yet and something needs to be done about all this division. The verses focus on wanting no part in a broken society, hunkering down, knowing that the storm will always come. But the verses envision a society in which peace and some sort of agreement can be found. Sure, there will always be some form of disagreement, but if the ideal of peaceful disagreement can be found, we’d all be better off.

 

But for now, this is all a hope, a question of possibility. It might not happen any time soon, but we must have hope that it will happen in the future.

 

Only if we work for it.

 

Thyx – Robots Don’t Lie (8.5): Apparently robots are quite truthful and incredibly trustworthy. That’s what the title of this song implies. It also implies that humans are liars by default and I can definitely see where such an idea comes from. Everyone lies. Not robots though. Robots don’t lie.

 

Robots are all about those arps and distorted vocals (Oh wow, the song praising robots uses the robotic voice, who would have guessed?). Of course, you also have to have a bassline and some great melodies to finish the song off. Seriously, most of the song is rather simple in its variety, but those last few melodies really do feel quite refreshing and unique compared to the rest of the song. Nothing wrong with everything else, the mood the rest of the song creates is great, but the last bit is exceptional.

 

While the song may be titled “Robot’s Don’t Lie,” the lyrics themselves seem to focus more on the idea that humans do lie. And that’s perfectly acceptable in my book. Maybe even better as I can relate a bit more to being a human than to being a robot. Because that’s what I definitely am. I am definitely a human and in no way could I be anything else that would be suspicious in any way. I may lie sometimes (because I’m human), but I assure you that I’m not lying right now. That’s definitely for certain.

 

This song explores how we hide our true selves constantly, placing some sort of filter on ourselves depending on who we’re around, constantly shrouding bits and pieces of our identity in the darkness, invisible to the eyes of an outsider. Only in rare cases will the truth be revealed, if ever. At least, that’s how I view this common, yet clever deception. For all I know I could be the strange one, a strange human that is. I don’t want to create any confusion that might imply that I’m not human. Because I am human.

 

But this is a false inauthentic way of living, hiding constantly from the truth, sometimes deceiving our own selves to be something we’re not. And if enough lies are told, it can definitely become an unhealthy lifestyle in my opinion (or maybe I just despise inauthenticity). It’s only when you remove the shroud and bare the soul that feels so dead that you can truly revive yourself. Inauthenticty is poison. Don’t give in.

 

Because otherwise, if we continue to lie, we will fall and the robots will take over the world creating a society of constant truth and as someone who is definitely human and certainly not a robot or anything else, I have to say that I definitely am not a fan of the idea of humans going extinct in favor of robots. That doesn’t favor me in any way, nosiree.

 

Thyx – Für Immer (6.5): As horrifying as the impending fall of humanity would be, Robots Don’t Lie, doesn’t sound nearly as ominous as Für Immer, a song covered in foreboding ambiance and the grittiest foreign vocals, all of it depicting an inescapable cult. Für Immer means forever. And to be lsot forever within this enigmatic emotionless cult sounds to be a nightmare. If there’s a THYX universe that I don’t know of, this makes White and his Agency of Stalkers look like small potatoes.

 

Thanks to the bridge, it does sound like perhaps a revolution within the cult as the people stand up against those still loyal to the cult. Whether, this revolution is successful remains to be determined. Of course, this could just as easily be some sort of propaganda as the cult may tend to adopt those who feel betrayed and outcast by society. I’m going to go with the latter. After all, if this cult is forever inescapable, then a revolution sounds quite infeasible.

 

Cryptic inescapable cults working in the shadows aside, this song doesn’t do much beyond the intro to set the mood for this song. The ominous ambience combined with the foreign vocals that remain to be deciphered unless you speak German (or have convenient access to Google Translate). But after that, the song doesn’t really much go beyond the typical arpeggiated vibe that’s essential to Poiss’ projects. The drumbeat is a bit irregular, but other than that, it’s pretty nonexceptional. Good and creepy concept, but that’s about it.

 

Thyx – Waiting For You (7.5): The lyrics in this song are… vague… I don’t really mind them, but they feel quite like they’re trying to tell some sort of story of a man searching for someone during an apocalypse in which much of mankind has likely died off, soon to fade into history forever. And so, the singer scours the world looking for… someone. Probably another human. Though for all I know he might not be human himself (unlike me because I most definitely am human and there’s no reason to think otherwise). Regardless, the one he is waiting for is gone and may never come back. That’s pretty much the entire story. Pretty simple. Not all that though provoking (except maybe for the idea of mankind’s disappearance. That sounds fascinating. I want more)

 

Thankfully, the music in this more than makes up for the lack of lyrical content. The song really has a good old school trance vibe with a hard hitting well tempoed drumbeat driving the song forward as well as an arp to match. It develops quite well, becoming more intense over time as the arp becomes bassier and the technological influences of Poiss’ usual work begin to take over. However the intensity does take a couple of short breaks now and then with a quite calming section about three minutes in where the drumbeat drops out in favor of some more focus on the vocals and ambience (and then creating a build-up from nothing, haven’t mentioned one of those in quite a while). There’s very similar break at the end with one last utterance of the song’s title, ending the song on a note of longing.

 

Waiting.

 

Thyx – Don’t Let Yourself Go (7.75): Don’t Let Yourself Go is perhaps the most easygoing song on this album. Most of the song lends itself to a near bass solo with only some essentials like a drumbeat and some ambience accompanying it. Oh, and also a small few lines of vocals, but they don’t lend themselves to much discussion this time around, going no deeper than the song title. The title still displays a good message what with the importance of self-identity and all, but there are other songs in which I have gone more in depth into this topic and there will also be other songs in the future that allow me to explore this concept. For now, I’d rather focus on the slightly ominous introduction that this song begins with. Extra focus on the bassline, means there’s quite little room for any uplifting sounds to break through. Plus Poiss’ vocals here are barely above a whisper which only add to the implied threat of a tune most of this song displays…

 

Most of the song…

 

For in the last third, the song takes a much more uplifting approach, adding a couple of new melodies with a joyful cadence that contrast so well with the bleakness preceding their introduction. Most prominently, there’s a guitar playing the melody of this portion. It isn’t overzealously energetic. It simply plays a few notes during its tenure in the song while taking a short break every fourth measure for a piano to take over for a couple brief seconds. This last third is incredibly refreshing in comparison to the darker basslines overtaking the majority of the song and it really sends that simple motion of holding on to one’s self- identity close, even in the darkest moments.

 

Because there will be light.

 

Thyx – Loyalty (4.75): Not to be confused with Mind.in.a.box – Loyalty, though they are produced by the exact same person. I’ve already reviewed the one by Mind.in.a.box and this is completely different. First off, the Mind.in.a.box version of loyalty has a narrative attached to it. Thyx isn’t about that. More importantly, when Black’s loyalty is betrayed back in Dreamweb, he breaks it off, refusing to trust again. However, in this one, the betrayal takes a different. Even when betrayed, this singer’s loyalty remains unbroken despite his desires to let go. Now, I’m not exactly certain of the context of the relationship these two have, but it sounds to be quite a toxic situation to me. The singer here is defeated, trapped in a misery he can’t escape from. And frankly, that causes this song to lose a lot of points in my book.

 

Alternatively, there might very well be a third unseen party in this story. Perhaps we’re not speaking of betrayal this time, but the absence thereof. What if, instead of our singer refusing to break his loyalty to the one who betrayed him, he is instead refusing to break the loyalty to another despite the urges of another. He is instead steadfast to his true values, regardless of his temptations to abandon them.

 

And yet he’s still resigned towards misery… So not exactly inspiring… The song still suffers.

 

And unfortunately, the music isn’t really exceptional enough for me to give it any recovery from its subpar lyrical analysis. It’s fine but it feels like the bare minimum for a Mind.in.a.box/Thyx song. It’s got his vocals with some minor distortion. And a few matching synths with an equal amount of distortion. But arpwork? Absent. Any sort of energy or immersion? Absent. Any reason to return to this song? Absent.

 

So yeah, they can’t all be winners. Probably the worst Poiss song of all actually.

 

Thyx – Our Only Home (7.5): After the most depressing bleak song on the album, let’s take a look at something completely different! Our Only Home begins with cleanest most peaceful vibe ever. No grit, just calming piano backed up by the softest arp and drumbeat possible. And other than the whispers of the song’s title, there’s absolutely no sign of the unedited vocals that took up the brunt of Loyalty. It’s all the brightly distorted vocals describing the world we live in and how important it is to keep it alive. Yup this song is environmental. Not a problem with that. I too, am a fan of trying to make this world we live in last as long as possible. I’ve got some goals I’d lie to achieve in my lifetime, so I’d really appreciate it if we could make this place last another century or so. Humanity’s extinction would be really inconvenient for me, seeing as I’m human and all. Any other possibility would be a lie. And as we all know, I don’t lie. I mean I could because as a human, I’m definitely capable of lying but I don’t.

 

Human treehugging aside, I do very much enjoy the refreshment that this song has to offer in a mostly darker sounding album (and discography for that matter). And it does so without sacrificing the technological vibe that’s iconic to Poiss’ work. There’s still that underlying arp that structures the song nicely and a small bridge with a synth that provides a slight bit of MIAB spice without feeling too out of place.

 

This song is simply pure.

 

Thyx – Believe (8): Five songs ago, we had Robots Don’t Lie, a song about how authenticity is so uncommon and how a common weakness among all of mankind is hiding our true selves. Believe is the absolute antithesis to that, focusing on looking for authenticity within humanity. Digging deep into the layers of lies that deceive ourselves and others. We have to try and find the truth. Something to believe in. Let go of all deception and remain true to ourselves. Only then, can we truly succeed.

 

Overzealous passion for authenticity aside, this song, while more authentically sound, than Robots Don’t lie, just isn’t quite as musically interesting. Oh, I still quite enjoy this song and would place the music on its own well above the music from Loyalty (And when you compare lyrics, then there’s no contest). It’s just a bit too overly simple for my tastes. Same slow arpeggio over and over throughout the song. And there’s a good syncopated drumbeat that’s nice, but these two elements simply can’t carry the whole song. The lyrics thankfully save it, significantly improving my opinion of the song.

 

Thyx – Forgotten (9): The penultimate track of this album is absolutely fantastic and definitely my favorite Thyx song so far. It’s not even inspiring or anything. It’s just got that odd Mind.in.a.box narrative vibe that fascinates me so much. Either two options arise from this song’s existence. It could be a rejected storyline from the main Mind.in.a.box story following a different character than our main Man in Black. Or perhaps, I’ve been underestimating Thyx’s purpose. Could there be a separate narrative here that I don’t know of? Either way, the short story that this song is telling gives me chills. The singer this time around is likely a robot of some sort. Either that or their thermometer is extremely precise, let alone that the temperature, if Celsius, sounds insufferable hot. Then again, perhaps I’m spoiled by northern US temperature. I’m getting distracted by making a huge deal of this all too accurate. Of course, despite accurate temperature signifying a robot, I’ve never heard of a robot riding a bike either. Regardless, this character, be they mechanical or flesh and blood, seems to be wandering the desert all alone, desperately trying to find more of his kind. He sends out a worldwide broadcast, begging any who hears to answer. Whether or not an answer is received remains to be seen.

 

Thyx – Every Time (8.25): Listen, this is a good song and all, but I kind of wish the previous song was the finale. The way the song gives me chills with that final “Transfer Complete” would have been an amazing way to close the album on par with the two Mind.in.a.box albums I have yet to review (Really looking forward to 5ynchr0ni73 and Command: Decode. Those songs are on a level of chilling storytelling unparalleled by anything else other than the Machine Run/Redefined dichotomy and maybe Dead End).

