Title: The Ethane Asylum
Artist: Object
Genre: Dark Electro
Release Date: 29th February 2008
Label: Vendetta Music
Introduction
The history of this project already dates a while back but still OBJECT aka Andreas Malik, seems to be an insider’s tip. It all started out in 1994 with Malik recording the first demo tape. Two more should follow until he released the CDR ‘Self Invented Eden’ in 1998. He got signed by the now defunct German label Broken Seal. In 2001 the first full length ‘Part Time Paranoia’ was released followed by the second album ‘The Reflecting Skin” in 2002. Both are critically-acclaimed releases. Then it got silent around the project but after six years he finally returns with the new album ‘The Ethane Asylum’.
Members
Andreas Malik - Synths, Vocals, Production
Website
http://www.object-music.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/objectger
Track Review
01. Future - 5:31
“Mutation…It is the key to our evolution…” These are the first words we hear after we pushed the play button. This speech sample taken from the first “X-Men” Movie is only the calm before the storm. The sample stops and suddenly you’re seeing yourself confronted with distorted rhythm structures and heavy sequences that form the perfect base for the highly distorted vocals, whose modulations casually change. Again and again this harshness is broken by melodic riffs and string sequences.
02. Dreamer without Dreams - 4:40
Here the melancholy is moving in. Starting with a melodic line or better a re-appearing theme, already giving the song this shimmer of melancholy and on to the diverse and mighty synth layers appearing in the chorus. Also interesting to hear how good these atmospheres harmonize with the heavily manipulated vocals. Beauty and cruelty united. Very noisy drum programming even though the level of distortion has been considerably reduced compared to ‘Future’. The built-in rhythmical changes add even more diversity to the song.
03. Infanticide - 5:54
An impressing piece of music that became one of my favourites instantly. Goose bumps crawl up your neck caused by the haunting and dark sequence which starts the track. Then a stomping beat tears you out of your lethargy. That beat is almost completely overlaid by a sometimes unbelievable amount of noise samples. The song also features different kinds of drum arrangements - including tempo and rhythm changes - ranging from cleaner parts the before mentioned harsh ones always contrasted by various ambience layers.
04. Liquid Crystal View - 7:35
We’re approaching the first entirely instrumental track. Something to lean back and enjoy. Equipped with much layered drum programming it is more than anything else the atmosphere that makes it so special. Floating melodies, chorals and synth layers everywhere turning you into a melancholic mood. Did I mention those brilliant percussive elements?
05. Existence on Trial (feat. Respirance) - 5:07
A small stylistic change happens here. Andreas teams up with the German duo RESPIRANCE to work out another facet in the sound of OBJECT. The clean vocals of Jochen collide with a very melody driven arrangement marked by chorals, extended synth layers and the like. Reminds me a bit of the good old 80s synth pop.
06. Celestial Circuitry - 4:24
The biggest strength of ‘Celestial Circuitry’ is - in my opinion - its intricate, multi-layered drum programming. I mean there’s lots of other cool stuff to explore and discover in these heavenly area like the hovering melodies ready to invade your ears or the tweaked and manipulated sequences but I just love those layered almost percussive rhythm combined with the heavier distorted one
07. Colliding Thoughts - 4:00
A term that crosses my mind when I’m listening to that track is ‘Old School’. Really sounds a bit like some industrial music from the early 90s. It also has kind of a raw feeling to it. Not so polished and with enough edges. Walls of sounds arise and give birth to a creepy and cold atmosphere. In the middle of that inferno you’ll hear the angry vocals, sometimes mutating to an instrument themselves.
08. End of Sin - 4:18
…goes into a similar direction making uses of a rather unpolished sound also using some break beats sometimes. As for the overall mood: The cold and the darkness made way for a certain melancholy and a slight premonition of something definitive that is about to happen is hanging in the air.
09. The Ethane Asylum - 4:49
The title giving track is simultaneously the next instrumental track which comes along with e very consistent and more straight arrangement with many spherical layers and strings and an 80s touch. Various speech samples are passing through the whole song. They’re tweaked, reversed, morphed, distorted and god knows what else.
10. Behind Golden Masks - 7:03
A little excursion into Noise. With heavy and earthquake like beat attacks, distorted beyond recognition this song wallows forward. To contrast those heavy beat attacks atmospheric layers and sequences as well as speech samples have been incorporated into the sound.
11. Cycle of Time - 5:13
An industrial cold embraces you in this song. It’s like an icy wind that blows through this composition and you’re standing right in the middle of it. It all begins with dark chorals and there’s a distorted noise almost sounding like a scream born out of a deep desperation. The beat starts and brings various literally industrial sounds. The vocals are more of an instrument here. The song is packed with so much detail that there will always be something new to discover with every further listen.
12. The Insects Sleep - 4:42
Let yourself drift on that carpet of sound carrying you away into other spheres. ‘The Insects Sleep’ is purest atmosphere. The layers are floating into one another. You sometimes just can’t tell, where one stops and another one starts. It’s the same with the beat that seems to come out of another world just for this song and it will get back there once it has fulfilled its duty.
13. The Reflecting Skin (Reborn God Mix by MC1R) - 6:44
The original version of this track is included on the same-titled second OBJECT album. As I don’t know the original I can’t make any comparisons but what catches the eye is that the remix is very beat driven. It’s not a simple one but the beat is very dominant and only very little melody.
14. The Ethane Asylum (Brain Leisure RMX) - 6:50
Dominique Debert aka Brain Leisure remodelled the title track of this album and turned it into a different song. Almost every familiar element of ‘The Ethane Asylum’ has been replaced by a different one and the overall mood is much darker. You can only recognize the song by the speech samples
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
Conclusion
Where other projects are content with putting some trance leads onto a simple 4/4 beat, Andreas Malik creates complex elaborate soundscapes with depth and atmosphere ranging from the noise attacks in ‘Behind Golden Masks’ and the old school sounding ‘Colliding Thoughts’ to the collaboration with RESPIRANCE in ‘Existence on Trial’ and the atmosphere bomb ‘The Insects Sleep’. In the music of OBJECT the vocals aren’t just there to tell a story or to transport a message they have also the function of an instrument. This music takes time and full attention but it’s worth it in the end.
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