LastraX - Shape Your Destiny

I happened to be perusing whatever I normally would peruse about on the internet (No, not porn, people. That's just dirty), I so happened to stumble upon LastraX, an electro duo from Argentina. After watching a video of their performance of The Limit on YouTube, I decided to check out the rest of the album that the song was from, and that album would be Shape Your Destiny. And, as repetitious as it may tend to get, I also have to admit that I enjoyed my time spent with this album.

The album is sixteen tracks long, with four of the tracks being remixes. And, to start off, we are thrust into Devil's Word. I was pleasently drawn into a smooth electronic beat, that shifts to include high pitched notes as the chorus comes into play. The vocals are definitely synthpop/futurepop inspired, and they fit the song fairly well. But, that's also where a criticism lies.

Throughout the whole album, in each and every song, the vocals stay practically the same. I mean, it isn't entirely a bad thing, as the vocals are not horrendous, but they can get tiresome. As I said in the initial paragraph. the album does have its redundant moments. However, the vocals do kick ass in some songs, such as the second track on the album, The Limit.

That track has got to possibly be my favorite on the entire album. I actually found myself singing it at work the other day to brighten my mood, and I only ever do that with songs that I find revitalizing in one way or the other. I guess the combination of the bass drops and harder electro beat (not too hard, though), and the echo effect that takes place within the singing during the chorus made me get really into it.

But, this is also where a sort of drop off occurs. I was so built up with The Limit that I almost felt that everything after was a disappointment. Again, not that any of the songs were bad, but just that they didn't live up to the hype that The Limit presented me with. But, that wasn't until I hit a track with a guest singer.

And that song that I speak of would happen to be Can't Get Away featuring Maru Pardo Saguier. I guess you could call me a softy when it comes to female vocalists, because I really am as I find their voices so much more relaxing than a male's, but the duo of the standard singing combined with Maru's was absolutely gorgeous. The slow beat to the song perfectly complimented the album and left me smiling to myself as I finished up the song. This is a song that I did not want to skip over at all.

But, once again, I am floored straight into a brick wall because I loved Can't Get Away, and then I am put back into a bunch of other electro songs that I found to be enjoyable, but not as fascinating as that one. I found myself wanting to skip over these songs, and just wanting to ask, "Is there anything else like that?" Sadly, I never found anything else like that, and was a bit depressed that I came to that conclusion.

Nonetheless, I still had to step through the remix section of the album, and so I did. Devil's Word was remixed by Distain. It was a decent effort, with the main attraction, and where the magic begins, would have to be when the heavenly like synth kicks in. That was awesome, but when it disappears, the song just bores me.

I definitely enjoyed the Revolution Day mix, as it created the song to be a hell of a lot more pop oriented, and shifted it straight into a club track. It can be something that you could dance to at a club if you could find a club that would play this type of music. Until then, I'll probably just dance to it as best as I can while cleaning my room in a maid's outfit.

The Ladies on Mars mix of Six Days a Week definitely put a darker twist on the song, putting some distortion onto the vocals, and slowing down the tempo and tuning the attitude of the song to a negative, with drums that make it fairly tribal in a sense. It works, but so oddly so that it didn't turn out to my liking.

And the last mix on the album would that of The Limit. As I found the original song to be astounding, I found this mix to be boring, and almost slaughtered the song for me. It just gets rid a lot of the pop attitude that surrounded the original song that made it so great, that to listen to this mix just makes me appreciate the original song all the more.

Now, altogether, the album has it's astounding moments, and when I mean astounding, I mean I loved the songs that I loved. But, on the downside, the rest of the album just never, ever comes close to sounding as good as the other songs do. They are still fun to listen to, possibly to dance to, but never come close to breaking ground as the other ones did. This does not suggest this is a mediocre album; it is beyond that. I enjoyed my time with this album, and I could listen to it again, with only a few remixes being the stragglers. This album is definitely worth your time and attention; go take a look at it. I order you. Aug 28 2013