 

Sorry about that, I guess I enjoyed Forgotten so much that it overflowed into the next song. Fittingly enough, Every Time is about unrealistic expectations, such as the unrealistic expectation that this could at all compare to Forgotten. It’s a good song and it does deserve its own praise as it does stand out as perhaps the grittiest edgiest song of the album (excluding the toxicity of Loyalty, which was less of a gritty experience and really just sad). Plus, every instrument stands out quite well here. There’s quite a variety of drumbeats in here, none of it following the typical driving 4 on 4 pattern and the chorus has some great guitar riffs that contrast well with the grittier verses. And that’s not even mentioning the arpwork in the second half of this song, which was strangely missing from a lot of THYX’s work this time around. This is probably one of the best songs musically on the album.

 

And the lyrics are quite relatable as well, exploring the overwhelming desire for the perfection demanded from every direction, authority, peers and even from within one’s self. Just like true authenticity, this confidence sabotage is another issue that I’ve found a bit overbearing sometimes. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with trying to perfect certain aspects of yourself like living an efficient life and rising up to other’s expectations, regardless of whether or not these expectations are true to your authentic self (It all circles back).

 

Conclusion: This album does roughly match the quality of other THYX albums. All of them seem to be getting the same rating, though Headless remains to be seen. I end up enjoying it a bit less than typical Mind.in.a.box. This album in particular is a bit divided, with a few songs rated a bit lower than I’d typically desire for Poiss’ work. Especially Loyalty. That song was such a disappointment. Thankfully though, many of the other songs like Robots Don’t Lie and Forgotten made up for that mistake and proved this album worthy of checking out. But I could say that about both the Mind.in.a.box and Thyx discography

 

Final Score: (7.5/10)

VNV Nation – Empires (1999 album)

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: n/a

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7fSSsXxAJI1v9ClpIXGAGY?si=kUpWgZGYT8y4VJRdsQjjuQ

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9BCB4A0D16DA2D4E

 

Introduction: I’ve spent a significant amount of time as of late introducing new artists as of late, from the ever edgy Celldweller, to the oppositely optimistic Scatman John to the simpler cinematics of Varien. I mean, yes there was a Mind.in.a.box review thrown in there as well, but I review Mind.in.a.box and THYX so often that it’s hardly worth noting my return. However, when it comes to VNV Nation, this is only my second review, the first of which was overly reliant on using samples from old war movies and seemingly glorifying war, which I have some mixed feelings on. This album takes the whole idea of VNV Nation and twists it into an entirely different direction. Still focused on Victory Not Vengence, this album takes an internal looks on the struggles of trying to find order in such a chaotic world, which is definitely an idea I like exploring.

 

So I guess I’ll go ahead and explore it.

 

 

 

VNV Nation – Firstlight (5.25): Firstlight is a fairly average introduction song with very little to talk about. There’s really only a couple things to this song. First off, we have the trippy glitched out synth that sounds like a drum that’s been pitched up way too high for its own good. And secondly, we have a couple of layers of strengths providing some nice smooth ambience to this song, setting the mood for the rest of the album. And while the strings are always welcome (even if they’re a bit too simplistic), I’m not all that thrilled about those pitched up drums. They just don’t seem all that special or interesting to listen to. Not horrible. But not any good either.

 

Perhaps if this song took some time to develop more and added in some lyrics, I’d enjoy it a lot more.

 

Yeah, that’d be neat.

 

VNV Nation – Kingdom (6.75): Within the first few seconds, this song sounds quite similar to a lot of the war songs from the first album I reviewed of VNV Nation. A slight bit of strings followed by some samples of metal clashing as if some gate is being unlocked. But that’s all there is sampled. No communications or interrogations depicting the glorious horror that is war. Just a simple clashing accompanying some strings. And outside of a harsh snare here and there, this intro has no effect on the rest of the song, which is a bit more vocal than previous VNV Nation. Good. As VNV Nation progresses, the music only becomes more and more vocal and I enjoy it more and more each time as the message continually begins to match the mantra that Victory not Vengeance.

 

However, we’re not there quite yet, this simply synthed song still has a bit of an extra edge to it. Much of the song is spent depicting a world of chaos in which all values and ideals worth standing for are constantly thrown down and cast to the side, resigning those who live in this world to nihilism and hopeless ness. Repeatedly the song questions whether anyone can be saved from this chaos

 

But those are the verses. The chorus is a bit more hopeful, concentrating more on the dream of making a heaven within this world. A place where we can escape the chaos and find peace together. Think of this album as a compromise between the last few albums I’ve reviewed. It’s got a bit of the pessimism and edge that spread throughout Celldweller’s album. It does hint a little bit at a dream of a utopia which served as a main them in Scatman’s debut album. And like my recent chapter of Mind.in.a.box, there is hope of changing from the one negative view of the world to the more positive world from Scatman’s dreams

 

Overall, this compromise results in a bit of a more realistic worldview, one that still focuses more on victory as we must strive to take this kingdom for ourselves. We can rise above the chaos even when all seems impossible. Even when all seems lost…

 

VNV Nation – Rubicon (7): Now, most of the songs on this album don’t exactly stand out musically, so I’ll probably be spending a bit more time on the lyrical analysis rather than the music for most of the songs, but I do want to point out this song’s music for a brief second. This song’s melodies have such a good upbeat vibe that stands out a bit more than most of the other songs on the album. Yes, it still follows a lot of the VNV Nation tropes for the majority of the song: very little development, plenty of heavy emphasis on the drums, especially in some portions, but I feel the melody is a significant enough of a part of my enjoyment of this song that I felt it was worth mentioning.

 

However, the true focus for this and a good two thirds of the other songs on this album is the lyrical content. Rubicon, much like the famous Revolutionary War river of American History, is about crossing a point in one’s life that cannot be uncrossed, leaving behind a past that cannot be returned to, awakening to a world that cannot be unseen. It’s a half-song about despair, once again taking on the darker flipside of VNV Nation’s namesake, vengeance. There’s a resignation to the helpless wandering as the darkness seems quite impossible to escape, tearing the singer apart as he longs for an end to the suffering that has taken over his life. This song, does have a small bit of hope, begging for a light to be shown so that he can escape the darkness, but for now, he resigns to the fact that his end is approaching.

 

VNV Nation – Saviour (6): Well… Saviour doesn’t really have the twinges of pessimism that was hinted in the last couple of songs. It doesn’t have the optimism either. It’s an instrumental track again. However, I feel like, this one is significantly better than the intro. No overly harsh drums, no pitched-up drums, just a standard solid 4 on 4 drumbeat. Well, there’s some other instruments in there too, a simple melody, some occasional strings and an arpeggiated bassline that really serves as the main star of the show in my book, but unfortunately, there isn’t all that much variety to enjoy with these instruments. The song definitely has some good potential, but I never feel lit truly embraces it.

 

VNV Nation – Fragments (6.25): On the surface level, Fragments is the harshest song on the album. The drumbeat and the swelling bassline together to drown out all that is calm in this track, creating a loud blaring and violent drive synonymous with many of the war inspired songs from the last album. The snare is especially prominent and distorted scratching away at anything smooth that this song has to offer. It’s a bit of a shame as I quite enjoy some of the less harsh elements of this track. The arps have a decent range to them, sometimes a bit heavier than the average arp, but it’s still silky smooth in comparison to the lesser drumbeat and bassline. However, because of the harshness from the overwhelming bassline and snare, I end up being a bit disappointed by the music this song has to offer. There’s a small light influence from a choir that appears sparsely in the song, but it’s too minimal to truly change my opinion.

 

Yet, while the music is incredibly harsh, the message displayed by the song is surprisingly uplifting. Despite its rough exterior, this song houses a theme of a bright future. All great things that we fight for in the present will echo on forever into the future. And so, the great ideals of humanity will never truly die, even if they seem to be choked out by various societal flaws.

 

I’m just not sure why this song has to be so forceful about it.

 

VNV Nation – Distant (Rubicon II) (8.75): And now, for something much calmer and much more soothing in tone. Distant, the sequel to Rubicon (subtly hinted at with Rubicon II in parentheses), is almost entirely made of strings, with only Ronan’s voice breaking through. Like its predecessor, Distant focuses on life after the point of no return. The despair from the first of these two songs has bled over to its sequel. But this time, the slow somber strings bring in a strange sense of peace to the despair. Where the first Rubicon focused a heavy lot on struggling to find a way back to the past, Distant takes a breath and searches internally to the deepest depths of one who’s crossed the Rubicon. The broken soul that remains adrift in the vast sea of reality.

 

When you cross the Rubicon, you may not cross back. Distant focuses on that realization as the singer watches all that he has known fade away. And as he lets this new distant fate settle in, darker emotions arise from within. Vengeance is one of them. A deep sense of loneliness and rage take hold as one submits to the chaos. They become a near inescapable prison that tricks you into thinking that any sign of redemption or hope must be an illusion. It is a tragically toxic state of mind to find one’s self in. One that I find myself in from time to time, much as I try to deny it.

 

While I do typically enjoy VNV Nation for the more inspiring type of song. This one hits quite close to home, well illustrating the deepest darkest moments of loneliness, all with a beautiful somber tone.

 

VNV nation – Standing (8): Standing serves to be the most memorable song on this album, though that may be because, thanks to another album I’ll review later, there are two other versions of this song. Due to this, I’ve heard this set of lyrics thrice as many as most other VNV Nation songs while shuffling my all too large music library (Though Solitary from the last VNV Nation album I reviewed still has it beat with four different versions). The original Standing serves as an intermediate between the utterly calming Still mix and the harsher Motion mix that’s more akin to what you’d find off of Praise the Fallen. It has both a solid drive with more energy than Still, but also retains the sweeping chords that bring out the true beauty of the song.

 

But for now, it doesn’t matter what other versions of this song exist. All that matters is this version, which serves as one of my favorite songs off of Empires.

 

Like the two Rubicon songs in this album, Standing is about the awakening of a soul and gaining a brand-new perspective of the world. However, unlike the Rubicons, Standing’s stance on this life-changing moment is infinitely more positive. Rubicon and Distant, repeatedly mourned over the inability to retread their steps back towards the peace once known. Standing, however, cuts off the past and looks to the future. Instead of drowning in the sea of chaos, we now stand still in the waters, allowing a fuller view of the world around us.

 

This moment of clarity, when we take a breath and try and observe the world without drowning in it, is the focus of the song. The past doesn’t matter anymore, and for a brief while, the future is also irrelevant. You and the universe as it is this very moment are all that matters. It’s a vast world filled with unfamiliarity and confusion. It’s a world where, at times, victory seems implausible, though that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth fighting for. And as complicated and overwhelming as the world may become, it’s important to keep in mind what truly matters.

 

All that matters right now is that moment of peace.

 

VNV nation – Legion (8): But I can’t promise that peace will last. In fact, there’s an almost certainty that this moment of peace and clarity that we try to hold onto so dearly will slip from our fingers time and time again.

 

Legion, like Standing, has three different versions and so it has also appeared in the general VNV Nation shuffle more often than other songs (though Standing and its alternate versions did stand out a bit more to me by simply being a better song). This original version, once again, takes a medium route between the ever so calming Anachron version and the slightly more intense Janus Version. Though this time around, it’s leaning a bit more towards upbeat Janus. It’s just a slight bit harsher with its drumbeat and extra focus on the basslines, though it doesn’t come anywhere near the harsher songs seen in the first half of the album. The background choir is a nice touch that keeps the song well grounded in the calmer half of the album.

