Its never too late to turn this blog into a music review site, and its also never too late to review an album released two years ago. It takes me back to the short lived period when I managed Japan Four. I wrote Industrial Record Reviews, all Three, KMFDM - WW3; Rammstein - Reise Reise, Skinny Puppy - The Greateer Wrong of the Right. I really wish i saved them. I wrote the KMDFM review at 5:00 AM, drunk on Shmirnoff Vodka in an attempt to cure jetlag-induced insomnia and breakup-induced depression when I got back from LA to ruin another relationship with a girl. It was a damn good review.
One album i've been repeatedly listening to for six months is the latest And One album, Agressor. And One's sound is an incredibly unique form of synth-pop sensibility within a dark EBM shroud. They have a very quirky, kraftwerk-esque approach to thier synthesizer voices that is just a hairs-length from corniness of 80's synthpop. They manage to avoid that with dramatic chorus harmonics, and a vocalist whose voice is best described as metallic. For those who have heard thier most well known tracks Panzermensch and Deustchmaschine (IST), this album, Agressor, avoids their previously amelodic, meticulous and surgical approach, best described as a manifestation of German engineering, and goes for a poppier and more dynamic range of sound without sacrificing thier ideosyncrinous signature.
I have chosen three tracks from this album to review, Spriecherbar, Krieger and Schwarz.
Schwarz starts unassuming enough. Punchy baseline, a disconnected melody that will convince the listener, that he threw in some Kraftwerk. After the initial vocals, the melody and baseline begin to harmonize, and then its busts into its first chorus, and the song changes dramatically. Once the chorus ends, and the song bridges back to its body, the song picks up the Egyptian Pentatonic mode. Upon listening, my buddy, dav, asked me "Is this what field marshall Rommel would jam out to?" All the while, it maintains a vintage electronic sound.
Kreiger starts with an uptempo arpeggio. It still fascinates me that it is possible to layer vocals over such a static beat. As the song builds, it takes on a theme analougus to James Bond.
Spriecherbar is one of the few downtempo songs in the tracklist. Perhaps this is best described as a ballad.
Anyway, this is a crummy review. I will revise it tommorrow, but its late. God night
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