| Reviewed
by: Darklight
Grendel is the solo electro-industrial assault of Vlrk.
I liked his previous debut Grendel release Inhumane
Amusement, but felt there was definitely room for improvement.
Well, Vlrk has improved greatly over the years, and it shows on this
Prescription:Medicide release. This is a
much stronger and more focused effort in my opinion.
This is an energy fueled aggressive recording with manic electronic
proramming, furious beats, dark synth melodies, movie samples and angry
distorted snarling vocals. Vlrk doesn't try and do anything else here
but deliver extremely intense electro-industrial attacks. From track
one to track ten this album never lets up to allow you to catch your
breath. So be in the mood for some insane madness from beginning to
end with this one.
Even though the songs sound somewhat similar to each other, they contain
enough unique elements to stand out from one another. While this album
is mainly a heavy assault of chaos, Vlrk isn't afraid to mix in some
infectious beats and well orchestrated melodies to make everything more
interesting. He really shows off some impressive programming skills
here with the ability to deliver songs with aggressive force that contain
creative sound layering and texturing.
All of the songs on this album could work on the dance floor, but the
kindergoths waving their arms around in a goofy trance will want to
clear out of the way because the rivetheads will take over the floor
and turn it into a mosh pit when any of these songs play.
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| Reviewed
by: Darklight
Grendel delivers extremely harsh and brutal noise induced electro-industrial
music featuring blasting beats and fits of rage at a furious pace.
The programming is frantic and chaotic shooting off in different directions
while the drum beats fire like a machine gun. Haunting melodies can
be heard buried behind the mayhem while extremely distorted male vocals
shout out the lyrics in a rage.
The songs are structured rather well containing a lot of interesting
sounds and ideas within them. While overall there’s a noisy and distorted
sound to the music here, it manages to deliver some good melodies as
well. This is chaos combined with harmony to create both beauty and
darkness.
This music is cold and sporadic with mayhem leading the way. But my
complaint with it is the same for most bands that produce this style
of music: there’s just not a lot of variety from track to track. While
each of the songs do a decent job of sounding somewhat different, it’s
not enough to really allow anything to stand out. Also, the vocals are
too distorted. The vocalist proves on occasion that he can indeed sing,
but his overly distorted delivery takes away from his true potential.
The bottom line is that this is a good first effort for Grendel, but
there’s definitely room for improvement here. I’m sure that this act
will really deliver some great music in the future when their sound
matures more. This is still a solid aggro noise infected electro-industrial
assault. If you enjoy bands such as Allied
Vision, F/A/V, Hocico,
Object and Suicide Commando,
you will like this CD.
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