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Xenomorph : Demagoguery of the Obscurants (2007)
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exotic
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
200
Posts :
5057
Posted : Dec 7, 2007 19:14
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Xenomorph is the one-man band of Mark Petrick, based in Berlin (Germany). With over 10 years in the business, Xenomorph is one of the veterans in the trance scene who has played live shows in many countries all around the globe. He sees himself as the inventor of horror-trance, a unique style that was unprecedented in 1996 when he created songs like "Obscure Spectre" which has upset many goa-people and was considered "unspiritual" or "un-goa-ish". Regardless of the initial anti-sentiment against his music he has kept and refined his style throughout the years in which the community has become more open and appreciative for dark music. Unlike most younger trance artists who just listen to trance music, Xenomorph was exposed to a multitude of musical influences like new wave, punk/post-punk, Gothic, rock-music, death-rock, industrial, EBM, power-noise, death-metal, crossover/hardcore as well as classical music and soundtracks. With his 3rd studio album the German producer Mark Petrick presents 10 ambitious trance songs packed into an elaborate concept critically reflecting current, past and future world events.
Review:
1. Prognosis
2. Capitalist Infiltration
3. Enslavement by consumption
4. Totalitarian Democracy
5. Secret satanic hierarchy
6. Harbingers of extinction
7. Economic Sabotage
8. Cataclysmic Downfall
9. World War 3
11. Nuclear Winter
Prognosis
1776 .. What hits me first is the techy baseline with loads of snares thrown here and there .. it doesn't take too long before the guitar starts riffing and the track plunges into an atmosphere charged with ebm and heavy Gothic rhythms and bass; an imagery of terrible doom and arid wasteland is inevitable .. awesome track to start off the album with.
Capitalist Infiltration
Kicks off with a sample about capitalism .. its obvious from here on that mark is building an album with a message , whether or not it comes across as cheezy is entirely up to the listener to decide. The atmospherics in the track are splendidly crafted with weird fx's filtering in and out between a tight bassline.. the ebm and industrial elements come forth and there's plenty of variation to keep the listener engrossed while maintaining that gothic dark mood. Quite dig this track! im indifferent to the samples as long as the musical content is kept up.
Enslavement by Consumption
EbC is heavily loaded in terms of bassline , sick twisted melodies and effects ..those howling voices and effects creep the hell out of me ..'we're losing autonomy and we're replacing autonomy with civil rights' and then another sample about the U.S and how they've created all these things which .. im not going too much into the samples, so you can look them up in your documentries concerning those subjects when you do hear them.
Totalitarian Democracy
Guitars!! what separates skazi and xenomorph is that xenomorph is a much better guitarist .. it doesnt in any way sound bad or over done..again loads of variety and guttural vocals amidst samples of totalitarian democracy , military and government.. maybe those samples are getting in the way of appreciating the music. But this is apparently the main feature if the album so if we like it or hate we can definitely not ignore it. The overall sound is cutting edge which is what matters
Secret satanic hierarchy
The mood is a tad melancholic and there's a soothing melody softly appearing through the din , gaining momentum , the bass is not to dark. the psychedelic synth riffs along with the haunting melody provides a compelling atmosphere. What is god ? Is he/she/it both the embodiment of good and evil at different times to different people? makes me wonder . Another cool track imo.
Harbingers Of Extinction
A nice hypnotic baseline, good effects , equally good work on the synths. This is totally dancy material, the lack of too many samples which disturbs the listener between good musical moments actually brings out what xeno is best at.. maybe the samples should appear in places when there's nothing much going on like in this case.
Economic Sabotage
Cool intro , again the appearance of samples sorta detracts from the main theme and I cant help being reminded about vegetal's album where a similar situation ensued. This is weird totally dark trippy and disturbing all at the same time. There's lots going on here: the oldskoolish touches are sublime - acid!!!! One of the better tracks of the album , music wise. The sample here makes me larf because it is much more coherent then the rest of the samples and its true of course "International bankers deal not with the general public but with the industrial giants of the world, with other financial institutions and especially with governments. the key to their success has been to control and manipulate the money system of the nation while appearing to be controlled by the government. but another fact is to create money out of nothing : lend it to the government and then collect interest on it." and another one towards the end about low interest rates having an adverse affect on the investment and economy at large. Interesting but seriously coming back to the question whether such long drawn out are really necessary in a genre where people are there to enjoy the beats than being educated.
