2008年 06月 3日 火曜日 00:20

At first blush I actually passed on this album.

It's listed on the Ekleipsi website as electro/metal/industrial. There is significantly more electro and industrial in here than metal. In fact, I have a pretty hard time finding more than a few shreds of metal. I've been on a fairly dedicated hunt for Creative Commons licensed metal lately and when this failed to provide immediate gratification I passed it by. I did recognize something in it and passed a recommendation to a friend he give it a listen. Following up on my own suggestion I decided to revisit it.

Entirely instrumental, this one man production is quite well layered and interesting to listen to. Production is solid and sufficiently well mixed. Although predominantly industrial it pulls in a number of sounds. There's clearly the metal and electro influence but also some atmospheric ambiance, trance and house creating an interesting blend as it progress through the tracks.

Surrealism sports some fairly heavy NIN overtones while The Other Side (part 1) has a fantastic airy environment to it. Overall The Other Side remains true to genre while providing some much needed variation for an instrumental. Songs never become tedious or repetitious. In fact, they manage to avoid it quite well. A tension is built over the first four tracks then allowed to rest before coming to a relentless, house tinged conclusion. As the final track, Wrong, completed I found myself wanting more. Not anticipating, as though it were an incomplete, but knowing I could sit and listen to another half hour of this and not have my attention wane in the slightest.

This feeling of wanting more was offset a bit when I listened to the album on repeat. The opening track, Superangst (intro), is an excellent bridge track back in to the album again. It feels like the logical wind down after Wrong and then serves as a launch right back in to the fray as the guitars resurface at roughly the two minute mark.

My only real complaint on this album is one I find I have many in this genre, the guitars. The over processed guitar sounds far too much like a sample when it's the one place these songs could use an analog breathiness. To my ears they are more whiny than aggressive and missing the dynamics of a pick or the meat of a hand muting strings.

The album is released under a Creative Commons license and available at: Ekleipsi

LAHO Official Side: http://user.personal.fi/musiikki/LOJOHH/laho/