| Artist |
| Object |
| Title |
| Mechanisms Of Faith |
| Format/Cat |
| 2CD EAR002 |
| Label |
| Electro Aggression Records |
| Style |
| EBM |
| Date of review |
| 1st May 2012 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 7/10 |
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Joining forces with the Electro Aggression label means Andreas Malik has been fully able to indulge the old school industrial leanings that his music as Object has always possessed, doing away with the complex melodic style that has always been his trademark in favour of a more muscular, rhythmic style where the beefy rhythms propel the 15 tracks like a sonic juggernaut on this, his fourth release.
This is something of a double-edged sword in that, while the somewhat uniform style of the album proper means that the variety that made his past works so compelling is sadly missing & with so many tracks on offer, the inspiration is sometimes spread a bit thin but, even so, it’s hard not to get swept up in the heavy rhythms that are a constant facet of the album & there is still enough room for Malik to work his magic, as he does early on by laying down some memorable riffs on the strong opener that is ‘Mescaline Crisis’ & setting the scene for Martin Sane of Fix8:Sed8’s vocals which the effects they’re subjected to ensure aren’t that different from Malik’s own & while neither are as expressive as they might have been they do at least avoid the usual ‘harsh whispered’ style that so many EBM bands adopt, which is another favourable aspect in the label’s ‘old school or nothing’ mantra while the Kraftwerk-like sequences that add a slightly quirkier flavour to ‘State Of Reality’ with its added Blade Runner samples & the oriental touches that crop up during ‘Dream Collector’ see Malik stretching himself musically by bringing a wider range of influences into his music while the bass chords that shift beneath the surface like a dark miasma help make ‘Blind Obedience’ one of the highlights of the album. It’s when he stretches himself in this manner that the album is at its best with the title track similarly benefitting from another memorable chorus while the ‘anything could happen’ feel that characterises ’Urban Claustrophobia’ makes for another strong offering that really demonstrates what he’s capable of. This is proven even further by the excellent instrumentals ‘Density Of Fear’, which features a sample of Humphrey Bogart & the closing ‘Each Slow Turn’ where some big sweeps of sound lead into a fine track, both of which show where his true strengths lie; creating complex, multi-layered melodic dark electro, as is proven further by the two unreleased demos that bring up the rear, so to speak, on the second disc which is entitled ‘Old School Conspiracy’ & which is a sort of over view of Object’s career so far, featuring the odd alternative version from Malik himself as well as a host of remixes (all old school, natch) of tracks from this & earlier releases from such artists as Sleepwalk & Second Disease, both of whom do a good job of reinterpreting ‘Mescaline Crisis’ while Respirance’s melodic vocals, which could easily be mistaken for Seabound’s Frank Spinath, seem to dictate that the two versions of another older track, ‘Existence On Trial’ from Abscess & Pyrroline would have to be the most commercial offerings in the whole set, both also benefitting from a nicely full melodic feel that compliments the vocals perfectly. Occasionally, this can get a little on the experimental side which might be a little challenging for some but that’s what the label is all about &, when taken but, overall, the variety on display is a definite plus while the more adventurous touches do at least mean you won’t get too comfortable & that’s surely a good thing, no?
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