 

Lyrically, Legion sounds to be a continuation of Standing, though this one is less about breaking free from the turmoil of the far side of the Rubicon and more about the fear of returning to the chaos. After experiencing the clarity of Standing and desperately trying to hold onto that feeling, it only becomes more painful when the peace begins to fade away. And so, Legion is about desperately trying to cling onto that feeling. It’s about the fear of the unknown as you close your eyes and drift away from that point of clarity.

 

VNV Nation – Darkangel (6.5): There’s a calm sense of darkness to Darkangel (Darkangel is dark, who could have guessed?). It does have a slightly tumultuous drive compared to the rest of the latter half of Empires, which makes it stick out a bit sorely in comparison to the resto the stellar half of this album. Admittedly the darker drive in the song doesn’t match the first half of the album either but there still is a slightly more violent feeling here. Perhaps it has to do with the lyrical content. Thematically, there is some continuation of the fall alluded to in Legion, but this song has very little in common with Arclight, the next song on the album, making it a confusing penultimate song. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

What are these lyrics that take the turmoil of Legion and delve deeper into the struggle between peace and chaos? Well it’s apparent from the beginning, that peace is gone. There is no more peace in this moment and trying to hold onto it any longer will only result in suffering. Now, for the most part, this does work as a good message. True peace, in my experience, is never permanent. Sometimes, you have to move forward into the chaotic unknown in order to reach towards that peaceful future.

 

But this song doesn’t quite depict the best way to go about it. There’s no positive active drive to replace the sorrow. It’s just passive drifting through life, once again resigning to the chaos. There’s such a focus on scorn and a desire for war really implies that this song is leaning to a more vengeful solution. And the never-ending darkened skies envisioned in the future is a bit too nihilistic for my current tastes. There’s simply no hope to be found in this song.

 

Then again, perhaps this song is merely setting up a redemptive finale.

 

VNV Nation – Arclight (8.25): Arclight concludes this album with a callback to the beginning, the instrumental introduction that I didn’t quite care for very much with those pitch-crazy drums. And while instrumentally, the first half of this song is exactly the same. Thankfully, it does pick up after that midway point with a new solid drumbeat (with no unpleasant pitch shifts) and an arp.

 

And there are also lyrics.

 

This album has been a mixture of darkness and light, with the last song threatening to return to the deep depths of chaos and uncertainty. Arclight however brings us back to a hopeful state of mind. While certainty is almost certainly destined to elude us throughout our time on this Earth, there is still peace in the future if we strive for it. Leave behind all that chains you down in hopeless sorrow and embrace the future. And while you can’t be certain of everything in this world, you should at least be certain of yourself.

 

Peace is out there. And with it, contentment.

 

Conclusion: Empires is a massive improvement over the last VNV Nation album. It’s first half is a bit pessimistic, but the rest of the album more than makes up for it by once again finding peace in the chaos for a brief moment and looking towards the future, dedicating one’s life to rediscovering that peace. The instrumental songs do flop slightly and I could really do without Saviours especially, though I find that Firstlight is somewhat necessary to allow Arclight to have its full impact (even though I consider Firstlight to be the lesser of the two instrumentals).

 

Final Score: (7/10)

Mind.in.a.box – Revelations (2012 album)

Album links

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mindinabox/sets/revelations-12

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0MKOj0fFRuue84xqbwVRcd?si=AWIBEhVURhSEG4o9hjU-iA

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjIuADMrDKIYAWxu4bxbkhW37ohF1aqvv

 

 

I̸̧̪̱̻̬̟̜̖̓́̍̃ṋ̵̨̬͓͔͚̣̞͖̘̒̇̓̓̈́̊̒̿̍̄̈̕͝͝ͅt̶͓̖̠̮̜̙̓r̵̨̞̹͕̝͎̜͓̥̩̤͔̈̑̑͒̔̀͐̈͊̈́̽̎ō̷̝͕̗͇̦̪̰̩̩͎̖̱̳̒͆͘d̵̢̑͌̋͋̏̐̔͗̽̽͒̑͒͜͠͝ụ̴͔͎̺̜̗͍̖͔̹̟̞̥͙̤̆̇̾̃̆̄̐̔͆̂͘͝͝ĉ̴̡̛̳̟̦͈̮͇͉̭̫͉̦͈̀̃̿͌͋͒̑̋̂̉͘̚̚t̵̢̧̛̯̟͕͙̖̪̻̩̗́̾͗̐̈͑̋͑͋͆̓̾̋̂ͅi̵̛̻͎̤̣̝̣̇̋̄͊̑͑̌͌͜͝͠ó̵̧̟͒͆̈̊̋̀̓̽͘͠͝ň̵̞̣̘̩̣͔̗̣̝̪͉̲̠̰͂̏̉͊̏̆͐͐̊̋̆͐͠: ……………………………………………………………………….

 

 

 

Last time on Mind.in.a.box: Our story begins with an agent. We know him as Black. Employed by White, Black searches for the key to a reality beyond the physical world known as the Dreamweb: a virtual world that people known as the Sleepwalkers have escaped to, putting them out of White’s grasp. Black is a Stalker, a man put under White’s control to tail members of the Sleepwalkers in hopes of finding out how to access the Dreamweb. In particular he targets a man (now known as the Friend) and a woman (now known as Night).

 

But something goes wrong. As Black trails Night to a club, the music there overwhelms him, causing him to Black out and lose track of Night, but not before seeing a glimpse of the Dreamweb. His mind is broken by the experience, but through this he begins to discover that perhaps his mind wasn’t sound to begin with. Missing memories, nightmares of someone controlling him, feeling utterly lost in the world around him. In exposing him to the Dreamweb, the Sleepwalkers have freed Black’s mind from White’s control. He is no longer a Stalker. He has redefined his identity into something new. He has made a decision to depart from The Agency and follow the Sleepwalkers. But after such a life changing event, Black must first contemplate the events that have unfolded over the past several months. Several revelations may occur.

 

Now that his eyes have been opened, nothing will ever be the same.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Remember (8.5): Remember is quite the interesting introductory song for this album. The last two albums had explicit recaps of the events so far, but this one follows a slightly different method, focusing solely on Black’s current emotional state and his newly changed view on White and the Agency. Throughout its duration, this song develops from quiet ambience filled with whispers from the past to simple melodic verses depicting Black looking back to the conflict that has now arisen between him and White. His entire worldview has been shattered and he has found himself lost without direction.

 

From there, the song reaches its more energetic chorus, adding in some guitar riffs and much more violent introspection, focusing on Black’s regrets of his past actions. He never knew true reality until the moment the Sleepwalkers had freed him. He never knew the truth about his employer until he discovered the truth of the Agency and the Stalkers. And now that the truth has been revealed to him, he finds himself trapped in a state of turmoil as it all falls apart.

 

Outside of the obvious lyrics depicting Black’s current struggles, I found something incredibly interesting in the calmest sections of the song. There are some faint whispers that slipped past my ears a first, and even now they are so faint that it’s rather tricky to figure out exactly what’s being said. Though I believe I have noticed that the first line whispered, “Do you see the confusion,” comes from Certainty back on Dreamweb, even though the rest of the lines don’t quite match. So, if I were to guess, the rest of the whispers come from other pivotal songs in the past three albums. I don’t really have the time or energy right now to figure out what the rest are, but perhaps I’ll return later to decipher exactly what pieces of the story the Black is remembering at this moment.

 

But the past is behind him. The important decisions reside in the future.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Cause and Effect (7.25): So, we move onto Cause and Effect, which has a slight bit of a grittier vibe in comparison to our introduction. The bassline is probably the main reason for this as it takes a prominent role throughout much of the song. In fact, until 4-minutes in, it feels like the rest of the song is incredibly subdued in the background. With just the groovy bassline periodically coming in and out with a slightly syncopated drumbeat, though it’s more of an extra beat between the third and fourth rather than a delayed third beat, and the bassline seems to bounce back and forth between the groovy feeling and a slightly harsher tune intermittent throughout the track. And that’s pretty much the entirety of the song up until the 4-minute mark.

 

Okay, I’ve mentioned the 4-minute mark quite enough times. There is a game changer that occurs right here and it’s time to mention it. While the arps and the melodies do develop a small bit before this moment, it’s only here that they truly take the spotlight as they set the bassline into the background for once and let the arps take the spotlight along with some extra distorted vocals. Not quite the same as the gritty vocals that take up the majority of this track, but instead a more robotic voice that sings long notes. Thankfully, despite their distortion, I was able to parse these lyrics unlike all of the whispers in the last song. Speaking of lyrics…

 

This song further expands on Black’s regrets of the past. He was blind to reality, but instead had unquestioningly followed White. Now that the Sleepwalkers have freed him, Black sees the world for what it truly is. And he sees that White’s lies (not to be confused with white lies), have led him down a path that destroyed his identity in favor of trying to break into the Dreamweb, which upon retrospection, might not be the best thing for White to have access to. And so, now that his mind is free, he expresses his anger at the one who’d held him unwittingly in a mental prison for so long. For now, he blames White for his actions. But is his role in the Agency really that simple?

 

Mind.in.a.box – Transition (7.5): Now that we’ve reached the third song, it’s time to make up for lost time with the Mind.in.a.box arp, because it is much more prominent in this song than it was in Cause and Effect, taking the main stage for the majority of the song. In fact, other than the drums and vocals, the arps dominate this song so much that there is so little else to talk about, which gives me more time to go into the much more interesting lore.

 

In this song, Black returns to the club that he’d visited on that fateful day when he’d lost is trail on Night and first glimpsed into the Dreamweb (Check out Dead End from Dreamweb for the story on that). However, things have changed since he’d last visited the Dreamweb.

 

The club is empty. It had been teaming with the chaos of people and dancing when he’d first arrived at the club, but now the entire club has been abandoned. No music. No people. No sign of the Sleepwalkers. No answers to the questions that he’d hope to answer by finding the club once again. There is nothing left here.

 

Until he revisits the alley outside of the club. Here, he finally here’s the music.

 

It’s in his mind.

 

The time for action is at hand.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Doubt (9): Alright enough with the lore, let’s dive right back into Black’s mind and look further into the regrets that are arising as he gains freedom from White’s control. It is now that he feels doubt.

 

But first, before I get distracted by the inner turmoil Black is going through, can I just comment on the brilliant arpwork this song in particular has? I know. I’m repetitive. Mind.in.a.box is always fantastic when it comes to the arps. But this one does rise above the bar with several different layers to each and every arp, And it isn’t just the arps that are outstanding, there are some points where the arps go absent and what’s left is a simple rising chord progression and a good peaceful melody that highlights my favorite part of the song (though it’s actually my favorite part for lyrical reasons).

 

Doubt is a song of rising uncertainty. While under White’s control, he may have had some questions about his memories and where he precisely belonged, but none of these questions truly took form until the Sleepwalkers freed him. And now that he’s begun to redefine himself, he questions his past actions and whether they were truly the best ones he could have taken. He now dwells in the past when he should be living in the present, looking to the future. He dwells on what cannot be changed and throughout most of the song, falls into a deep depression, adapting a nihilistic view on his life, ruined by his past.

 

But thankfully this song takes a turn for the better. Despite being crushed by his past actions, Black eventually musters up the strength to live with it all the same. Yes, his past my be dotted with several failures, but that doesn’t mean he has to define his life by those failures. What matters is the present. What matters is that he redefined his life into something new, independent of White’s control. His doubt might not leave him completely, but he can thrive despite it.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Control (8.75): One of the main desires I have in life is to find a way to remain in control of it all. All too often, I find myself struggling to keep my head above the water. And so, to hear a this soothing relaxing track titled Control really washes over me. There’s a slower more introspective vibe created by the steady drumbeat and the simple bassline and underlying arp that set up the main structure of the song. And thanks to a few melodies, some fitting the calmer vibe and others with a more victorious feeling (the latter present in the chorus and the former being present pretty much everywhere else). This song really does have a solid feeling that matches its name.

