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Reviewed
by: Darklight
Spiritual Cramp is
a fairly new EBM/darkwave band from Europe. The problem with this act
is that they appear to be having an identity crisis. They can’t decide
if they want to make EBM or darkwave music. The CD starts off strong
with “Centuries” which is an energetic club floor packing EBM
track with dual male and female vocals. Since this is the first song
on the album, it’s a bit deceiving. This is due to the fact that the
remainder of the album is almost completely different focusing much
more on mellow darkwave songs and instrumentals.
When the band delivers EBM it really stands out as something special. But when they deliver dreary darkwave music, it sounds extremely typical and generic. This trio has obvious talent. The music is top notch with well layered electronic programming, solid beats, beautifully orchestrated melodies and emotional male and female vocals. The problem is that they choose to waste most of it on cookie-cutter darkwave music that is rather dull and boring. Also, there are more out-of-place filler instrumentals here than I would really care for. When a band has two great singers such as this one, they should be used a lot more. Also, there are a lot of songs here that either strictly have male or female vocals in them as opposed to duets. I personally feel that it’s the songs with the male and female duets that stand out the most as they are more passionate and powerful.
Overall, this is indeed a quality disc. Every song here is done well and has a nice polish to it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound consistent as it mixes too many different genres of music constantly never really focusing on one style. And while this might be good for variety, it just doesn’t really work as well as the concept might make you think.
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