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thearch beatingthebalance
Artist: The Arch
Title: Beating The Balance
Genre: New Wave, Electronic
Release Date: 3rd May 2013
Label: Echozone


Album Review

Almost one and a half year have passed since I was allowed to review ‘Engine In Void’, the last album of the Belgian Electro Rock pioneers THE ARCH and I remember I was undecided what to think about such an stylistically stationary album released in the year 2011, now the path-breaking state completely missing. “The album lacks of concreteness... it´s too noisy and scratchy for an electro album, but it´s too straight and electronically overloaded for a genre that we (and the band) call Post Punk!” That was my final statement then and honestly; I`m curious what has happened in the last 20 months, which frame the evolution of ‘Beating The Balance’, what is not a new album, but an EP, loaded with 4 new tracks and three remixes. So let´s spend no time and enter!

‘Solipsism’ is an atmospheric opener. Rhythmical electronics evoke a dark, industrial ground fog soaked with impalpable feedbacks. It could cause something like a trancelike state but it spits you out after 2 minutes, keyed up for what comes next. ‘Body ´n Angels’ comes next, whose melodic grounding is contrary wrapped in the sound of organic instruments. Guitars, bass and a manlike sounding drum, belted with swirling synthesizers. I have to confess that it´s hard for me to take to the vocals, which have that subtle aggressive timbre, this lurking at the threshold between singing and screaming, roughened and brimmed with energy without to pour it out consequently! But the chorus indemnifies for that (subjective) blemish entirely. Attended by female vocals it´s a splendidly melodic and harmonic sequence of chords, catchy and coloured with the sweetest kind of melancholy. So if you fall back in the familiar pattern of the stanzas you know what you are waiting for. It´s the clever changing of menace and melodic that makes this song stuck in your head for a while.

‘Metelitsa (The snowstorm dance from Russia)’ wears an overriding electronic dress again. Technical beats shove through synthetic volleys of noise, hitchhiked by the frowningly whispering vocals. It´s the presence of the distorted guitars, which proves you a liar if you call it EBM, but the feeling is steady. Even if the chorus tries the same trick again it fails to reach the charm of its predecessor, lacks of the sonic variety in contrast to the rest of the song. All in all it´s not a bad song but maybe an inconvenient position in the tracklist. ‘Le Noir Est Blanc’ keeps the danceable path, decorated with distorted side blows and call it intuition or experience – you await the chorus by default, which rises (again) above the main structure with a relieved melody and an outstanding harmonic progression.

So at first I thought it´s me who´s repetitive but while listening to ‘Beating the Balance’ again and again I realized it is arrangement and the textural atmosphere of the tracks that feels like a Mobius strip. What´s a shame, ´cause the songs are well done, but their too similar to work in a row. The ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL mix of ‘Body ´n Angels’ strips down the original song to its electronic bones, what gives it a special minimalistic charm, but refuses the unfolding of its highlighting chorus, what I think is a pity. The ATTRITION remix of ‘Metelitsa (The snowstorm dance from Russia)’ is not so far away from the original song, except the emphasis on the beats and some picturing effects. But it manages to reveal a missed melodic layer of the song and the simple but effective idea to finish the track a-capella is not only clever but almost ironic in the musical surrounding. Finally we face the ‘Drive Remix’ of ‘Donor’ (taken from the above mentioned ‘Engine In Void’ album) by Tommy Rombouts, what surely will fill a lot of dance floors. A smoothly polished electro track, full of energy and drive (!), but without any rough edges (although I think that this was never the intention!).

So now it comes into my mind again why I have always a spot of bother with EPs. The actual four songs (including the opener) are far too little to create a full musical picture and their similarities are shorten the feeling even more. On their own they are good songs, atmospheric, energetic and with some great arranged moments, but again I fail to detect the musical direction and I´m afraid I can use the quote from the beginning here too. It´s a mixture of genres that puts a spoke in the wheel of its own plausibility. But maybe it´s the felt domination of the remixes what causes this cluelessness, granting the hope that a future fulltime album is able to erase some of my charges.


Tracklist

01. Solipsism
02. Body ‘N Angels
03. Metelitsa (The Snowstorm Dance from Russia)
04. Le noir est blanc
05. Body ‘N Angels (Absolute Body Control Remix By Eric Van Wonterghem)
06. Metelitsa (The Attrition Remix)
07. Donor (Tommy Rombouts Drive Remix)


Line-up

CUVG - Vocals
Ian Lambert - Synths
Ivan DC - Guitar
Mr. Pierre -Guitar
Chiffon's Tale - Backing Vocals
JDSUB/Gijs - Mixing


Website

http://www.thearch.be


Cover Picture

thearch beatingthebalance


Rating

Music: 5
Sound: 8
Total: 6.5 / 10





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