‘Simulacra’, answers the bellowing calls from fans for more music, its ten songs that showcase the full range of Skold’s confident voice paired with the raw, cinematic soundscapes and modular synth riffs laid down by Bellum. At once atmospheric and ominous, it is a modern masterpiece in the genre.
‘In Service To The Wolf’ is a slow burner of a track but sets the album up nicely with the barren electronic soundscape and Skold’s confident and striking voice.
The barren apocalyptic soundscapes continue with the industrial sounding ‘Crisis’ Skold’s voice works so well and sits on top of the music perfectly. His vocals take on a paranoid edge with whispered vocals that seem to call and answer each other in a psychotic manner.
‘Ashes’ carries on with the psychotic vocals over the sparse electronic noises. The atmosphere the band create is something that you can’t help but be affected by especially with the minimum approach the guys have taken by not loading up the track with a heap of instruments. ‘Rebis’ does the same with its Bowie style phrasing
‘The Underneath’ has a more upbeat feel with urgent sounding vocals that flow from whispered spoken word and Skold’s unique baritone, that is not a million miles away from a crooning Jarvis Cocker.
An eerie track with pulsating bass and chant like singing ‘Mirage Mirage’. The track slips away ushering in the multi voiced ‘Abyssus’ which really goes out there with the psycho noises. Something that the next track ’21 Grams’ also does when it goes from funky sounding bass to death metal on the chorus.
The final two tracks are both minimal in their production. The lyrics for ‘Salt’ mention the 90s as a slow countdown over scratch electronics and Bellum’s broken sounding bass that features in many of these tracks and give the album its apocalyptic vibe. ‘We Don’t Leave Our Dead Behind’ is a slowed down track that crawls itself across the ground with the mysterious vibrating sounds and a bare hint of a melody, with Skolds voice keeping it alive.
A sparse and apocalyptic sounding album full of industrial sound affects and noises which at first seem an album of the same sounding tracks. But give it a few spins and each song gives something a bit different. The tracks morph and change and you can start hearing the duos influences from their workday bands, Marilyn Manson being one for Skold, who channels the dark lord with his singing style. You can hear a hint of Bowie and Depeche Mode in these tracks too in the vocal phrasing and electronic melodies. They bring their styles and influences together to create an album you would expect. Its these two doing what they do best to the delight the duos fans.
Check out the bands track Ashes, below:
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Purchase the album here
