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Title: Soulstrip
Artist: Obscenity Trial
Genre: Synth Pop
Release Date: 16th October 2009
Label: Remote Music



Album Review

The two preceding singles ‘Über’s Wasser Gehen’ and ‘Glück Auf’ whetted the appetite of Synth / Electro Pop fans for ‘Soulstrip’, the third OBSCENITY TRIAL album, which actually was to be released on 2nd October 2009 but due to pressing-related issues it needed to be pushed back to 16th October 2009.

The album kicks off with ‘Seven Seas’ and I will pick up the water metaphor for my little description here, as it just fits to well in order not to use it. The track’s structure reminds me so much of a little boat or barque lost on the stormy sea exposed to whatever the waves decide to do with it. It’s a pretty epic track with the lush pads and chorals in the backdrop mixed with the distant murmuring of waves and a halting beat. It creates very vivid imagery in your mind if you let it through. On ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’, the water has frozen to ice, just like the emotions of the narrator who lays bare his innermost feelings to us on an oppressing mid-tempo tune. ‘Inside’ in parts rather sounds threatening than oppressing. Sparse, melodic shreds encompass a harder industrialized beat and much darker vocals here.

’Yet Another Boring Day’ is an instrumental track bringing you lots of playful sound tricks and an edginess you probably wouldn’t have expected from OBSCENITY TRIAL. The album is closing with the ballad ‘What’s Driving You On’ introduced by emotive piano lines and luxurious synth layers, before a discreet beat joins in to help accompanying the sonorous chant o f Oliver Wand hovering above all. ‘Soulstrip’ has become a darker, or more melancholic record than I had expected, but it also bears enough moments of hope for one not to get depressive about it. I’d say the mixture is perfect as it is. Apart from that the production of the tracks is cutting edge. It’s an album made for autumn.


Tracklist

01 Seven Seas - 6:56
02 Über's Wasser Gehen (Album - 5:05
03 Wrong Place Wrong Time - 4:57
04 Inside - 4:16
05 Glück Auf - 3:48
06 At The End Of The Day - 4:26
07 Unplugged - 1:30
08 Yet Another Boring Day - 3:16
09 Shadows - 4:02
10 What's Driving You On - 5:04


Line-up

Oliver Wand - Music & Vocals


Website

http://www.otrial.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/obscenitytrial


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8 / 10


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