Title: Astral Border
Artist: Oxyd
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 2008
Label: Aliens Production
Album Review
OXYD, the instrumental side-project of the two DISHARMONY members Ryby and Lord Sauron, has come up with a variety of releases in the past years, each seeing the music evolving a little more. With their newest output, they’re taking a trajectory leading them to the ‘Astral Border’, eventually.
Yet the opener ‘Forgive Me’ primarily sticks to earthly region excluding the heavenly atmospheres, the choirs and strings; they’re creating a very special mood and feeling which is completely missing on the following track ‘Blood Flowers’ for me. Though a variety of melodic textures is unleashed here, they simply lack the urgency it would take to create a strong mood. As for the rhythms, the slick and distortion effects are nice but otherwise monotony prevails in that department. Does the title track make up for that ill-designed track from before? The answer is: It does in parts! The atmospheres coated around the beat work re-gained some of their intensity yet are not on par with the ones presented on the opening track and to come back to the beats once more; there’s still too little alteration in the structure.
Crossing the threshold to ‘Uranium’, we’re becoming aware of a change for the better. Glistening rays of melody, dipped in melancholia come across to us while percussion mixed in with occasional electronic thuds embellishes them. It’s a perfect little entity and with it begins a trend for more textures and increased depths within them continuing through most of the following tracks. That can be a ‘Labyrinth’ that’s going to engulf listeners with its concentrated drifts and billows or a ‘Frozen’, offering grand piano lines to your ears. Those tracks are the essence of OXYD; combining mighty and majestic synths with a sophisticated rhythmic approach. Still, the latter one could be much more elaborate, even in those later tracks. I’m confident, however, they’ll work on erasing these errors for the next time an OXYD album sees the lights of day. For now, we’re settling with this one, even if it’s a bit of a mixed up affair.
Tracklist
01. Forgive Me - 6:58
02. Blood Flowers - 4:54
03. Alcasonic - 4:02
04. Voyager - 5:20
05. Lucifers Dreams - 6:27
06. Astral Border - 6:22
07. Uranium - 3:56
08. Labyrinth - 4:43
09. Frozen - 5:50
10. Astral Border (RMX) - 9:11
11. Dystopia - 2:01
Line-up
Ryby
Lord Sauron
Website
http://www.oxyd.aliens.sk/ / http://www.myspace.com/projectoxyd
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Extras: -
Total: 7 / 10
{jos_sb_discuss:19}
Comments powered by CComment