| Artist |
| IWR |
| Title |
| Cold Asylum |
| Format/Cat |
| CD BR047 |
| Label |
| Black Rain |
| Style |
| Industrial |
| Date of review |
| 17th February 2008 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 7/10 |
|
|
 |
|
IWR's debut Ground Zero was an exciting but also quite frustrating release that had so much potential but was let down by a production quality that failed to make the most of the band's expansive sound. Sadly, this follow-up suffers from many of the same problems, in fact, the first time I played the opening 'Going Mental' the beats made my windows shake & I didn't even have it on that loud! It's a shame really as the duo of Maor Appelbaum & Tal Galfsky have evolved a sound that's so dramatic, dark & expansive that, if they could have got the production right, they'd have been sitting comfortably at the very top of the industrial electro tree. 'Nemesis', for example, with its assertive bassline, incessant rhythms & evocative melodics could have been a massive club hit but is likely to be overlooked in favour of the remixes at the end (without which this would have been rather a short album) which have a much sharper sound but which emulate the drama of the originals only occasionally so it's swings & roundabouts, really! For all my moaning, however, it is still possible to get a lot of enjoyment out of the album (it sounds better on headphones, incidentally!) as it still has plenty going for it, not least the startling contrast of Appelbaum's typically harsh vocals being offset to some extent by the various female vocalists, including Michal Jakubowicz on 'Wreckage', whose melodic style provides something of a refuge from the musical maelstrom that the expansive melodics & hard rhythms stir up while Moran Uliel provides a nice contrast to the middle east-flavoured melodics that adds an exotic edge to the dancey 'Ketamine Sedation'. Elsewhere 'Morning Star' benefits from a slightly more restrained mood while 'New Dawn' sees the band at their melodic best as some atmospheric synth sweeps give way to a more sumptuous, almost symphonic but always emotive approach that shows the band's more soulful side & while it might sound strange when combined with the treated vocals it shows just how much potential this act have got & if they can get a more experienced producer on board for future releases then it may be that the best is yet to come, we'll see.....
|