tEaR!dOwN - Shades Of Apathy

tEaR!doWn seem to surface every five years or so like some sort of preordained sonic ritual. In 2008 we saw the band's debut 'Mind!kick', 2013 'Clouds Cover The Sun' double CD ripped up and redefined the direction of tEaR!doWn and finally during waning days of 2017 'Shades Of Apathy' reveals itself as a powerful conclusion to a year of many promising releases. 

'Shades Of Apathy' like every release on Electro Aggression Records takes hold of the foundations that originally made the artist noticeable and harnessed that talent to take it to another level. 'Shades Of Apathy' certainly raises the bar for tEaR!doWn with killer song arrangements laced with edgy yet melodic choruses that suck you into the synthetic vortex to become completely immersed into the belly of the beast we call tEaR!doWn. We absolutely saw the evolution of sound when 'Clouds Cover The Sun' was released. 'Mind!kick' became nothing but a distant memory and perhaps now a collector's item. 'Clouds Cover The Sun' had that raw technical edge with heavy Front Line Assembly machinations tweaked with hooks that expanded towards synthpop but never quite arrived at that destination. This seemed to be the direction the band was heading towards, and just about 5 years later they reached their next destination. 

When Electro Aggression Records (EAR) releases an album, there is never just one track that is great and the rest blows. We see that trend often. Unlike the blueprint of putting all your time and energy into one or two tracks at the expense of the whole, EAR treats the whole with the ethos of 70 plus minutes of quality control with great care to arrive at a final product. The end results speak for themselves. In case you haven't noticed EAR takes it time with its releases. Like all great albums there are songs you like better than others but you listen to the entire album looking forward to your favorite track coming up. I found myself enchanted with the album as a whole. It's solid from beginning to end with interesting blends of dark electro and synthpop injections to garner a wider audience. Case and point with track "Mirror".
 
"Mirror" captures this feel brilliantly with plenty memorable chorus lines back by Oli's (Oliver Spring) vocal range and Charly's audition to lead the approaching and inevitable technocracy. "Skin" is another brilliant subdivision of 'Shades Of Apathy' album highlighted with a devastating, anthemic and powerful chorus progressions enhanced  by wicked key placement that can only be understood with a proper spin the track. "Skin" could very well be the best track I've heard in this genre in last few years with "Mirror" not far behind. 

There are some notable remixes on the album. The Psychic Force make their presence known on the track "Pathfinder" adding a more menacing feel The Psychic Force became known for back in their KM-Musik days in the early to mid 90's. 'Multilation' and 'Traces' are as good as it gets. Pyrroline take control of one of the top tracks on 'Shades Of Apathy', "My World". After enjoying the original version several times I switched over to Pyrroline's rendition. It was just as I expected, a ritualistic churning of technical delights. This is what Pyrroline brings to the table each and every time. The duo understands the process and manipulates it to do their bidding. They have plenty of work to back it up. kFactor seems to be a regular remixer for his label mates. By now we know he loves The Klinik. Hints of The Klinik seep into the crevices of the foundation along with some experimental elements to give off a distant feel splattered with light atmospherics. kfactor's version takes away some of the melody and replaces with that experimental chill while retaining that minimal cold EBM beat.

Throughout the entire album the vocals are clear and relatively easy to make out. Oli's vocals are well done and never sound unrestrained or improperly placed. His ability to blend elements of synthpop and dark electro is fantastic and will certainly be well-received by his loyal fans from his time with Sleepwalk as well new fans that hear tEaR!doWn for the first time. 

Musically, tEaR!doWn always found a way to keep it interesting. The more you listen the more you notice. I noticed the little things more and more within the arrangements. These little things paired with the foundation of the track and all of the layers to Arnte's ( One half of Pyrroline) precision mastering work, all flourish in a symbiotic relationship. The elements feed off each other ensuring the whole performs to its true potential. Oli and Charly continue to use their experience to their benefit and our delight.

Lyrically, there seems to be some dark personal concepts like drug addiction with "Desire Machine", personal demons with "Addiction" and delusional living within "My World". Sometimes those topics can really hit home for those that lived through it. The vocals are clear enough to figure it out. There are also some one liners in the CD inlay with hints or insight to the themes. This is where one may want to shut down and chill out to  a wonderful instrumental piece like "Shades" to let the mind wander for a few minutes until its completely captured by the rhythms. This is what a well done instrumental can do to you to. 

This is tEaR!doWn's best work to date! This will appeal to fans across several genres. I hope this take's off because it would be a true shame for this to go under the radar and die in obscurity. It's too good for that.
Feb 11 2018