Play 90 second soundbite of 'New Man' @ 'CD quality'
I have to admit that when I read Empire's press pack I didn't think this was gonna be my kinda thing - I was wrong! I put the damn thing into my 'player' and 'The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven' won me over almost instantly with its pace, its energy, its originality and its sheer guts. Electro-something-or-other, hardcore-whatever, techno-tweakery, nu-digi-punk - who gives a sloppy shit what this is or where it should sit within the genre-this and genre-that of contemporary music - Alec Empire's 'The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven' fits no bill, won't be pigeonholed, can't be tied down. This album is a piece of modern musical magic that I just know won't be to everyone's taste but those with sufficient ambition for adventure and/or a penchant for the unusual and/or the slightly manic will find loads to love about it.
'The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven' is robust in form and packs a powerful punch and yet it's deceptively simplistic when you really start to get down and intimate with it - what sounds massive is just great use of melodic dynamics rather than over-complicated, over-mixed or over-dubbed digital noises and synthesised drones. Plus, Alec Empire is a musician not content with just performing a digital cacophony of partly blended 'noises' - this guy's great with words and compositional structure too and Empire creates not just aural soundscapes but meaningful lyrical and tuneful musical tapestries that take digital music to the next level. Every track cries for max db - this album should be allowed to blast out from the speakers 'til yer eardrums burst!
'The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven by Alec Empire is modern music for the modern man - it's inspired and inspirational - it's a positive powerhouse of techno synchronicity - it's one step beyond - the growlers goolies!!!
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