 

Sound is deceptive. For this song describes the darkness Black feels after setting his life on autopilot. For so long he’d simply lived assignment to assignment, working under White’s command to fulfill the goals of the Agency, particularly uncovering the Dreamweb. He’d given up control to the whims of others and for a while he’d been content there.

 

But now that he’s freed, he feels lost. Yes, freedom from White’s control is definitely a victory for him and the Sleepwalkers, but now he feels lost in the chaos, tumbling down the void of the unknown, horrified by his past actions and vowing not to repeat them. But where does he belong now that he’s in control. Does he strive to make his own path. Does he blindly follow the Sleepwalkers instead? And how does he deal with White?

 

Chaos isn’t always easy to overcome, but Black has taken steps towards feeling in control. No more autopilot. No more mindless wandering under another’s guidance. Srive to escape the endless whole of darkness, not embrace it.

 

It’s time to take control.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Fragments (8): Alright, it’s time to dive a bit into the lore and maybe get a little bit meta. Musically, this song has just about nothing special to it. Good arp and that’s about all I have to say. Typical Mind.in.a.box stuff. But the lyrics. Oh, Black has many questions of the events of Dead End. Questions are eternal. Will they ever be answered?

 

Well, regardless of whether or not certainty will continue to escape Black’s grasp, he has found a place to look for answers, the club that had changed his life forever. He’d found it in Transition and now that he’s found the music playing in his head, he begins to piece together the events of that pivotal elusive night. The club has fallen apart, remaining in shambles, destroyed by something (or someone) referred to as a screamer, a currently unexplored concept, which raises more questions than it answers. The screamer could be involved in the music that allowed Black to glimpse into the Dreamweb, but that seems unlikely as the music, while initially harsh, doesn’t sound very destructive. More likely that music came from mind.in.a.box, a fictional band that had been playing at the club, likely one of the bands on the list mentioned on Into The Night from the last chapter in the story. And yes, I realize that mind.in.a.box being the name of the band within the story is incredibly meta and provides an entirely different layer of mystery to this story. Perhaps I’ll find time to conquer the ramifications of that another day.

 

But Black’s memory is starting to return. He remembers the music and the Dreaweb, the former seeming to be the key to the latter (a major development that will be important in the next chapter of Mind.in.a.box). He recalls the struggle between the Agency and the Sleepwalkers, and he recalls that he’d been rescued by two of those Sleepwalkers, Night and the Friend. But he knows so little about either group, despite both being intertwined with his life.

 

All that matters now is to fight against the Agency that had imprisoned him for so long and finally discover the true reality. To recall the memories that remain elusive and hidden.

 

But that’s a story for another day.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Unknown (7): Unknown, interestingly has a more controlled feeling than control. Simple smooth bassline that follows a more easily identified chord progression as well as a very subtle arp that follows it. There’s not really much of a melody. There’s the occasional one note in the verses that echoes before it leads to the next note, all of it continually following the chord progression. This song doesn’t really do a very good job of breaking bounds. It almost feels like filler. But when it comes to lyrical content and storytelling ramifications, there is no filler.

 

For quite a long time, Black has been pondering his life thus far, hoping to find answers to the Agency that plagued him and the Dreamweb that seems to loom in his future. Enter Night, the woman who’d eluded Black the most as he searched the club for answers. While the club was empty when Black had first investigated, I do believe that this song does depict Night reaching out to Black, beckoning him to join her and The Friend in the Dreamweb. Into the unknown.

 

The Dreamweb is unlike anything Black has seen before. His time in the Agency could not prepare him for such an experience. And neither can Night or the Friend, despite them visiting the Dreamweb themselves. All Black can do is blindly accept Night’s invitation into the Dreamweb. It’s acceptable that he can’t yet comprehend what the Dreamweb truly is. There will always be something unknown in his life.

 

For now, it’s the Dreamweb.

 

The music is the key…

 

Mind.in.a.box – Not Afraid (7): I really tried to find some parallels between this and Fear as I can’t help but feel that the two songs should be intertwined with development, much like the relationship between Machine Run and Redefined (though not quite as much because that matchup was flawlessly executed and can never be beaten). Unfortunately, other than them both relating to the concept of fear, these two songs have very little in common.

 

And yet, even without direct parallels, I do believe that the comparison between the two songs in significant as it does reveal a bit more about Black’s development. The best way to compare these two songs is to look at a specific element of the fear, not just on the personal level of Black, but also on the rest of society. Looking back to Fear, one of the lyrics in the song claims that everyone is afraid, but that’s no excuse. This song also explores the entirety of the people around Black, displaying them as empty shells, stuck in their darkest dream, living their lives in constant fear.

 

But there’s a major difference. Black is no longer afraid. He still lives his life as a dark dream, a never-ending nightmare of unknown reality, but he’s coming to find peace within that chaos. Peace with the unknown. This is likely the best relationship to have with the unknown. You can try to ignore it. You can cower in fear, letting it paralyze you, or you can stand up to the unknown and stride forward.

 

The only way to overcome the unknown is to face it without fear.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Second Reality (9): This song is incredibly deceptive in its tone. The overly distorted vocals emanate a feeling of darkness and confusion, but this song is actually one of the most uplifting songs of clarity in Mind.in.a.box so far. It’s not quite on the same level as Redefined, but I feel like continuing to compare future songs in this discography to Redefined will reflect the newer songs poorly. All will seem flawed next to perfection.

 

But before I get to the lyrics, I want to give a final quick look at the aforementioned grit. The darker tone of this song is created by the already mentioned distorted vocals as well as a slightly grittier bassline. There are a few more instruments in there, such as the occasional arp and piano melody, that prevent the song from becoming overly dark. And there is eventually a change in the vocals near the end, allowing the clearer and cleaner side of Poiss’ vocals to shine. Giving the song a powerful sense of victory. That is, after all, what this song is about: victory, particular over the past.

 

The past two chapters of Black’s story in the Mind.in.a.box discography have been incredibly life-changing. Everything that he’d known about White, the Agency, the Sleepwalkers, Night and The Friend, had been falsities made by the first two on that list. And now that he’s escaped White’s clutches, now that’s he’s found his freedom, the world around him has completely changed. An entirely new reality.

 

A reality in which in which all the barriers that once limited him have been torn down, allowing him to finally be free. A reality in which he can let go of his dark lie-filled past and find the truth in the future. A second reality.

 

Mind.in.a.box – Sanctuary (7.75): And so, Black once again returns to the club, enraptured by the music that had changed his fate. What was once a harsh overbearing melody as seen in Dead End, has now transformed into a song more gracefully orchestrated with calmly layered arps and discernable melodies that reflect the melodies created by the vocals. Oh yes there’s some more intense slightly bassier portions near the end, but that section has more a victorious feeling to it rather than the overwhelming chaos that throbbed in his head so long ago. This song overall is much more inviting now that Black is beginning to understand the Sleepwalkers and their Dreamweb. He now sees that music not as a distraction leading him away from his lead on Night, but now as what it truly is. Mind.in.a.box’s music is the key to the Dreamweb, a sanctuary where Black can truly find a life filled with meaning and hope, a life he can define and control. The music leads the way to Black’s second reality and the identity that was erased by White now begins to take shape once again.

 

Perhaps the memories shall fall into place as well.

 

Conclusion: This album has a slightly different feel to it, focused even more on introspection than usual. While Crossroads explored Black’s choice between the Agency and the Sleepwalkers, Revelations takes a look at the ramifications that choosing the latter has on Black’s life, focusing mostly on his shrouded past. I don’t believe that there’s quite as much worldbuilding in this chapter as it focuses more on Black reflecting on the events that have occurred so far as well as a nostalgic return to the club. That is, outside of the discovery that the music is the key to the Dreamweb. That’s a game changer that will define the next chapter of Black’s journey into the Dreamweb. But that’s a story for another day (I’ll review it sooner than I’d reviewed the last one. It’s been nearly 5 months since I’d reviewed Crossroads).

 

Final Score: (8/10)

 

Scatman John – Scatman’s World (1995 album)

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/scatman-john-official/sets/scatmans-world-3

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/album/2MRWFajfjxfLAF3wwmdv5j?si=ZxNoY9ZJRt6vrauiGx3fvw

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lmeQahtfdGYSLdbE9cbxdec2dwOotyopY

 

Introduction: And now for something completely different!

 

Seriously after dealing with the edgy rock Celldweller for the past three weeks, I need a good palette cleanser. I like the edgy stuff and all, but sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming in all the bad ways. So this week, I’m going to explore an artist that has no edge, but isn’t really overly sappy either (I hate pure sap). So welcome to the first review of the down to earth Scatman John as we explore his most iconic songs.

 

Scatman John – Welcome to Scatland (6): Let’s start this album off with the short piano (and bird?) based intro that welcomes the listener to the wonderous utopian paradise that is Scatland… Scatman’s World? I’m not sure. The terminology keeps on changing, but they sound like the same place from what I’m hearing here.

 

Like I said, Scatland is a utopian paradise, a land in which many of the divisive conflicts of modern day have been eliminated. It’s an ideal dream that should be strived for. Is it possible? Well we’re a couple decades past Scatman John’s career and I am unfortunately not seeing the idea of Scatland taking hold yet. For now, it’s still just a dream.

 

A dream we must strive for.

 

Scatman John – Scatman’s World (6.75): And we’re already at the title track of the album, as well as one of the most iconic tracks. Now, a lot of Scatman’s songs have a bit of a similar style so I shan’t be too long in the instrumental analysis for many of these songs. In fact, even here I shan’t be long. It’s an upbeat pop song with some simple melodies and the rise and fall of some arp in the background (almost sounds like acid, but I could be totally off base). Oh, and there’s some pads too, but outside of a couple of exceptions, pads are never really interesting to talk about. This isn’t one of those exceptions.

 

As for the vocals, Scatman is most known for certain sections of his songs that are a bit less lyrical than others. That’s right, I’m talking about the scatsinging. It’s in the name. All the names. Artist name! Album name! Song name! Well, that last one is pretty obvious because it’s the titular track of the album, but there’s 4 other songs with the word “scat” in the title so it’s not like this is the only occurrence. And while these sections are meaningless, they are quite fun. I am not ashamed to admit that at least half of the enjoyment of singing along with Scatman’s songs is the scatsinging, even if some parts in more complex songs (this one is pretty simple) are impossible for the average human being.

 

But even with his superhuman scatsinging abilities, John here still brings his songs down to earth to convey some authentic human messages. They are in no way existential or edgy like the mindbending thought experiments that is Mind.in.a.box or the tortuous edginess that I’ve reviewed from Ashbury Heights’ and Celldweller’s early works. Instead they convey an idealistic world that displays the innermost human desire for what kind of world they want to live in. Well, at least this is the type of the world I want to live in. And while we’re not living in that world yet, I do think that working towards that world can result in a more enjoyable life. Don’t hold back your turmoil and let it eat you up inside. Express yourself. Allow others to help you through life. And help others if need be. I mean, this probably sounds like some cheesy hippie rambling, and in a way, that is what a lot of Scatman’s lyrics focus on.

 

But if a message of hoping for and striving for peace and happiness in a world that seems to deny it is frowned upon, then that’s not a world I want to live in.

 

I’d rather live in Scatman’s world.

