{"id":365,"date":"2010-02-18T23:20:09","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T04:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/?p=365"},"modified":"2012-04-27T13:31:48","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T17:31:48","slug":"strom-ec-divine-legions-beyond-psyche-cd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/?p=365","title":{"rendered":"Strom.ec – Divine Legions Beyond Psyche CD"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Strom.ec<\/a> \u2013 Divine Legions Beyond Psyche CD<\/p>\n

Malginant Records<\/a><\/p>\n

Divine Legions Beyond Psyche is a testament to the intensity and determination of this legendary Finnish power electronics\/industrial project. This vision is so excellently constructed and executed as to be a unique, original and comprehensive body of work. Not to mention, dark, disturbing, innovative, and seriously foreboding. The sounds literally make me feel the tension presented in the relevant concepts, ideas that seem very pertinent to current international tensions and governmental programs especially on that fine line where individual rights are breached. But as with most of these artists work, there always seem to be underlying themes that aren\u2019t apparent right on the surface.<\/p>\n

The sounds presented here are intense and extremely original. Strom.ec really bastardizes my ideas of what \u201cpower electronics\u201d can be in tracks like \u201cValis\u201d and \u201cVitaalinen Olomuoto\u201d. Valis\u2019s industrial ambience and sound design elements are some of my favorite here with clanging metal, electric drones, sharp panning finally building up to an estranged rhythm. I admire Strom.ec\u2019s willingness to exploit sound in the digital realm and use effects that sometimes are even a bit overstated. But these sounds are in good company with intense washes of harsh noise, pulsating distorted synths, brutal traditional PE vocals as well as the more effected vocals that appear in \u201cSecurity Council\u201d which I really enjoy. There\u2019s some kind of LFO creating a very wobbling character to the screamed vocals which add this abstraction that seems to just fit so well with the concept of \u201ccontradiction of the welfare state\u201d and \u201cactivate your own state.\u201d<\/p>\n

I just can\u2019t finish this review without mentioning my favorite track here \u201cDivine Legions Beyond Psyche Part 1\u201d. The sound design is absolutely stunning here and literally makes me feel like I am having my brain dissected as I lay conscious on the cold stainless steel surgery table. There\u2019s electronic synth elements mixed flawlessly with what sound like mouth noises, electrical devices whirring, industrial clanging. This is more intense then any kind of visuals could even conjure and a perfect sonic manifestation of the album\u2019s title. Really impressive.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the only weakness here lies in some of the compositional elements. Although individually the ambience and noise of \u201cHelvetin Esikartano\u201d is excellent, the back and forth, quiet\/loud structure here seems a little generic and forced. In addition I think the 20+ minute closer \u201cVitaalinen Olomuoto\u201d could have benefited by being broken up into a few different tracks as there are so many varied sounds and passages I tend to get a bit lost in the fray here. These are pretty insignificant gripes though as each track is just filled to the brim with the harshest, creepiest, and most innovative noise\/industrial I\u2019ve been exposed to in quite sometime. Amazing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Composition:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"☆\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sounds:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Production Quality:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"½\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Concept:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Packaging:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"☆\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Overall Rating:<\/td>\n\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"½\" <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strom.ec \u2013 Divine Legions Beyond Psyche CD
\nMalginant Records
\nDivine Legions Beyond Psyche is a testament to the intensity and determination of this legendary Finnish power electronics\/industrial project. This vision is so excellently constructed and executed as to be a unique, original and comprehensive body of work. Not to mention, dark, disturbing, innovative, and seriously foreboding. The sounds literally make me feel the tension presented in the relevant concepts, ideas that seem very pertinent to current international tensions and governmental programs especially on that fine line where individual rights are breached. But …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,13],"tags":[21,22,23],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-reviews","category-webzine","tag-finland","tag-industrial","tag-power-electronics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/existest.org\/ee_v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}