Artist: Aesthetic Perfection
Title: Into the black
Genre: Aggrotech / Industrial / Industrial Pop / Future Pop / Synth Pop
Release Date: 29th March 2019
Label: Close to human music
Album Review
AESTHETIC PERFECTION is an American Electronic project which was founded by Daniel Graves in 2000. For his live shows he has David Dutton on the keyboard (in Europe Elliot Berlin) and Tim van Horn on the drums as support. In the early years AESTHETIC PERFECTION was more an insider’s tip for the friends of Aggrotech / Industrial sound before it was supporting act for COMBICHRIST on their “Demons on tour” tour in the USA and Europe, as well as for COVENANT in 2014 and MESH in autumn 2016. And 2016 was certainly a good year for touring in Germany as the show in Hamburg was sold out. Being an independent artist Daniel decided in 2017 to join Patreon, a platform where artists are paid by their patrons for every piece of art they release. Up to now the project has released seven albums and with this one twelve singles / EPs. Apart from that AESTHETIC PERFECTION has contributed to numerous compilations and umpteenth remixes for other bands and projects.
It’s been quite some years since Daniel’s last full length album release as he was not certain if he can burden the production costs as a completely independent musician without any backing of a label. And that’s why he preferred to launch various EPs. But as mentioned above he joined in 2017 Patreon. Fortunately it worked for him which I was really hoping for though actually I was quite sure that it will, knowing that Daniel is quite a communicative person, positively approachable for his fans which is very important if you join platforms like Patreon. Thus, with the backing of his patrons / fans he was now able to launch this album. Those who thought that AESTHETIC PERFECTION drifted off in the Pop genre and criticised the project for it barked up the wrong tree. This album definitely shows that Daniel still got the spirit of producing a powerful blend of Aggrotech, Industrial and Future Pop.
Opener of the album is a strong song with powerful Rock elements which is not a surprise as Richard Z. Kruspe of RAMMSTEIN contributes with heavy guitar sound to it that you are almost tempted to do some head-banging. If you are reminded of an older song at the next one you are right as a tune and lyric line from ‘The new black’ of the album ‘‘Til death’ is embedded. The third song is one of my favourite of this album - a really nice danceable track with some Pop elements in it without getting too bland. While ‘Echoes’ slows down the tempo the following one has more of a ballad - catchy with some added guitar chords and a trumped tune which reminds me a bit of the music in the 80’s where it was quite common to use wind instruments. And with the whispered “Wake up!” I spontaneously was reminded of the KATE BUSH’s song ‘Waking the witch’.
The tempo increases again with the following ‘If I die’ which is underlined with a, partly shredding, Rock guitar and Daniel ponders if he had left an impact that he will be remembered when he dies. ‘Yolo’, another up tempo song, is about how we waste the positive moments in our lives by living a self-destructive one. The album ends with another ballad song including a guitar solo. The motifs of the lyrics are a lot about self-reflection, (spiritual) disillusion, mortality, the disturbing impact of the surrounding and society on oneself and how to deal with it without getting too bitter (We’re human after all).
Of course you will find a lot of sound elements you know from the former albums which I would call signature feature of AESTHETIC PERFECTION. However this album is far from being boring or same old - same old. Noticeable are the added guitar lines in some songs which give them a Rock music appeal. The songs on the album are diverse with catchy tunes, most of them make you want to get up and dance but at least I’m sure you will tap your feet to the rhythm. And then there is of course the varying spectrum of Daniel’s vocals - he screams, he growls, he hisses but also shows up with clear singing depending on which mood he wants to express. Besides the afore mentioned Richard Z. Kruspe, Jinxx (BLACK VEIL BRIDE), Mick Kennedy (ANAAL NATHRAKH) and Krischan Wesenberg (ROTERSAND) collaborated with Daniel for this album.
The album is available as CD, vinyl or even cassette on his website but you can buy the download version or you can also only download each song of it on his Bandcamp site or Amazon, etc…
Tracklist
01. Gods and gold (feat. Richard Z. Kruspe)
02. Wickedness
03. No boys allowed
04. Supernatural
05. Echoes
06. We wake up
07. If I die
08. Saint Peter
09. YOLO
10. Morning doves
Line-up
Daniel Graves
Website
http://www.aesthetic-perfection.net / https://www.facebook.com/aestheticperfection
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
Comments powered by CComment