 

Scatman John – Only You (6.25): Again, Scatman adapts the upbeat fun vibe that will be the focus for a good 80% of this album. This one does kick the music up a notch with the song bouncing back and forth with a bouncy piano melody in the majority of the song, while giving it a slight break for the slight groove of a bassline to be spotlit in the verses. I wouldn’t say either part of this song is exceptionally stellar, but it still gives me a slight bit of nostalgia even though I hadn’t actually grown up with this song. My guess is that it reminds me a bit of one of my childhood games (Blinx: the Time Sweeper), but that’s a very loose reminder that probably comes from the arp I hadn’t mentioned yet. Something about it is just the right flavor to activate that memory in my brain.

 

Cryptic nostalgia aside, Only You is one of the few songs in this album that present a slightly different message than the aim for utopia. Instead we’re looking at a love song… I’m quite surprised that this is the first real love song we’ve seen in any of my reviews. Yes, there’s been plenty of toxic love songs in Ashbury Heights’ and Celldweller’s early discographies (as antitheses to Scatman John, I can see myself mentioning these two a lot in this review), but Scatman here is actually giving us a real wholesome love song, filled with a good ammount of adoration without dipping into addictive obsession, and an overall feeling of unconditional love directed towards the soul rather than the outward appearances. And all of it is well appreciated. Is this song for me. No, not really. I’m drawn to the more introspective stuff, but that doesn’t really detract from this song’s quality.

 

Not a huge fan of the slang “mama” though. I understand that there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with it in the song’s time period and its aim is to be endearing, but something about it just rubs me the slightly wrong way.

 

Scatman John – Quiet Desperation (5.5): So, after two upbeat songs that follow Scatman’s iconic style we have Quiet Desperation, a song that prides itself on a slower pace. There’s a soft syncopated drumbeat backing this track up, but it doesn’t reach the hight tempos of the dance songs that much of this album has. This is one to sit back and relax to. A little bit of simple piano here and there. A touch of trumpet for some melodic flavor. And of course, a nice bit of scatsinging that’s intrinsic to any Scamtan John song. Some might have more scatsinging than others, but they all have at least something in the language of “Scattish.”

 

This song’s focus forgoes singing of the fun of scatting one’s way to happiness and instead follows the life of a homeless person that John sees on the side of the road. Not the most uplifting theme. The song’s title refers to the plight of the homeless as he lives his life on the street, just getting by day to day.

 

The message of this song is a bit odd to say the least. Much of the song is spent painting the plight of the homeless. Desperately grasping at the little money that passersby provide. Longing for a place to call home but instead feeling empty inside. Trying to convince one’s self that this nightmare of desperation is only a temporary passing and that it isn’t nearly as bad as he thinks it is. It’s not really an uplifting situation.

 

And yet, Scatman seems to find something in this homeless person that reminds him of something that he’d lost. And I really wish I could tell you for certain what he meant by that, but I just don’t know. What has Scatman lost? Has he lost his focus on what really matters in life beyond the material he has? This one doesn’t quite feel right. The homeless person does desire a home and it’s perfectly reasonable to want at least a simple livable piece of shelter. Maybe it’s more about their similarities of feeling lost and empty, how they’ve both lost something to get them to their similar states of emptiness. But I feel like there needs to be more details for that one to work…

 

Overall, the song sounds pretty good, but the lyrics end up falling flat due to inconsistency… unless I’m missing something. If I figure out what this song is missing, I might come back and raise the score, but for now… eh

 

Scatman John – Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) (8.25): And now, complete with some emotional whiplash from the last song, we have the most iconic Scatman song of all… Scatman! If you know Scatman at all, then you know this one. I’m not sure if I can say that about very many artists and their highlight song. But Scatman John’s Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) pretty much defines his career. Yes, Scatman’s World is quite popular too, but most of his other songs seem to fall to the wayside. But there are definitely reasons this song is so icinoic.

 

First off, the simplicity of the name and its similarity to the artist, Scatman John, makes it clear that this song, from the beginning, was meant to be the iconic song for Scatman. His very name is the title of the song. But then there’s the second part of that title (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop). Absolutely false advertising. Well, the first part of the chorus does seem to follow the subtitle of the song quite similarly, but This simple string of syllables is nothing compared to the plethora and variety of scatsinging that is actually on this song. From the tongue twisting intro to the second half of the scat singing chorus to the absolutely impossible rapid buzzing that the man does in the song’s bridge. I’ve tried to imitate that zah- zah-zeyah portion to no avail. Scatman John is something else entirely. Really, the music is the simplest of dance tracks to be used on the album, but that just allows the scatsinging to take the center stage.

 

And this song didn’t have to have a good message to it, but it really does have a good focus on not defining yourself by your weaknesses, and instead pushing forward to follow your dreams and desires. Perhaps even using one’s weakness to their advantage. In Scatman’s case, he had an issue with stuttering ever since he was a child, and his life was all the more difficult because of it. He was bullied for his stuttering as a child. While he was eventually able to use his passion for learning music as an escape from his stuttering, he first used it as a front to hide his stuttering. Scatman is the song in which he bravely stepped out and use his talents and passion for music to sing this song despite his fears of his stuttering. He may have never been able to get rid of his stuttering, but he didn’t need to get rid of his weakness in order to be successful. Instead, he turned it into a strength.

 

This song is John Larkin’s life set to music and while it’s not my favorite from him, it is well deserving of his most popular song.

 

Scatman John – Sing Now! (7.25): Sing Now! brings us back to the dreams of a better world, Scatman’s World, a utopia worth striving for. But before I dive into the lyrics of international happiness, I do want to highlight the music as it really feels extra 90s this time. I can definitely hear it in that constant bouncy bassline that accompanies the drumbeat. There are a few other 90s dance melodies, but it’s really the bassline that stands out to me.

 

But Scatman’s strength is always his scatsinging and message. The scatsinging is on point as usual as it fills the instrumental portions in between the choruses and the verses with an extra feeling of joy and celebration. A celebration worth singing about. Sing now! dreams of a world where war has ceased, where division has disappeared, a peace and unity have taken their place. Oh, it’s a sappy idea to be certain and considering my usual distaste for sap, I should hate this song, but I just can’t. There’s something so sincere about the way Scamtan John sings this song, that I feel as if the sap can be ignored in favor of an uplifting message about the dream of peace come true, not by waiting for it to happen, but by stepping up and making it happen. We create or own happy ending.

 

The sun will only rise on our lives if we let it.

 

Scatman John – Popstar (6.5): Popstar takes a step back to a calmer vibe. Not quite the same calm as Quiet Desperation, Song of Scatland or Everything Changes. Just calmer in comparison to the songs around it. What makes this stick out a tiny bit from the other calmer tracks is the little funky bounce it has. Not too much to remark about the music of this song except that bassline which really fits the whole tone it sounds like Scatman has been going for in these lyrics.

 

And what do I think of those lyrics? Well I used to hate them. When I’d first listened to this album, I’d quickly decided that this was my least favorite song of the bunch and much of that has to do with the song’s message. Or rather, it has to do with what the song’s message appeared to be. Because up until the last minute and a half of this song, the entire song is just endless bragging about being a hip and cool popstar. And it’s so self-centered and annoying that it just doesn’t fit the theme of the rest of the album in the slightest. Clearly, I wasn’t listening to that last little bit of the final verse, where Scatman says that everything he’s said up until this point in the song is a joke and how the whole status of a popstar doesn’t matter. All that matters is you. And that is a good message but it was lost on me once I started to tune out the bragging the first few times I listened. So, the twist was alright in the end, but I feel like a twist would be more powerful if it took a good song and made it great rather than taking a bad song and making it good. Thankfully Scatman will prove such a twist is possible later, but that’s for another review.

 

Scatman John – Time (Take Your Time) (8): And now this is some good upbeat funky Scatman. The slight funky of Popstar was nice, but this song is able to get just as much groove here with a much better upbeat tempo, immediately rendering Popstar obsolete as far as the music goes. Yes, a clock is supposed to tick 60 times a minute, but the BPM of this song is at least double that, bringing the whole drive to the fastest Scatman has ever done. The melodies aren’t too much to speak of, but the bassline is exceptionally better than Popstar’s and that one was already quite good. Most of the song it resides in the background with all the scatsinging and quick drumbeat giving the song a subtle but quite noticeable drive to it, but there are points like midway through the second verse where the bassline reaches the front for a rapidly paced breakdown. This combined with scatsinging more fast paced than even the more iconic Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop), makes this easily the most energetic song on the album.

 

And the basslines and scatsinging aren’t the only things running rapidfire in this song. The lyrical sections of the song are also jampacked with words so quickly expressed that makes deciphering this song quite impossible. Clearly he’s repeatedly saying “Take your Time” in the chorus, but he certainly isn’t taking his time enunciating every last line in the verses because the rest of the lyrics are completely up in the air, as both the lyrics I’m hearing on my own and the lyrics I’m looking up on the internet make very little sense outside of the fact that they are indeed words. So, can I tell you exactly what this song’s about? Well from what I can put together, the tone seems to suggest getting caught up in trying to figure out the chaos of existence, flipping frantically through an imaginary handbook of how to live life, while also juggling every single problem that hurdles your way.

 

Sometimes, you just need to take your time.

 

Or maybe it’s something else and I’m mixing up my lyrical extraction and my self-projection again. Who knows?

 

Scatman John – Mambo Jambo (6): And now, in between two of the most meaningful songs on the album we have Mambo Jambo. This one means nothing. I mean the lyrics are all about doing the Mambo Jambo, which is a play on words using Mambo, a Latin dance, and Mumbo Jumbo, a ritual intending to confuse. And it works because I am bobbing my head which is sort of dancing. I am also confused. It’s all scatsinging and the call to dance in bewilderment.

 

Yeah, I’m not going to analyze these lyrics. This song is clearly just meant for fun.

 

And the music only makes it clearer that fun is the goal. It’s a bit repetitive with nothing but a drumbeat with a slight jungle vibe and a harmonica. There’s a small bit of variety with the piano and its build two thirds through the song which gives it a nice little break from the scatsinging jungle harmonica. So that makes it my favorite part of the song. And besides this song is rather short so it doesn’t really overstay its welcome.

 

Scatman John – Everything Changes (8.5): And now for the best of the best. It takes a step back from the upbeat Scatman and instead focuses on feeling a little bit more laidback. Feels like elevator jazz with it’s simple nonintrusive chill vibe. A few soothing melodies and one little trumpet or saxophone solo. For someone obsessed with music, I’m afraid I have troubles telling a good trumpet from a saxophone sometimes. But both are good, so it doesn’t really affect my enjoyment all that much (pretty sure this one’s a trumpet though).

 

The lyrics of this song are the true highlight though. Everything truly does change. I’ve expressed this before, especially in my Mind.in.a.box reviews, but in case you don’t know or need a refreshing of memory, change is the central point of my worldview. Society and the people who make it up are constantly changing. And even looking at myself, the person I am is constantly changing. I see the world around me and see myself trying to strengthen my emotional fortitude while still trying to maintain the empathy that I hold dear to myself (though interestingly I don’t aim such empathy at myself, have to work on that).

 

But sometimes, it’s a bit too easy to get wrapped up in the constantly changing world and overworry about what the unknown future may bring. And so, the central message of this song declaring that sometimes it’s best to look at the present and live in that moment is quite a refreshing message of easing the stress of the future. I feel I definitely need this and I’m pretty sure there’s several people in the world that could use this line of thinking on occasion as well.

