Album: "Within A Second"
Label: Tinman Records (2004)
Style: EBM
Songs: 14

Reviewed by: Darklight

Phenotract is the solo electronic music project of Eric Shans. I first heard the music of Phenotract on a demo, and liked what I heard. While it was somewhat typical angry and aggressive electro-industrial with distorted vocals, it was still well done. So imagine my surprise when I discovered just how much the sound of Phenotract had changed on this "Within A Second" album. The sound here is much lighter and more experimental than early Phenotract material.

The music on this CD sounds very similar to other bands such as Haujobb, Headscan and Negative Format. It's futuristic technological electro music with sci-fi sounds, heavy beats, airy melodies and altered vocals. Thankfully, it's all quite energetic and most of it could be played in clubs.

All of the songs here are very well crafted with meticulous sound layering, texturing and clean production. There are elements of EBM, techno, trance and synth-pop. This is mainly light and upbeat music with some dark sounds in the mix at times, too.

All of the songs are good, and sound somewhat different from each other. The only tracks I dislike are the Prisms. These are dull instrumentals placed at the beginning, middle and end of the CD.

If you like technological sci-fi electro music with club beats and an experimental sensibility, then this Phenotract "Within A Second" album is something to check out.

Album: self-titled
Label: n/a (2001)
Style: Electro-industrial
Songs: 2

Reviewed by: Darklight

Phenotract is the solo dark electro-industrial project of Eric Shans. What he offers on this two song demo CD are energetic noisy distorted EBM songs that include all of the proper ingredients for a nice outcome. The music is pure electro with frantic sci-fi programming, slamming beats and dramatic melodies. Eric’s vocals are distorted and sing with a lot of aggression.

While Eric really isn’t doing anything new or different on this demo, he does this traditional style of music well. The two songs here are both very good and show that Eric has what it takes to compete with the big names in the scene. A label definitely needs to sign this project as it’s quality.