Cataclysmic Downfall
I like the fact that we're not really being bombarded by big samples straight up . This sounds like it'll do well in a forest party , derango would be proud . Xeno sticks to what he does best and im really happy with the non- appearance of samples and as soon as i say that a long Armageddon sample finds its way in. Phew! Im bordering now on whether I should take this as a serious education or try and ignore the teachery being hurled at me and concentrate on the music. A decent track nonetheless.
World War 3
Noyce start to things .. a juicy baseline and some good base guitaring makes for a solid combination. World war 3 - something on the scale of a nuclear holocaust with weapons of mass destruction( biological &chemical)- is it upon us ? who's going to be responsible in bringing this about ? No points for guessing who's already in the main frame!
Nuclear Winter
A very gloomy end to a bold album. Such a sad end to the world will be horrible. Images from the movie day after tomorrow appear in my head with the only difference being that nuclear war will cause such upheaval , bringing in the perceivable end before really threating global weather changes can cause any damage. Hope this is not the case.
This is not your typical dark full power heavy metal influenced brain busting music. Xenomorph has put an emphasis on musical composition with soulful melodies to give the songs a special emotional moments surrounded by scratchy, psychedelic synthesizer riffs unique to the artist that will equally excite melody trance and dark trance listeners. Maybe not ideal for dancefloors , it's good for home listening. If not anything else this album makes you sit up and think and take note of certain issues that maybe havent crossed our minds before and if they have to dwell upon them and reiterate them just in your own head. Even though those samples might tire you out in parts , i'll give a two thumbs up to mark aka xenomorph for putting out an album that couldnt be more in sync in the global context. Give it a try and you might find youself engaging in a worthwhile conversation about the topics that this album deals with. It did that for me, atleast.
Favourites: 1!,3, 5, 7!!, 8
http://www.myspace.com/xenomorphmusic
Get the album here :
http://saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=6858
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/gno/gno1cd002.html
  missing plug-in |
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insane
Silent Horror
Started Topics :
67
Posts :
1983
Posted : Dec 7, 2007 19:34
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Nuclear winter... amazin composition  Best for me.
production - sooper
was surprised to read lyrics in this album,though the vocals were distorted and fitted very well in the trax.
trac 1 is good too nice guitar riffs.
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NEMESIS - DEVILSMIND RECORDS - 2007
PATTERNS EP - DEVILSMIND RECORDS _ 2009
SEANCE - DEVILSMIND RECORDS - 2011
PATTERNS II EP - DEVILSMIND RECORDS _ 2013 |
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Galaxian
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
661
Posted : Dec 7, 2007 20:18
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i think this album has too much politics oriented story which i dont really like cause psychedelic music for me is escape from reality...but indeed there are nice compositions here, agree with silent horror, nuclear winter is reallt amazing composition so melancholic... also secret satanic hierarchy i dig because of weird atmosphere in it... other really not for me...dont like guitar tracks...
offtopic - silent horror right now has 666 posts!! weird...
VA - Momentum vol.1 - Compiled by PhaseTech
www.ektoplazm.com
www.tesseractstudio.org
www.myspace.com/phasetech |
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Zman
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
3784
Posted : Dec 7, 2007 20:51
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Hugely disappointing for me at least. I dont feel xeno's magic in this any longer. Production is superb tho. Me want more Qlippoth & Cassandra's Nightmare  |
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darkgnome
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
128
Posted : Dec 8, 2007 13:32
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Quote:
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On 2007-12-07 20:51, zmandan wrote:
Hugely disappointing for me at least. I dont feel xeno's magic in this any longer. Production is superb tho. Me want more Qlippoth & Cassandra's Nightmare
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+1
Kimi-tachi wa keikoku sareta! |
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Ruberoid
Inactive User
Ruberoid
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
118
Posted : Dec 9, 2007 03:24
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mk47
Inactive User
Started Topics :
118
Posts :
4444
Posted : Dec 9, 2007 09:02
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nuclear winter .. nice1 ! |
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black_cat
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
101
Posted : Dec 10, 2007 17:59
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amazing conceptual work ....
original sound and super production ....
mark did everything on this one - from music, mastering, to cover and released on his own label ...
one of the best releases in years ... |
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Fuzulu
Fuzulu
Started Topics :
58
Posts :
1096
Posted : Jun 5, 2011 12:20
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