Darkwave.ro electro/industrial music magazine | news – reviews – interviews – concerts – festivals – parties

March 27, 2012

Neon Zoo – “O” – To Be Released on Mar-30: Viva Music Album Review

Filed under: Album Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:39 am

Tracklist: “I’m Your God” * “Purity” * “Skin” * “The Voyeur” * “Haunt” * “Divine” * “Seethe” * “Closing In” * “The Offering” * “Beautiful Darkness” * “PushBonus: “Dionysian Dream” * “Sublime” * “The Love” * “The Voyeur” (Full Version) * “Uranus in Latex/Venus in Furs” * “Twisted” (Kerrang Radio Edit)

Download previous album “Heaven Sin” for free from Bandcamp.

About Neon Zoo:

Already on the forerunner, “Heaven Sin“, the depths of human soul were fathomed, O goes even a step further. Darker, with more sex-appeal and a lot of twists and turns. The album pulsates between catching dacefloor-fillers, like “Purity” or “Haunt“, and menacing, seducing and enigmatically fascinating moments of dark indulgence, which is carried by the vocals in songs such as “The Offering“, “The Voyeur” and “Seethe“.

“O” is an album of a different kind, in which 2 years work in the role of audio producer gets demonstrated. “O” can be many things – a circle, a ring, a hole… or simply a sign of the continuous change. As well as the live band, that gets assisted by guest musicians, Richard (Bass) and Mike (member of the band Manuskript) appear on the album, too. The concentrated creativity, the profound lyrics and the professional production make “O” a real masterpiece.

O” will be released on March 30th 2012 with 11 songs + 6 bonus tracks on all well-known stores and as a free download with 11 tracks on afmusic.

Neon Zoo -“O”: Viva Music Album Review:

Out this Friday on Mar-30 with afmusic, Neon Zoo’s second album “O” is a wonderful piece of darkwave with a lot of appeal and with a generous set of enticing images. If you are a newcomer to the world of Neon Zoo, it will not be long before you are taken in by their charisma. With sufficient balance between poetic probing of the dark depths of the human soul and relevant dancefloor elements, “O” is both the donut and the hole, it gives you content but also room for musing, and it stands out, in many ways, among this year’s releases with its unique and unaffected sound.

I’m Your God” is the basic instruction you get on entering the premises of Neon Zoo. A well-staged track with a killer music and lyric combo, “I’m Your God” is penetrating and powerful, and its dark hues permeate the ensuing “Purity”. More dance driven than its predecessor, “Purity” is enflaming and cadenced, a great definition track and what’s more, one that will definitely leave its imprint. The same is true of “Skin”, which adds on top of the previous creative pool a very sexy and alarming atmosphere at the same time. Tight as skin and perspiring sensuousness, “Skin” marks a turn in the album, but also a very plausible premise: if the album is going to be as diverse as the three first tracks try and demonstrate, will it elude a definition? To some extent, as goes on to prove “The Voyeur”, it will – however, there are luminescent arrows in the album that are most certainly darting from the same spiritual font. And if you enjoyed “The Voyeur”, you will be happy to hear that an extended version is provided in the bonus area of the purchasable album.

Haunt” recaptures the feeling intimated in “Purity” with a lot more dance friendly atmosphere, but it does not corrode the album’s seriousness with futile artifice. It evolves naturally and combines elements that are relevant in their entirety and make perfect musical sense together. And then it’s up to the electrifying “Divine” and the trippier “Seethe” to take the floor, but with the same zest and impact as the previous album tracks. “Seethe” is a great example of the blend one can reach in today’s music to encompass genres that are extraneous and inherent to a scene and make them novel and fresh. “Closing In” boosts the danceability of previous tracks and makes a topnotch impression, while “The Offering” conspires with the listener in creating a thorough, permanent bond and speaks in very natural tones. “Beautiful Darkness” is just as title suggests beautiful, and dark, however, its refinement, both accommodating and devastating, makes it alongside “I’m Your God” a definite Viva Music favorite. “Push” has the difficult task of closing the album, but it performs, as was expected, well. It somewhat opens up a different perspective, and it is not unlikely that it represent a new direction altogether, a sort of promise for a future release.

Mention should be made of the bonus tracks, too, the ones that broaden the picture of “O” and at the same time reaffirm the band’s pledge to make great music. Except for the extended version of “The Voyeur”, which, as mentioned before, finds its proper place in the bonus area, there are several other goodies: the effervescent “Dionysian Dream” and the mock lullaby “Uranus in Latex/Venus in Furs” catch, of course the attention, and it’s not solely because of their crafty titles; but there also are in the deal tracks that definitely make the album choice more varied: “Sublime”, “The Love” and “Twisted” – all packed with their own personality, but also with an already recognizable Neon Zoo cachet.

