Grandchaos - Refuge

A few years ago I received the album 'In Sedens' by the artist Grandchaos. I reviewed it for Neurozine and even though most of the reviews I wrote on Neurozine is posted here, that review was forever lost in time. Probably good for Grandchaos, since I, if I do not remember incorrectly, gave it 3/10 and pretty much hated it.

And for years I walked, thinking I was forever safe from ever have to write another Grandchaos review. I was wrong. Here I am again, writing yet another review from his latest remix album 'Refuge'. This artist has only released one album and two maxi CD's, still, he has released 3 CD's of remixes. Makes me wonder...

At first, things start off pretty decent. The "Tech Nomader remix" of "Refuge" is pretty good even though the vocals sound like someone drugged a poor man with Downs Syndrome. Same goes for the "SA42 Remix" of "The Sky Will Be My Tomb" and the instrumenal "Remixed by Interfront" version of "Resurrection". However, as time passes by, things start tumbling down the shit hole in this 73 minute album of somewhat horrors. I'm not sure if the remixing artists makes it better or worse, since I have not heard the originals due to the fact that Grand Chaos has not released anything but remixes since 2007.

However, I manage to keep calm until the 9th track "Ultra Dark Day (Version 2011)", that's when I get as upset as I get by sparkling vampires. "Ultra Dark Day", seriously? Sounds like something trolled on the internet, or maybe a cat picture? "I has ultra dark dayz". The female vocals in this track are simply terrible. I have no problems with dialects and accents, but this is simply over the top. She must had been looking at paint dry when this was recorded, because I have never heard someone sound so bored, ever. The lyrics manage to make me laugh though, so it does something right, kind of. Here's some word snacks for you; "I saw to many days without hopes", "I see the birds to back to their trees" and my personal favorite "I see the dogs and the cats go home". Wait, what? Why do they go home on this ultra-dark day? Why where they out in the first place? These few words generate a million questions.

For some reason, someone sent me this album twice. At first, I thought this was a great opportunity to have a contest for you guys, to give away one of them. But then I realized that I could not with a clear conscious send this to someone, it's not even worth the post fee. I'm far from impressed. Dec 28 2011