| Reviewed
by: Darklight
This
is a really strong album from German electro-industrial act The
Retrosic. While the :wumpscut: influences
are still somewhat apparent, the band has definitely come into their
own with this release. The only problem is that they forget what type
of band they are a few times here.
The majority of music offered here is dark electro-industrial with menacing
electronic programming, heavy beats, moody melodies, creepy sampling
and angry growling thick German accented male vocals. All of the songs
that sound like this are great. It's too bad that they don't make up
the entire album.
There are four songs here that are out of place - "Elysium", "Passion
(1st Sign)", "Sphere" and "Tears In The Rain". "Elysium"
is a Middle Eastern chant song that sounds like something Delerium
would create. "Passion (1st Sign)" is dark and somber with
female chanting. "Sphere" is a light and upbeat EBM instrumental.
And "Tears In The Rain" is a short spoken word track. These
four tracks really mess up the album. They ruin the flow and make me
want to listen to the album less.
I think bands should stick to a certain style throughout their recordings.
If they have a desire to do drastically different sounding music, they
should do it on a side project.
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| Reviewed
by: Darklight
The Retrosic is a new European dark aggressive electro-industrial project
similar in style to that of :wumpscut:.
All of the proper ingredients are offered here including the bass beat
heavy electronics, haunting melodies and somewhat distorted accented
growling male vocals that shout out the morbid lyrics in a raspy rage.
While not original by any stretch, it still works.
The songs play at a mid-tempo pace where they flow nicely, but never
seem quite fast enough for the club floor. They are well layered with
a variety of different electro sounds and consistent beats over dark
synthscapes. The vocals don’t change much from song to song, but they’re
emotional enough to fit well with the music.
There is good diversity included here as each song does manage to sound
somewhat different. And the three instrumentals provide a nice break
from the songs with vocals. However, I do feel that three instrumentals
is a bit much considering that this album is on the short side containing
only nine actual tracks and a sample filler.
While there’s really nothing new or original to be heard here, it’s
still done well enough to please fans of dark electro-industrial music
similar to :wumpscut:.
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