Artist: Fractured
Title: Beneath The Ashes
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 25th March 2011
Label: Dependent Records
Album Review
For more than 5 long years we’ve been forced to wait for the successor to the 2005 album ‘Only Human Remains’ of FRACTURED, and it’s become a concept album having the mythological eighth continent Atlantis at its central. ‘Beneath The Ashes’ kicks off with its title track, displaying rather untypical and new elements like the acoustic guitar that keeps us company long as more layers are added on the way until the accentuated beats join in in conjunction with Nick’s vocals. The vocals were ran through different kind of processing, sometimes clearer, other times we perceive them as another instrument only. Upon beginning ‘For What’ is like a storm, slowly looming over your head that is unleashed with the glitch-inflicted beat kicking in alongside swirling bass gravitations. FRACTURED however manage in this erratic environment to keep a coherence in the melodic build by using sustained textures. ‘Anaesthetic’ is one song that I’ve heard already a long time ago on the project’s MySpace and is featuring guest vocals by M@ of fellow Canadian project ENCEPHALON. It all begins with a very organic sounding violin intro and electronic incursions inserted with subtlety, before the robotic vocals of Nick are taking over.
They’re giving the prelude to the clean performance following, soaring over the thumping cascades of beats which make it a sophisticated club track. If there’s someone like a king of rants in the dictionary it’s definitely It “The Psychopath” Clings picture beside the entry, and I’m saying psychopath cause I’m feeling remembered of the album he did with ‘The All Too Logical Descend Into Madness’ where he was taking the role of one. A stereotype throwing its amplified emotions at you, trying to smother you and many just failed to read between the lines over the explicit content! Why am I telling you this now? You’ll be in a similar situation when listening to his spoken-word on ‘Transcendental Rage For The Fundamentals’, a beautifully orchestrated track guiding you gently to the brink. ‘Save Me’ exhibits a fair metal attitude with the harsh guitars added to its stuttering structure. Not an “Easy-digestible soundbyte” as someone else would’ve put it. But if you wanted that you’d surely not listen to a FRACTURED record.
For a little time now you’ll be getting the chance to lay back and relax on ‘Interlude’ which is an ambient instrumental where acoustic guitar flourishes and strings meld with occasional bumps of tympani and piano. ‘Fly Away’ suggests a similar experience, but this is just lasting as long as you didn’t hear a bit of the track, starting in reduced fashion until the bass hits you in the gut and the sublimely dark atmospheres will stir up feelings of unease in you. The album closer is ‘Disengage’ which we’ve already come to know, a composition with a multitude of sound details it clicks and bubbles ta every corner, does shift into harsher realms and maintains a remarkable urgency throughout. With ‘Beneath The Ashes’, FRACTUIRED deliver a multi-faceted body of work that at once seems familiar and new and is what should be played in clubs nowadays instead of mind-numbing 4/4 mediocrity.
Tracklist
01. Beneath The Ashes - 6:22
02. For What - 4:13
03. You Are - 3:28
04. Anaesthetic - 4:19
05. Transcendental Rage For The Fundamentals" (feat. It-Clings) - 4:09
06. Dig - 4:21
07. Save Me - 4:20
08. Straight Jacket Fashion - 4:04
09. Interlude - 2:11
10. Fly Away - 3:53
11. We Bare These Scars - 4:23
12. Disengage - 5:01
Line-Up
Nick Gorman - Music
Arc - Live Synths
Website
http://www.faithisfractured.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10
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