|
Reviewed
by: Darklight
Cybershadow
is the solo project of Jess Macintyre. The songs found on this album
are quite different from anything that I have heard in this genre of
music before. I don't think that I could compare Cybershadow to any
other band out there. The music is mainly created with orchestrated
synth melodies and drum programming. There's not a lot of electronic
sequencing or sampling. This tends to make the music sound a bit empty
as if it's missing something. However, the approach here is more melodic
and dramatic. This is not techno dance music. Each song manages to sound
unique bringing in its own style. Some songs are energetic with various
voice effects added to the vocals to give them a rather odd sound. Others
are more relaxing with a synth-pop edge and feature clean singing. The
overall album is a bit muffled with a low budget recording sound to
it. Also, there's a slightly amateur feel to everything here. There
are vocals on nine of the tracks and they range from high pitched yelling
to more harmonic singing. There are instrumentals used as intro and
ending pieces as well as one placed in the middle of the album. They
actually fit in without sounding like filler. My favorite songs on the
album are "Self-Control", "Social Conditioning" and "Responsibility".
They are unlike anything else here. They're psychotic songs with demented
singing and a lot of raw emotion. It's actually a shame that Jess didn't
put more of these energetic hyper style of songs on the album. I personally
feel that he does this style much better than his slow melodic synth-pop
stuff. I like variety as much as the next person, but this album comes
off sounding like an industrial and synth-pop compilation. The two just
don't seem to go together making this album seem rather unbalanced.
This is a good first effort and I do give Jess a lot of credit for trying
something new and different. However, it's his energetic industrial
songs that sound more original and creative. His synth-pop songs do
come off sounding a bit generic. But the bottom line is that if you're
tired of the same old thing in industrial music, give this Cybershadow
album a try.
|
