Title: …No
Artist: Zentriert ins Antlitz
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 25th November 2008
Label: Tympanik Audio
Album ReviewArtist: Zentriert ins Antlitz
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 25th November 2008
Label: Tympanik Audio
The German project ZENTRIERT INS ANTLITZ was initiated in 1994 and with ‘Fehlklang’ released their first album. Ever since they’ve continuously pulled out new releases like ‘Mutilate’ (2005) or ‘Diametral’ (2007) for instance. Now in 2008, they join the ranks of Tympanik Audio to unleash their newest work, simply titled ‘…No’.
I experienced a strange effect when I started to listen to ‘…No!’ It was like opening the gates to another world, every time I listened to the disc(s), which we get introduced to with ‘Phreneticus’ that’s maintaining a constant enthralling tension throughout its duration. It conjures the feeling of a phantom menace with deep drones and manifold sounds, passing you by to disappear in the distance, while beats in various peculiarities emerge along the way. ‘Where their Dreams Live’ creates an imaginary realm in which the sun does never fully set and sends out her orange rays for all eternity, a realm imbued with magical strings, classical choirs and skilfully crafted down-tempo beats alongside touching acoustic guitar showers. As we’re opening the ‘Silence Diary’ we only see empty pages yet there’s still something hidden inside: sounds, bells, cold ambient winds and a soft current of interwoven rhythmic arrays tell a story that needs no words. ‘24th Dimension’ to a certain extend is pure ambient.
A wave of strings weightless guitar, gently gliding on minimalist rhythms that soon reveal their relationship to industrial, growing up to complex sound entities. On ‘Shamizen Jangle’ the electronic beats just seem to be ornamental art for the powerful percussions rock accents and tunes from the Eastern Hemisphere; like a joint effort do bring together musical trademarks from different cultures that results in one of the most unique tracks on ‘…No!’ and if that title track would appear on a movie score I wouldn’t be surprised as ‘…No’ is orchestral grace and power cast into an electronic form with some of the least artificial sounding strings I’ve heard in a long time, which makes it my absolute highlight on the main disc. But there are two additional discs with this release; not as physical copies, but somewhere hidden on the CD. Don’t ask me how that works. Anyway, the second disc is called ‘7 Dreams’ and comprises 7 remixes of ‘Where their Dreams Live’ by several Tympanik Audio artists. INTEGRAL for instance add new sound effects and especially additional at times softer rhythm layers to the track while keeping the overall melodic theme of the original intact.
ACCESS TO ARASAKA, however, deconstructs the original completely; the broken beats and compelling sounds don’t seem to follow any particular scheme. The track is highly unpredictable. This is why I love it! He has another remix appearance on the third disc ‘Remixes’ with his version of ‘Silence Diary’ that’s giving the atmosphere lots of room to breath enveloping it with an icy lay layer that’s rather sensible than audible and the sound design of the rhythm tracks is incredible. Now I’m really curious about the upcoming album. Tony Young aka AUTOCLAV1.1 gives an infusion of his organic and emotionally-charged soundscapes to ‘Silence Diary’.
2008 is almost over, but it hasn’t done its last breath yet and offers us with the new ZENTRIERT INS ANTLITZ album ‘…No!’ another quality release that draws a lot of its fascination from the expansive sound worlds it creates within each track and, for that matter the rhythmical part is far away from being mediocre, so give it a chance, it’s worth the time.
Tracklist
01. Phreneticus – 5:27
02. Today – 4:45
03. Where their Dreams live – 7:23
04. Silence Diary – 5:51
05. The Animals Hanging – 1:27
06. 24th Dimension – 7:36
07. Can't get me – 5:25
08. Manage my Sensibility – 9:32
09. Shamisen Jangle – 5:01
10. Perphenazin – 6:30
11. ...No – 4:30
12. The Final Walk – 8:12
[De-Mutilated Content]
CD 2 (7 Dreams):
1. Where Their Dreams Live (Afterworld Mix by Integral) – 6:06
2. Where Their Dreams Live (Where Their Dreams Die Mix by Totakeke) – 7:15
3. Where Their Dreams Live (Access to Arasaka Remix) – 5:20
4. Where Their Dreams Live (Sheer Athmo Mix by ZIA) – 5:00
5. Where Their Dreams Live (Remixed by Stendeck) – 4:44
6. Where Their Dreams Live (Small Space Mix by Lucidstatic) – 5:00
7. Where Their Dreams Live (Remixed by Subheim) – 5:11
CD 3 (Remixed):
1. Ewiniar – 5:55
2. Silence Diary (Empty Pages Mix by Autoclav1.1) – 6:04
3. Silence Diary (Access to Arasaka Remix) – 4:53
4. Perphenazin (Remixed by Disharmony) – 6:28
5. Perphenazin (Pandora's Black Book Mix) – 4:42
6. Can’t Get Me (Re-Dub by ZIA) – 5:18
7. Weekend – 7:29
8. Jericho (CityState Mix by Unterm Rad) – 3:55
Line-up
Marc Friedrich
Jürgen Warkentin
Holger Meuler
Website
http://www.zentriertinsantlitz.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/zentriertinsantlitz
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 8.5 / 10
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