CD Review: Arch, The - Engine In Void

Written by Peer Lebrecht Monday, 28 November 2011 10:35

Artist: The Arch
Title: Engine In Void
Genre: Electro - Wave
Release Date: 4th November 2011
Label: Echozone

Album Review

Once there was a time when the combination of guitars and the use of synthesizers and samples was still a new direction, a kind of an experimental playing field and bands, who dared to find a common language of handmade rock music and electronic sounds you can call pioneers in retrospect. These times were the mid-eighties and one of those bands were THE ARCH. Formed in 1986 in a small town in Belgium, they released two cutting-edge albums up to now (the third failed in any way), including some timeless classics like ‘Ribdancer’ or the Christiane F.-inspired ‘Babsi ist tot’. ‘Engine In Void’ is their first output for more than 14 years and it seems, that the band remained true to their musical philosophy, what reflects in effect and atmosphere of the album (even if it had to suffer the loss of its pioneering character now!). Dominated by the electronic side of the coin it became a “rocking” album nevertheless, possessing a great variety of moods and emotional directions, animating and full of acoustic stimuli.

But let’s pick out some examples: ‘Seminary ‘ is a marching bastard of beating and pumping drums, garnished with electronic spilling and a patina of distortion effusing an energy, that oscillates between synthetic sterility and organic substance… ‘Skinny Meadows’ comes along with cure-like noise-scapes and a riding bass-line, flowing into a heart-warming chorus… we are stuck in agony… floating through your veins… ‘Kafkaia’ is swirling partly in the industrial fields, using the vocabulary of whispering vocals, stomping drums and flickering noises, what creates a frowning and almost psychedelic atmosphere… ‘Only She’ is a gloomy and bittersweet ballad, marrying wafting synths off to glittering guitars in a lovely melancholic round dance… ‘Let It Beat Us’ argues with powerful guitars and staccato rhythms, mingling skilfully a claiming energy with a charming melodic spine. ‘My Suitor’ surprises with it’s female vocals put in a evocation-like setting, in contrast to the male counterparts, dressed in rags of distortion and aggression. And finally, ‘In Silence’, the albums loveliest track, a sweet melancholy is carrying the yearning vocals over a flowing river of electronic minimalism and an emotional overflow.

Summarizing you can say that ‘Engine In Void’ is an ambitious piece of work, possessing an undeniable potential of energy and atmosphere, varying from resolute to melancholic, from a rocking aggression to a honey-like sweetness. But there is one fact, that is soiling the canvas; in my opinion the album lacks of a concreteness! It’s too noisy and scratchy for an electro album, but it’s too straight and electronically overloaded (especially the sometimes annoying dance pattern-drums!) for that genre we (and the band) call post punk. Sometimes it seems that the songs are uncertain about what to be! Dance tracks with clefts and stains on the surface or dirty rock songs with the ability to move your legs. Maybe it’s an intended tightrope walk, but in my case it just leaves a question-marked confusion. So it’s your turn to pronounce a final judgement, maybe I have only failed the intersection!


Tracklist

01. Individuals
02. Donor
03. Seminary
04. Skinny Meadows
05. Kafkaia
06. Barbouze
07. Only She
08. Waterfall
09. Let It Beat Us
10. Miss Take
11. My Suitor
12. In Silence


Line-up

Ivan DC - Guitars / electronics
M. Pierre - Guitars / electronics
CUVG - Voices / electronics
Jerr Goss - Bass / electronics
Ian Lambert - Keys / electronics
JDSuB - Producer /Mixing /electronics


Website

http://www.thearch.be


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 6
Sound: 8
Total: 7 / 10