 

Scatman John – Song of Scatland (6.75): And for the last relaxing song on the album (the next two are quite upbeat), we have the ultimate depiction of Scatman’s utopia: Scatland. With a simple piano melody and a very smooth and soothing bassline, this song proves to be the most relaxing of them all. There’s a few other instruemnts, particularly the synth in the second verse and the sax in the instrumental bridge that contribute to the smooth relaxing vibe that brings the peaceful atmosphere to Scatland. But it’s the lyrics that prove to be most important to this song in particular.

 

Anyways, back to Scatland. If we look at the earlier more popular song, it seems that this land is located on Scatman’s World. Kind of like how the capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City, but on a larger scale. Plus, it’s also a fantasy, but it’s a fantasy worth striving for as usual. There are quite some interesting moments in this song detailing the way Scatland works, particularly the language of Scattish (not quite like a leprechaun), and the directions to Scatland (give yourself a hug and love yourself (which I have a hard time doing to be brutally honest)). And all of it does sound indeed like a paradise to strive for. It’s a bit sappy and I do find it to oversimplify the problems of this world a tiny bit, but’s still a good sentimental song.

 

Scatman John – Hi, Louis (7.75): S̶̗̠̘̫̦̟͚̝̦̔̈́Ǫ̴̨̮͇̙̞̗̫̫̭̒́̐̿͑̏̅̆͘͝N̶̼̤̼̭̞͇̏̑G̷̡̢̞͉̥̣̗̲͇̒̃̆̅̂̇̓́͠ A̷̡͙̹̳̜̳̤̼̤̲̩̰͉̗͚͚̹̳͊͜Ṅ̵̻͉͉̲̇͆̏̈̽̅̔́͑̋͒̊̋̑͂̉̀̔͂̏͗̈́̀̌̀͛͘͝A̵̡͕̪͈͙̪͚̙̳̰̹̭̠̼̭̠̗̓̉̌̊͛͒͐͒̑͛͗̆͆͑́̍̎̔͐̚̚͠͠L̸̺̺̟͔̳̇͐̽͊͐̌̉Y̵̠͂̽͗̋͐͑̂̔͋̍̏͑͑̒͊͘̕Ş̴̱͔̝̝̣̼͗̂̽̍̌́̓͆̑̒̈́̿͂̐͋̽̀̔͛̈͐̐̉̕̚͘̚̚͠İ̵̡̛̠̹̳͚̲̥̮̟̘͖̤̜͕̣̓̍̎̃͗̓̈́ͅŚ̸̨̺̭̺̻̞̝̉͑̍̌̅̃̒͂̕͠ Ư̷̧̡̧̡̻̟͉̩̗͔̮͖͚̺̖̬̥͉̩͙͛̂͂̒̄̃̓̈̅̾̓͋̍̌́̅̍̉̿̓͊̉̆̓̎̚͝͝͝ͅͅN̶̡̥͉̘̫̩̪͓͎̙̜̳͖͉͈͐̀͒̏̇̐́̄̿͆̒͌̆̐̃̈́͑̄̿̇͘͘̚͜͝͠͠Ą̶̨̨̨̧̧̛̞̮̖̫̩̦̰̜̺̤̙͈̫͈͚̘̖̥̝̗̟̬͔͖̲̠̭͚̤̯͍̭͇̥̳̭̤̖̲̹̘̩̟͙͓̳̼̩̍͒̅̀̓͗̈́̓̇̉̊͑̑̑̏̍̾̋̈̀͑̄̃̔́̈́̇̊̑̾͐͐͑̾̕̚̕̚̕͝͠͝͝͠ͅͅͅͅV̴̨̡̡̢͕͉̼̺͙̠̙͖͙̳̟̤̭͓̣͙̤̺̣͖͇̣̞̞̼̘̟̓͊̏́̋̐̄̔̊͒̀́͒͊̅̾͌̐͐͗̒̃̎͐͑̔͂͗̓̐̔̅̅̀̽͑́̈̓́̊̈́̽̎́̍̈̀̀̑͘͘͘͠͝͝͝ͅA̵̧̧̨̩̬͖͕̻͙̩̟͔̙̬̐̈͋͗͗̓͆͂̈̈́͗̔̉̃̃̈́͆̐͋̓̓̽͂̐͛̀̾̚̕͜͝͠͝ͅI̴̖̪̥̘̬̤̒͒́́́͑̓̈̍͆̍͋̉͋̑̕̚̕͠L̴̡̛̠͙̪͓̪̥͕̝͙̳̬̥͕͌̐̔̿̑̏̀̈̍̐̋͊̿̇́̂͒͛̎̍̀̉̈́͂͑͝͝͠͝͠ͅA̵̢̡̨̢̡̢̛̫̳͇͔̹̙͔̣͖̝̖̼̲͙̳̗͖̣͕͓̬̙̜̅̇̓̈͑̄̓̃͐̄͌̓̔̇̐̓̌͊̿̊͜͝ͅͅB̷̡̨̢͍̥̰̘̞͍͓̤̜͎̤͇͚̻̯͙̘̬͔͚̙̻̲̫̣͇̳̘͍̯̼̗̘͈̖̤̦̤̮͚͉̖̮̮̱̦̪͉͔̆́̾̑̾̋̑̍̑̎̃̐̔̉̓͛̍̂̄͗̆́͗͌̉͑̈́̓̄̀͋̐̑̈́̀̂͊͛̋̅̇̾͘͘͠͝͝͝ͅĻ̴̡̰͇̥͎̝̗̮̮̰̮̖̲͔̞͇̙̖͉̪̯̟̤̺̺̲̣̅̀͌̐̈́̀̓͊̆͐̀̎͂̿́̀͊͂̈́̈́́͌̍̿̈́͋̀͑̋̓̋̔̂̽̕͘͘͝ͅE̶̡͖͎͍̣̖̣̰̜̦̓͛͋̾̀̄̈̽̔̍̈̐̂͋̋̃͛̅̂̌̆͆́́͑́̀́̂͒͆̈́̋͋̉͐̀̕̕̚͠͝

 

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Scatman John – Scatman (Game Over Jazz) (8): You know, these last two songs on this album are just about having a good ol’ fun time. I… can’t quite remember what I said for the last song. I think I blacked out… But knowing me, it must have been completely articulate and some good song analysis. But that song is already in the past, we’ve got to live in the moment of this song right here. This one is a remix of the famous ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop that defines Scatman’s career, and while it doesn’t quite match up in meaning to the original version (the verses are completely absent, it’s just the scatsinging), it definitely makes up for it with the absolutely amazing funky jazz it has. The groove that bassline provides throughout the song definitely helps give the song a nice bounce to it and the rest of the instruments make this song work flawlessly with the jazz. Scatman’s vocals are a special instrument of their own that fit quite well with the piano. And of course, there’s the brass that steals the spotlight. I, once again, am not fully certain if this is a saxophone or a really good trumpet, but right now, I’m actually leaning towards the saxophone. Either way, this song is great jam to conclude Scatman John’s debut album.

 

Conclusion: Scatman is quite different from any of the artists I’ve reviewed. The era, genre and overall mood are completely alien to any song I’ve reviewed in the first half of this year. I can’t really hold my taste to omne area to be honest and while I do usually ten to the edgier songhs, there is something refreshing with the occasional more uplifting song. Scatman does seem like he should be one of those sappy artists I hate, but there’s something so sincere and authentic about the way he presents his optimism that really sweeps me up into a temporary elation of humanity’s potential. Of course, in iorder to harness this potential and embrace the utopia Scatman presents we all will have to commit a lot of effort to creating it. But I like to believe that it is possible, despite the chaos in the present, that we can find peace in the future.

 

That we can find Scatman’s World.

 

Final Score: 7/10

Celldweller – Celldweller Part 3 (2013 Instrumentals)

Album Links:

 

Bandcamp (instrumentals only): https://celldweller.bandcamp.com/album/celldweller-10-year-anniversary-edition-instrumentals

Soundcloud (original album and bonus tracks only): n/a

Spotify (full album): https://open.spotify.com/album/1gStSHuxB1XHGBzPDQHU9w?si=-zbQHTIATBy5VEUPoeVCGw

Youtube (Instrumentals from disc 1 only): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyL2RhXM8konpM1jG5Bb9NAzKiM4Dn4zD

Youtube (Instrumentals from disc 2 only): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyL2RhXM8konPjM_Tww92DcPG2XHA9OfG

 

Introduction: Final round of Celldweller’s debut album and we can put Klayton to rest for a good while as I return to some of the other artists I’ve been reviewing as well as branch out to others that I haven’t yet touched. But first, it’s time to finish up the last third of the review: the 26 instrumental songs. There may be no words left on this album. But I’ll say a few words regardless.

 

Celldweller – Switchback (Instrumental) (6): So, you may remember in the first part of this review, I mentioned the personal Switchback “meme” that my brother and I share. This is where it began. The instrumental for Switchback. Well, it actually wasn’t really as funny until we did it with the instrumental of Unshakeable, but you get the idea. However, while this was the starting point of heightening my enjoyment of Switchback’s vocals, it doesn’t actually benefit from this because those vocals are the best part of Switchback and since this is an instrumental. They simply aren’t present.

 

Ah well, I don’t want to spend too long talking about what this song isn’t. Let’s go over quickly about what the song is. First off, I want to point out the beginning of this track and how it differs a bit from the original. Why? Well, there are three Cell tracks on the original album, none of which get their own instrumental (like anyone wants thirty seconds of random ambience anyway), but Cell #1 gets some special attention in comparison to the rest as its second half is actually snuck into the beginning of this instrumental.

 

The rest of the song is… less interesting. The parts of the song that are able to utilize some of the electric side of Celldweller intrigue me slightly, but the solo rock portions are repetitive at best and they just end up making me miss the lyrics more than anything else. The closest thing this song has to an improvement is that there’s a great bassline that didn’t get much focus in the bridge, but when push comes to shove, the vocals are more important to this song than that bassline.

 

Celldweller – Stay with Me (Unlikeley) (7.25): For this song, I feel the departure of vocals actually lends its way to appreciating more of the melodies and glitches this song has to offer. And the song carries itself poised exactly as it would with vocals. Take the verses for example. In the original, there’s a couple of lines in the song that diverge from the rest (“me who said it” and “me who did it”) and while I didn’t notice it in the original (because the vocals were no top of them duh), there’s a little riff on lying underneath that carries the same energy.

 

The absence of the lyrics is an odd loss as I’m still not certain if they were truly well executed in the original. It could be about the inner turmoil of isolation (which I enjoy) but it also could be about toxic relationships. Why do I mention this here where the lyrics aren’t even relevant to this instrumental. Well, I guess I can’t tell how to rate it in relationship to those original vocals. I am thinking that this might be a slight step down, but it’s ever so slight it almost doesn’t even matter.

 

Celldweller – The Last Firstborn (Instrumental) (8): Oh yeah, remember when I said the original song would have been a bit better if there weren’t any vocals getting in the way? Well look at this! No violently suicidal vocals! Instead we have that wonderful switching back and forth between the rock and electronic that I listen to Celldweller for. And the best part is that it doesn’t even seem like the vocals are missing.

 

Most instrumental songs have an issue with feeling somewhat empty or overly repetitive. The Last Firstborn has so much constantly going on and so much constantly changing that it doesn’t even matter that the vocals are gone. It’s actually tough to highlight everything amazing that this song does, but a lot of it does have to do with the fact that there’s never a moment where one side of Celldweller electronic or rock truly takes over. My favorite parts are definitely the quicker paced electronic portions with perfectly arpeggiated chaos and a great underlying guitar for the bass. Though the bridge also deserves some mentioning

 

Whatever I highlight, the entire seven minutes is exceedingly enjoyable, and it really makes me appreciate how much effort was put into this song.

