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Band: Neuro-Sentence
Album title: The Shores Of Anhedonia
Release date: 14 February 2014
Label: Xperiment XIII
Tracklist:
01. Dominion (Subjugate)
02. Inferno (For A Heart)
03. The Edict
04. Chemical
05. Anhedonia
06. Archetypes & Avatars
07. Kali
08. Samsara
09. Morning Star
10. Divine
USA based duo Neuro-Sentence is finally here with their debut album! Ok, I couldn't get past the beautiful obscure artwork which, on the other hand made me a little bit suspicious about what to expect in here. On one side you have a band name that points out to something cyber/electronic stuff and on the other the gruesome dark cover... Hmm... Ok, after first few listens, The Shores Of Anhedonia, melts this anxienty away. The band which was formed in 2009 shows a very intriguing mix of everything that is goth and electro/industrial/EBM sounds, they call it "necro-electro". If I can say it like this: Neuro-Sentence are like a bastard child from seeds and eggs of Christian Death, Front Line Assembly, Diary Of Dreams and Fields Of The Nephilim. You get the picture? No? Than read the rest of this review.
Ten tracks on this album show a mature compositional process and a band that understands the word "dark". Everything is based on electronic sounds, EBM elements and some massive industrial punches. But it's done like true goth rockers were doing it. There are some danceable lines, but not dominant, they are somehow lost among the obscure veil of pounding beats, gloomy synths and vocals that are so much goth that couldn't be more, yet giving the right character to the featured music. Imagine the vocal-mix of Allen B. Konstanz from The Vision Bleak, Adrian Hates from Diary Of Dreams, the late Peter Steele, and McCoy from FOTN to name the first names coming into mind while hearing Neuro-Sentence's vocalist named Elipsis. Sometimes the vocals get a bit electrified and this just makes everything more fascinating.
Otherwise the musical output is very strong, at least in most parts. For example the sombre EBM opener "Dominion (Subjugate)", where the pounding bass lines, danceable rhytms are in perpetual contrast control with atmospheric synths in the background and afore mentioned vocals. Not only typical electronic elements, but also piano tounches ("Inferno (For A Heart)"), occasional goth rock guitar riffs and other elements can be found in here. Beside that Neuro-Sentence enthuses with some really fascinating melodic and catchy lines, some bloody uplifting choruses and ambiental elements, just listen to the amazing "Chemical" or "Samsara". The sound is most times massive, with great medium pace, but there are of course also tracks that are more calm, still without losing any of its powerful character. For example the sullen ambiental "Anhedonia" or the doomy darkness of the closing one "Divine". In between there's also interesting track "Kali", which sounds almost like The 69 Eyes on electronic drugs. This diversity of tracks is very welcome because on the contrary somewhere in the middle this album could start to become a bit monotone.
Neuro-Sentence did an album that is an unit of some of the most sinister goth sounds and is by all means a good one. Respectfully this duo didn't try to make music for "mainstream gothsters", but kept it genuine and undergroundish. Still to be truthful I needed a lot of listens of this album to grow on me and start to really appreciating it. Even though I'm not a huge fan of everything electronic, this album kept me hooked for quite long and I know that I'll put it on my music player still a lot of times.
Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8/10
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