Artist: Emigrate
Title: The Persistence of Memory
Genre: Industrial / Rock / Electro
Release Date: 12th November 2021
Label: Emigrate Production / Sony Music Entertainment
Album Review
Most people know Richard Kruspe as the riffing wizard of RAMMSTEIN, but Richard has a creative sidekick just like Till Lindemann. Kruspe teams up with various musicians for his studio albums and videos and once in a while a famous guest can be found on one of their releases, too. The new releases got the title ‘The Persistence of Memory’ and comes with songs that first were ideas and then vanished in a drawer for almost 20 years, until they will saw the light of a recording studio to end up on EMIGRATE’s latest release. You might expect songs that are mainly Industrial prone, but if you tried out the bands previous releases ‘Emigrate’ (2007), ‘Silent So Long’ (2014) und ‘A Million Degrees’ (2018), you know that you can expect Rock with some Industrial elements and an increasing amount of Electro elements release by release.
The albums opener ‘Rage’ starts with a synth intro and deep nearly Goth vocals, though they sound very Electro prone until guitars and drums kick in and halfway through the track some nearly clear sounding vocals occur underlined by an acoustic guitar. A powerful opener, that shows what you can expect on this album, an up and down of styles, aspects, themes and sound elements, are well dosed and mixed. The next song is a classic and was covered many times, most people know the versions by ELVIS, WILLIE NELSON AND PETSHOP BOYS, we are talking ‘Always On My Mind’. For his cover of this song, Kruspe teamed up with his RAMMSTEIN bandmate Till Lindemann.
Those who expect and Industrial version, might be slightly disappointed, for the two of them gave it a strong Goth touch, reminding me of WITT. Till performs the lead vocals in the opening part with a deep dark aura and the guitar hooks during the leading vocals, give it a straight heavy touch. The chorus part in contrast, is nearly Pop followed by a short bridge part until Richards performs vocals in clear singing. The song continues as duet and sounds so Pop and Rock prone that you might expect it on any Rock X-mas compilation, if there was not the last sentence. “I’m so happy that you’re mine” being performed so unemotional, that you immediately think of RAMMSTEIN.
The next song is a powerful and harder one; ‘Freeze My Mind’ has a fantastic heavy bass dominated sound. Some parts of the song strongly remind me of some old stuff by MARILYN MANSON, especially the Electro parts that are interrupted by guitars breaking onto the melody and the Electro prone vocals. ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah‘ reminds me of 80s Goth with a bit of Post Punk, the piano adding a nice contrast to the synths, definitely one for the dancefloor. It’s remarkable that the lyrics sound very thin during the lead vocal’s part, while they significantly sound more powerful during the chorus part.
‘Come Over’ continues with the Electro style and Pop elements can be found as well, giving the song an aura over modernized Dark Wave. Definitely aiming at those who love the dancefloor. The intro of ‘You Can't Run Away‘, reminded of the intro of ‘Billy Jean’ for a few seconds, until synthies create a dark, depressing aura and the lyrics tell a story of dark, sinister, longing love. The vocals are rather thin and only gain some power during the chorus part, the song sounds like a typical filler for an album.
‘Hypothetical’ makes up for this. The song was previously released on ‘Silent So Long’ starring MARILYN MANSON. For ‘The Persistence of Memory’ it was turned into a new version with stronger Industrial riffing, one for the headbangers. Even if you don’t like the intro part, keep listening, pay attention to the drums, together with the guitarwork, they add power to the song hit by hit. ‘Blood Stained Wedding’ is a dark one for the dancefloor.
The album closes with ‘I Will Let You Go’. Well they might have left out the electric equal of a classic horn, but the lyrics sound stronger in this song, telling a dark story, surrounded by spheric instrumentation, with great guitar hooks breaking in once in a while. The chorus is more powerful and comes as solid Rock music, until the main lyrics kick in again. An up and down of vocal performance and use of instrumentation.
The album is full of all elements of dark music, very versatile and sometime surprising. If you don’t take everything too seriously and are open for experimental music, this is for you. If you expect Industrial Metal and Rock, give it a few spins, before you make your decision.
Tracklist
01. Rage
02. Always On My Mind
03. Freeze My Mind
04. Yeah Yeah Yeah
05. Come Over
06. You Can't Run Away
07. Hypothetical
08. Blood Stained Wedding
09. Let You Go
Line-up
Richard Kruspe - Vocals, Lead Guitar
Olsen Involtini - Rhythm Guitar
Arnaud Giroux - Bass
Mikko Sirén - Drums (from Apocalyptica)
Andrea Marino - Keyboard
Website
www.emigrate.eu / www.facebook.com/Emigrate
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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