 

Celldweller – Under my Feet (Instrumental) (8.25): Without the lyrics, this song just sounds like a great journey that the guitar goes through as it progressively gets more intense. And considering that was my favorite part of the original song, I’m really happy to hear it in the spotlight. I’d already gone perhaps a bit too much in depth in the music of the original version of this review on all of the instruments surrounding this guitar’s journey (drums, choir, etc.).

 

The main takeaway is that here I can enjoy the journey without any distractions. There is one point in the middle of the song that pauses before leaping the farthest jump in intensity. It feels a little off, likely because there were some vocals closing that gap initially, but it’s not an overwhelming fault and to make up for it, the absence of the vocals in the end is extremely welcome. In the original song there were some spiteful lyrics at the end that ruined the entire message and left a bad taste in my mouth. Here, however, the journey simply fades out with the same melody the song began with. A much more satisfying form of poetry than spite.

 

Celldweller – I Believe you (Instrumental) (6.25): Ok, so while I’ve surprisingly had a good bit to say about the songs so far, this one is going to be short. I have so very little to say about it because not much in particular is standing out to me. Throughout all the rock portions of the track (and that makes up most of it), I can’t seem to find much that’s all that remarkable in comparison to anything else we’ve heard. I do enjoy bits and pieces of it. The syncopation, the little melody that occasionally appears. But most of the guitar riffs aren’t all that great. However, I do like the riffs a bit better when they’re distorted in such a way that makes them feel more distant like at the beginning. Also, the same riff is clearly better when played by a bassy synth at the minute mark. Well, at least it’s better in my opinion. My electronic bias is showing.

 

Since I am listening to this on loop as I review it, I must make sure to mention that this song loops very nicely, as that pause at the end is exactly four beats. It’s kind of an abrupt ending when played otherwise, but if you want to listen to this song forever, then you’re in for a treat. I don’t even want to do that with sons I thoroughly enjoy though so I’m going to have to pass on that one.

 

Celldweller – Frozen (Instrumental) (6.5): Hey, wait a second. This isn’t instrumental. There’s still that one moaning chick saying, “Let’s Go.” What a ripoff! I demand my money back! Except for the fact that I’m listening to this off of Spotify so the closest I am to paying for this track is the ten dollar monthly fee, and I have feeling that Spotify isn’t going to refund me my ten bucks just because some woman decided to attempt a seductive moan when she shouldn’t have. But hey, if you want to give me ten bucks, then I’m all up for it (shameless Patreon reminder).

 

Ah well, other than that, how does the rest of the track hold up. Eh. It’s a bit repetitive. I mean, I appreciate that it’s no longer oddly sexual in a way that doesn’t even seem enjoyable, but what’s left behind is a lot of empty creepiness in the verses and a simple melody in the chorus with nothing to distract from the fact that it might be considered a little bit annoying.  It’s the basslines that really save this song from falling by the wayside. Whenever, that two-note melody isn’t distracting, there’s an extra amount of focus on the basslines and they give a healthy variety to this track in the creepier verses and the first half of the bridge. And the second half of the bridge has a great guitar solo that’s worth noting.

 

Really, Frozen is a lot more enjoyable when the song itself isn’t about lack of enjoyment. Go figure.

 

Celldweller – Symbiont (Instrumental) (7.5): Funny how many of the songs with more uncomfortable lyrics have the best instrumentals. I mean, this isn’t quite as good as The Last Firstborn or Under My Feet, but the constant switch back and forth between the great halftime groove introduced in what was the song’s verses and the more upbeat insanity that comes in at the chorus. That first section has a consistent nice groove to it with the occasional glitching and the perfect smooth bassline. And then on the other side, we have the sudden drum and bass tempo with great guitar solos and some a drumbeat singing out the titular lyrics of the song (if the titular lyrics were there). Really, this one’s just a good enjoyable experience. Not exceptional, but definitely notable.

 

Celldweller – Afraid This Time (Instrumental) (7): The rewound elements of this particular song make for quite an unsettling introduction. I mean it gets better once the guitar and piano roll in there. In fact, it’s actually quite relaxing, but before that, you have to admit this song’s a bit creepy. And while creepy is all fine and good, the combination of piano and acoustic guitar is much better. Sometimes, all you need for a good time is a drumbeat, a piano and a guitar.

 

Unfortunately, this does mean that the parts of the song that are entirely drums and electronic bassline definitely pale in comparison to that perfect trio. I’m struggling to come up with anything to say about this chorus but I’m afraid it’s just uninteresting without the vocals. Which is a shame because that hampers the good guitar and piano we have in the verses.

 

Celldweller – Fadeaway (Instrumental) (8): Fadeaway’s instrumental goes through three phases. Well, I guess the original went through three phases as well as every single part of this instrumental is present in the original, but it’s much more relevant here as there are no good vocals to distract from the rest of the song. Yeah, that’s going to be a slipback in this case, but let’s talk about what the song does have.

 

The first phase obviously starts at the beginning during the first couple verses. It’s here that the song has some ominous slow pacing. The bass rumbles softly, foreboding the spectacularity that is the second phase. Every once and a while a couple of guitar melodies break the calmness, giving a break to the bassline that beckons danger, but such breaks are temporary until we reach the second phase.

 

The second phase takes all the energy that’s been building up for the past minute and a half and finally puts it to good use with the lovely quick paced DnB. There’s some decent variety here as new instruments are constantly being added and replaced, possibly allowing me to divide this phase into subphases, but I’m not going to do that. Right now, I’m just going to highlight the acidic bass that comes in at around 1:50 and the final few moments of this phase. After all the built-up energy from these guitars, a few short collections of riffs set the stage for the final phase.

 

And after just a couple seconds of silence (thanks to missing vocals), the song enters it’s final phase, one which builds up from a nice acoustic guitar laid on top of on a subtle electronic melody (which was present in the “silence” I just mentioned but I’m still calling it silence). The song doesn’t stay necessarily at this calmer acoustic level but slowly does build its way up to some bits of more intense rock, likely on the same level at the end of phase 2. It’s really nice to have a song build from simple lovely combinations into something a bit more extreme. I call that a build up from nothing. Not the best example, but it is an example, just as this is an example as a good instrumental.

 

Was better with lyrics though.

 

Celldweller – So Sorry to Say (Instrumental) (7.75): As I’d mentioned when I reviewed the vocal version of this song two weeks ago, this song stands out among many of the other Celldweller tracks due its use of strings and piano. Most songs in the Celldweller discography are some variety of rock (be it hard or soft) with some mixture of electronic elements sprinkled in there. And while this song does have some of the normal Celldweller in it. There are some good strings in many parts of the songs and the piano serves as the most memorable part of this instrumental due to their more unique nature. There’s also some odd distorted vocals near the end which I enjoy despite this being labeled an instrumental.

 

Now, I’m not just highlighting all these atypical instruments of this song to say that the rock and electronic parts are worthless in comparison. There’s plenty of variety to be had just looking at the guitar work and the glitched out drumbeat. The latter of which is generally pretty self-explanatory. A bit of syncopation and semi-unpredictability is exactly what I like and expect from drums such as these. The former, which definitely does have its usual moments does step up to provide some a good underlying drive in the song’s chorus

 

So yes, this song does hold up quite well on its own. It was admittedly a slight bit better with the existential isolation lyrics, but it still works well enough on its own.

 

Celldweller – Own Little World (Instrumental) (6): As soon as this instrumental begins my heart starts racing with pleasure, but the only reason for that is because I love the original so much. Because without the lyrics, this song really feels a bit more underwhelming than it should. Oh, it’s good, but it just feels a bit empty. The verses have this cool feeling that’s a bit more chill than the chorus as well as a bit more chilling. It doesn’t play too much with that feeling though. And the chorus is even more riskless. It’s just a couple of guitars playing the chord progression with a beat in the background. When I was listening to the original song I was so hyped up by the lyrics and their delivery that I didn’t even care how simple the chorus was. I was too busy singing along to care. And now I can’t do that. Now I’m uninterested

 

It really almost feels like the same one-minute song played twice in a row, with a final iteration with some slight changes: a verse that’s a bit less chill and chilling and a chorus that’s a bit more intense. It just ends up being a skippable instrumental which is rather surprising considering how much I enjoy the original.

 

Celldweller – Unlikely (Stay With Me) (Instrumental) (7): There are so few lyrics in the vocal version of this song, that this version feels pretty much exactly the same. And so, since I was kind of drawn towards the instrumental anyway when originally reviewing this song, I really am not left with much to say here. There’s a decent blend of electronic and rock in this one, with neither side of the Celldweller coin overpowering the other. It has nothing on the instrumental of Last Firstborn, but it still allows for a nice tone and development… Really that covers pretty much all I feel like saying on this one. It was a good song and it still is.

 

Celldweller – One Good Reason (Instrumental) (4.5): You know what? I have even less to say about this one. It drones on at the beginning sounding like a swarm of bees and then from then on out it’s just an unremarkable Celldweller song. Mostly rock with such minimal electronic portions that are only apparent in the chiller intro. I’m sure I mentioned this in the original review but it’s too heavy and gritty for my tastes.

 

At least the worst lyrics on the album are gone.

 

Celldweller – The Stars of Orion (Instrumental) (8): The Stars of Orion was another song with minimal lyrics like Unlikely (Stay With Me). But there is a difference here. While I wouldn’t say the lyrics of the original are bad (they’re pretty meaningless really), I feel like they do distract from the main creepy mood of the song. The mood created by all of the interesting instrumental content this song has to offer. It starts and ends with some great ambience, and the middle is covered in good distorted electronic basslines that fit a song of this tempo and drum pattern (hint, it’s DnB which is pretty much a guarantee of enjoyment for me). This song ends up creating an environment of feeling lost even more than the original could, making it one of my favorite instrumentals of the album (other than the songs rated 8.25).

 

Celldweller – Welcome to the End (Instrumental) (6.5): Oh no, I’m not welcoming you to the end of this review yet. Sure, this may have been the conclusion to the first part of this review, but I still have to do all the bonus tracks after this. So, I guess I’m welcoming you to the middle (about 60% done).

 

Welcome to The End is, once again, the chilliest song the album has to offer. And I’m including the vocal songs as well. Without the vocals (unless you count what I believe are dolphins at the beginning as vocals but nonhumans are not valid), this song is utterly relaxing. It’s no longer a cryptic story of leaving one’s home. It’s just a song that paints a picture of relaxing near the ocean. At least I visualize it as an ocean. The dolphins and the occasional bubbling do help with that whole thing.

 

Unfortunately, the song does feel a bit empty as it’s trying to make room for the vocals that aren’t there.  The guitar breaks the silence on occasion. But unfortunately, the song has a paradoxical relationship with the vocals. It’s more relaxing without, but with that relaxation comes an emptiness. Perhaps with a more meditative mood, this can be enjoyed, but I’ve never been one to clear my mind. So this one just stands as a good song.

 

Celldweller & Tom Salta – Ghosts (Instrumental) (7.25): And here we have a Deluxe instrumental of a Deluxe track. There’s less of these to go through, but just as much good to point out. The original’s lyrics really didn’t come too much into my play on my opinion with this one, so we’re not missing much this time around. In fact, I think this song improves a bit focusing on just the variety of sections this song has. Sure, there are a few spots where the song feels a bit emptier than it should with the absence of lyrics. Within each section of the song, there isn’t much melodic variety, which is usually covered by the cleaner vocals this song has to offer. Where there’s the grittier vocals, the song sounds a bit more complete as the bassline here holds its own. Except maybe that moment at the three minute mark where the song pauses for two full seconds for Celldweller to scream those last couple words… except he’s not screaming those words today. He isn’t there vocally. That’s the point of an instrumental.