O” is a profound, and at the same time amenable listen. It is a great album not only because of the diversity and versatility of the listening material it includes, but also because of the neat set of emotions it provokes and grafts into the listener. Enjoy!

Neon Zoo – Official Website | on Facebook | Discography on Discogs

March 19, 2012

Guilt Trip “Feed the Fire” – Viva Music Album Review

Tracklist: “Headplate” * “Breathe” * “Inanimate” * “Eternal Return” * “Unite” * “Once a Week Twice a Day” * “Reset” * “Life Spit Love” * “Fragments” * “Crack Up” * “Baptism” * “The Bright Side of Lies

About Guilt Trip:

“We are Guilt Trip. We exist in the in between as existence is relative. We destroy to create, oppose to liberate and sodomize to not be victimized. We are the splinter in our brother’s and sister’s eye. We spit in the face of “truth”, “reality” and authority. Deconstruct, revaluate, resist, react and expand. Guilt Trip. Banging on the walls of reality. Eternal warfare is the price of that existence. Eternally returning. To be sane we have to go out of our minds. We can be our mind’s own midwife. The normal is perverse so we’ll slit throats to help with the breathing. Extreme conditions demand extreme responses. Guilt Trip. Sometimes personal but always political as the personal is political. Everything is ideology. A false universe. Rules + submission = culture. Disobey. Tear it all down and start again. Guilt Trip are one of a number, part of a whole, individuals in a collective. Subjects trapped in construed positions, smashing our heads against that cage. A cure for history. New hammers, new rhythms, new chants. Guilt Trip is beyond good and evil. Pretentious? Yes, but for a reason, so open the blood gates and pack your bags. We’re going on a Guilt Trip.” (source: label site)

Guilt Trip – “Feed the Fire” – Viva Music Album Review:

Out on Mar-13/-23 (Scandinavia) with Complete Control Productions, the new release from Guilt Trip entitled “Feed the Fire” was a thorough and satiating experience even on first listen! If you remember Chirurgie Esthetique (and you should), then there is some 90’s industrial residual that is going to appeal even to the untrained ear. What is so lovable about this album? Any answer given at this moment would diminish the album’s multifaceted sexiness; it checks off most rubrics you would expect an album to: it’s rough and tender, it’s arid and luxurious, it’s real and surreal. And all that with a strict agenda, like the one expressed by the band in their statement (above).

Headplate” is a great induction into the art of Guilt Trip – the beats are excellent, and the production of the track flawless. It would not be wrong to consider “Headplate” a masterpiece, but that’s just the first track! “Breathe” comes up next; and you are up against serious trouble – just take into account the phrasing “colonial colon cleansing” and you know that M. Nilssson and K. Lindberg know what they are talking about. Intent on deconstructing our ‘real’ pleasantries and leaving us spectators to a world that is, in fact, living its worst while extolling its best, “Breathe” is a very creative and enticing piece of music. And then there’s “Inanimate” to enhance your awareness – taking as a standpoint the cruelty of modernity under the guise of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the song talks no-nonsense about antonymous “humanity” and “being human”. And if this standpoint seems radical, you should wait for “Eternal Return” to reset your vision: not because there’s a brighter future, but because you can actually be washed over by the torrent of lyrics, scatological but do not let yourselves be fooled; as they say in the song, “can’t be denied, although we tried/there is no true meaning/all based on lies it glorifies/but there’s no redemption”. The same standstill, absent redemption clarifies the meaning of the very palatable “Unite”, as well as of the up next “Once a Week Twice a Day”. A Viva Music favorite, “Reset” does what it says, with a very dance compatible beat and a very pertinent score of lyrics, it truly changes the field of vision toward an unexpected, but at the same time so natural plateau of very dignified music. And the ensuing “Life Spit Love” is a wonderful find, frankly, it should be aired a lot this summer in clubs, because it has all it takes! “Fragments” is there to perpetuate the same feeling, all with great zest and with an undeniable vein of 1990’s nostalgia. “Crack Up” is sleek and insinuates itself into the album, requesting its rights at a very plausible pace; as is “Baptism”. To close the album compilation, “The Bright Side of Lies”, again a Viva Music favorite, captures a truly delectable experience, not cathartic, despite its “this is my life” litany, but taking hold of a very clear-minded and firm-gripping position.

Feed the Fire” is a damn good album and throughout, industrial sharpness vies with electronic effervescence. Not only is it very melodic and dance friendly, but also it carries a message that should be taken heed of; under the varied magmatic layers of words there lies an acuity of the world we live in, and that’s another merit of  Guilt Trip, working slowly but surely their way into your awareness of how things are. If you feel guilty on listening to the album, then their job is done. Enjoy!

Guilt Trip – on Facebook | Discography on Discogs

Powered by WordPress