 

But Tom Salta’s strings are definitely the star of the show here. They were the best part of the song when the vocals were present, and they still are. Outside of the bassy gritty portions of the song, it’s these strings that provide most of the variety., present especially in the chorus and before each verse. It’s a pleasure to see a few clean smooth instruments clash with Celldweller’s harsher style. This one doesn’t reach the same heights as So Sorry to Say. The basslines in this song do allow for some good variety as well, not as noticeable as the strings, but the difference between the more electronically focused bass in the verses and the rock focused bass in the chorus is distinct enough to add the perfect touch to this song.

 

Celldweller – Uncrowned (Instrumental) (7.75): Ok, this is just your typical fantastically intense DnB track. And I love DnB so that’s a good thing. Plus there’s plenty of guitars as expected from Celldweller so that’s a slight extra flavor that makes it stand out a bit from the other typical fantastically intense DnB tracks. I do quite enjoy it when rock and electronic collide (which is probably my favorite thing about Celldweller) and this song is once again one that shows off a bit of that diversity, delegating the bass to the electronic side and pretty much everything else to the rock. Oh, but it still feels quite balanced with how much bass variety this song has as it switches between lightning paced DnB and some good half-time that can be used as a breather with strings instead of guitars. The song is constantly changing, keeping me on my toes as I’m shifted back and forth between rock and electronic, DnB and halftime, this riff to that riff. The list goes on and the song is enjoyable the whole way through.

 

Celldweller – Tragedy (Instrumental) (5.75): Remember when I’d first reviewed Tragedy? I mentioned how the song really sounded like Celldweller just wanted to make a cover of a Bee Gees song with an edgier rock-oriented twist. And that’s all he really wanted to do. Make a rock cover and have a little fun without worrying over whether or not the music was exceptional. So, what is this song without the lyrics that make it a Bee Gees cover?

 

Not much. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s so riskless in comparison to the other Celldweller songs once you strip them all down to the basics. This song is just another track to move on from.

 

Celldweller – Shapeshifter (Instrumental) (7): What is Shapeshifter without its rapped verses and violently misheard chorus? Well, the end result is still a song that still stands out a bit from its surrounding instruemntals. Or maybe I’m just saying that because anything will feel it stands out after listening to tragedy…

 

Ah well, unique or not this song has a lot of good strengths, sticking strongly to that electronic rock fusion. The rock is definitely the overwhelming of the two sides here (as per usual), but it isn’t a situation in which the electronic is completely covered up. The chorus is a bad example as the only thing close to electronic there is that annoying synth which does not help this song’s case that much (It’s only in the first chorus this time though so that’s different). The verses on the other hand have some good little plucks of flavor that help keep the song interesting even without the rapper providing the usual variety. And in the bridge, the absence of the vocals really brings out some great bassline work. I wasn’t quite certain if it was still electronic or not upon my first couple listens, but it doesn’t really matter the origin of this sound. It really adds a lot to the bridge and I’m thankful that this instrumental has allowed me to home in on its excellency.

 

Electronics aside, the parts that are fully rock do truly rock. So, I’m not at all bothered by them overtaking the spotlight at parts in this song. There’s something about the final chorus that really feels like it concludes the song quite nicely. Of course, maybe that’s just because it follows that great bridge… and it is the end of the song…

 

Still don’t know what this song has to do with shapeshifting.

 

Celldweller – Goodbye (Klayton remix) (Instrumental) (7.5): Klayton’s remix of Celldweller’s Goodbye (it’s odd and I’ll never get used to it), is a 7-minuter, which means that in order to succeed, it really needs to have a good dynamic variety to make it worth its time. And that can be tricky to do with an instrumental song that was originally made to have vocals providing some of that variety. However, I believe this nonlinear remix of Goodbye does succeed in that variety. It does so barely, but it’s just enough.

 

The beginning of the song seems to have a bassline that drones on for quite a while at first, but the drums accompany to lengthen its lifespan of interest for some time until the song fully picks up its pace with a second bassline (yes) a full DnB drumbeat (even more yes). The bassline does undergo a healthy amount of variation as the song progresses, but it never gets tired as it does take some breaks to bring in a guitar to fill in the space for a short bit, elongating the time this DnB can reasonably continue. And before it runs dry, the song finally takes a small step back tempo wise and trades the lightning paced syncopation for some slower slightly more dramatic half time with much more focus on the guitar this time around as it eventually distorts its way into a good solo for the ending as the song returns to its creepy droning roots.

 

I really can’t say that a certain part of this song is my favorite part. It’s simply a good variety of some really good ideas. Sometimes, that’s all you need for an enjoyable experience.

 

Celldweller – The Last Firstborn (Klayton remix) (Instrumental) (7.75): In my last two reviews, comparing the original version of the Last Firstborn to this Klayton remix, the latter was the clear winner. However, the reason for that victory had very little to do with the music itself, but simply because the slightly stripped down lyrics of this version happened to strip away the most problematic portions of the song. But this third part of the Celldweller review, changes everything. Because now all the lyrics have been stripped away. Klayton’s remix no longer has the lyrical advantage and now the two songs can be held side by side to determine which one is truly musically better.

 

It’s the original.

 

I mean, this is good and all and I stand by the 7.75/10 I gave it last week, but there really is little difference between this and the lyrical version. I still appreciate the mysterious progression and the focus on the electronic arp that proved to be my favorite part of the original, but there’s so many other things in the original that contribute to the electronic rock fusion that is Celldweller. And it’s that balanced fusion that really makes The Last Firstborn so exceptional. Without the lyrics holding it back, Klayton’s remix never stood a chance.

 

Still a good remix though.

 

Celldweller – Switchback (Klayton remix) (Instrumental) (6.75): Because the Copy Paste Repeat remix doesn’t have an instrumental (for understandably chaotic reasons), we’re having three of those Klayton remixes in a row. If it weren’t for the next two songs, we’d be able to knock all four of them out in one shot (though honestly, I think I’d rather have eliminated the fourth Klayton remix than sacrifice the two songs in between).

 

Anyways, we’re back to the iconic Switchback song, just without the iconic switchbacking vocals… So, is it worth anything? Well, even without the vocals, there are still plenty of elements here that are reminiscent of the original. The most prominent of them being the bassline. Now, as you saw in the beginning of this review, I’m not particularly fond of this bassline. I don’t dislike it. I’m just not fond of it. But here, it seems to work a bit better. Perhaps that’s because this is a more electronic version of switchback and not the original almost entirely rock version we heard earlier. And because of that, I’m noticing a bit more variety in how the instrumentation transforms over time. And that’s especially noticeable with the lyrics stripped away.

 

The song is still missing the variety that is usually provided by the bridge, which does hold the track back slightly and I feel with that tiny hint more of variety it would reach that 7 point threshold, but alas, it shall reside back with a 6.75.

 

This is the last of the five Switchback songs in this entire deluxe album. No going back now.

 

It’s too late to switch back.

 

Celldweller – Atmospheric Light (Demo Redux) (Instrumental) (6): This is the only demo to get an instrumental for some reason. Perhaps the redux means something that allows it to have an instrumental when the others couldn’t. Which is really a shame because Waiting could really have used an instrumental. This song on the other hand… well I didn’t really mind the lyrics from the original (didn’t enjoy them all that much but didn’t mind them), so this song didn’t need an instrumental. And to be honest, this song is really one of the most repetitive tracks that this entire album has to offer. The main electronic synth feels like it’s playing the same couple notes over and over again with maybe a little bit of automation, but not enough to give the song a full fleshed out feeling to it. The guitar does help a little and the strings do make the song actually feel complete for a brief moment, but for the most part, this song just feels a bit empty. Some decent mysterious vibes, but other than that quite insignificant.

 

Celldweller – Own Little World (Blue Stahli remix) (Instrumental) (8.25): While the instrumental of the original version of this song kind of fell flat, Blue Stahli’s version can easily hold its own even without my favorite lyrics on the album. Everything I initially enjoyed about this remix is even better the second time around. I already spoke pretty in depth about the nonvocal elements of this song last week as the vocals were already covered the week before, but there are still some things I want to go a tiny bit more in depth with.

 

First off, there’s the funky guitar in the verses. I already knew this bassline has a good groove when I’d first heard this song, but without the lyrics, there’s such a heavy focus on the deep groovy feeling emanating from the bass end of this track that I simply have to mention it again. Really any moment of the guitar is driven with so much intensity that its surprising that the vocals were able to make a mark without being overwhelmed by the instrumental. But it all worked out with the vocals, and it works quite nearly as well without. Same goes for the build-up from nothing, which was originally laden with Celldweller’s lyricless cries and now is able to have a bit more focus on the strings that serve as the backbone for that track.

 

It’s all still better with vocals though. That was obvious from the start.

 

Celldweller – Shapeshifter (Klayton remix) (Instrumental) (7.5): There is very little to say on this one. I may have bit myself in the butt when reviewing these remixes, as it’s difficult to talk of anything but music after all of the lyrical analysis has already left my system when I’d reviewed the original. And when I’d reviewed this remix, all I really said was that this song is more intense and aggressive than the original. I gave a few examples of why, but a lot of it comes down to how dense this song has become. Every single second of this song is filled to the brim with intense basslines and the like that it’s incredibly overwhelming. The electronic elements (most noticeably the simple plucks and melodies in the verses) have become a lot more prominent, but none of the guitarwork has suffered because of it.

 

I’ve said so much between the other three times I’ve reviewed Shapeshifter (all of which are somewhat similar musically outside of intensity and whether or not there are vocals), that I feel that there is very little left to say for this one.

 

Celldweller – Goodbye (Instrumental) (5.5): Goodbye has a great build at the beginning of the song, filled with ominous basslines (both the long sweeping distortion and the wavering notes) and the occasional melody. This build is the best part of the song, concluding with some a good rise with the guitar as we near the main theme of the song.

 

And that’s about all I have to say positively for this one. This song goes nowhere. This wasn’t much of a problem with the original version as it had some existential lyrics about the neverending passage of time, but as time passes in this version… it’s just not that interesting. The guitar is repetitive and plodding. The short breaks are somewhat appreciated, but I’ve noticed that they’re really the same pattern without the guitar. The melody near the end does provide a bit more variety, but it really wouldn’t be special in any other song. Only reason I appreciate it here is because the rest of the song is a bit bland. And that says more about the low quality of the song than the higher quality of the melody.

 

And as it turns out, because the demos are defunct and there’s no instrumental available for the orchestral wonder that is Switchback (No I’m Not remix), we are actually ending this review, once and for all with a fitting song.

 

Goodbye.

 

Conclusion: Ok, that’s the last of Celldweller I plan on reviewing for a long while. I love the guy, but his Deluxe albums are a bit extreme, especially this time around. And so, after three whole consecutive weeks of Celldweller, I plan on delaying coming back to revisit his discography any time soon. Maybe not even this year. Good album though. There were definitely some rough patches here and there, but each part of the review got better and better. In some ways I guess the instrumentals didn’t add too much content for me to talk about, but I feel it did allow me to shed some nice light on some of the edgier tracks whose lyrics got in the way. Sometimes, you just have to strip down a song to its elements to truly enjoy it. This doesn’t always work though as there were definitely a few songs in here that would have been better had Klayton still been singing, but you can’t win them all. But seeing as the score has slightly improved, I guess you have to win some of them.

 

Final Score for Original album: (6.5/10)

Final Score for Bonus Tracks: (6.75/10)

Final Score for Instrumentals: (7/10)

Final Score for Album Overall: (6.75/10)