Construct - The Momentum Of Prior Belief

Construct is the project of two longtime friends, Roland Zwaga (KRATE, Acidrodent) and Frederik Vorderhake (Liquid Black Goo, The Loss). After twenty-five years of being in several different projects, the two decided to collaborate and craft a new venture for themselves. That being Construct. The result is their debut album "The Momentum Of Prior Belief". Construct's debut is a mesmerizing labyrinth of industrial mechanics that throw off the listener on a constant basis. 

The first song on the album has a bit of a humorous intro that lasts only a few seconds; it sounds as if a child is hitting a bunch of buzzers on an electronic instrument. This is immediately broken up by industrial beats and further complimented by electronic lines that breathe electro-industrial to the core. Experimental yet satisfying while keeping a pure analogue feel even if it's not. The following song 'Do you love?' begins off as an absolute heavy romp of spastic industrial nature. however, not a half-minute into the track does it slow its pace and suddenly transform into an ambient and psychedelic experience before switching right back into the industrial mechanics. This playground between destructive beats and twilight innocence constantly catches me off guard and I have smiled multiple times listening to it. 



'Everything is on fire' is a tough track to describe; terrific kick drums provide a newfound resonance to the track while gritty guitars provide background tones. At the same time, several sections of the track backpedal into warped industrial senses. It's a part of Construct's process, I've discovered, to keep their music as experimental and confusing as possible to constantly throw the listener off guard. 'Basement of the gravediggers' utilizes drum'n'bass and odd vocal samples to craft a slamming industrial rock track. Like racing down the highway at one-hundred and twenty miles per hour, this track never gives up and has enough constant tension to keep me on edge. 

'Inviting Betrayal' invited in further industrial rock mayhem but, as usual, Construct puts up a fearsome fight by having plenty of moments filled with IDM electronics and ambient effects. This allows the song to never be one note and to constantly flounder between a standard industrial track to borderline experimental nature. 'Silent life' utilizes heavy guitars and synths to create massive noise walls; while I can sometimes dig noise walls, I wasn't a huge fan of it on this track. I felt as if the guitars were trying to speak out, but due to the amount of layers present on the track they got lost in a howl of noise. Considering that Construct's biggest strength is their experimental nature, I don't think they utilized that nature to its full strength on 'Silent life'. 

Though the wobbling synths in the beginning of 'Threadbare and torn' aren't exactly spectacular, the electro-industrial showcase that came after it is worth every ounce of my attention. I do feel as if parts of this track were much louder than other parts on the album; I always keep my headphones at an equal volume when reviewing tracks on an album, but I had to turn them down a few notches when listening to 'Threadbare and torn'. 'None so low' embraces the idea of atmospheric music and ambiance; the first four minutes of this track sounds like the ambitious start to a brand new journey in a land where fantasy and technology combine. The latter half of it brings in guitars and a few lyrics to seal the deal. 

'Root of the Pulse' finds Construct returning to a noisier song with multiple layers. However, I feel as if this is what they were trying to go for with 'Silent Life'. Rather than letting all the sounds drown out in the midst of one another, 'Root of the Pulse' allows each and every single layer to be heard with efficiency. The final song on the album, 'The Sadness Will Live Forever', is a dive into industrial and noise rock. There are plenty of synths on the outside and crunchier elements that make it so much more than that, though, and the vocals on the track almost extend into another instrument rather than strict lyricism. It's a great outro to a good album. 

Construct's "The Momentum Of Prior Belief" is an audio display showing Zwaga's and Vorderhake's combined experience at work. Most of the songs on the album never fail to throw me off; like a feint before a right hook, it knocks me on my ass every time. One minute I'm listening to a slamming industrial beat and the next I'm floating through the cosmos of space. There's so many different genres at play here that the definition of post-industrial seems to have been written specifically for music like this. Not all is roses, however, as I have stated my problems with songs such as 'Silent Life' and the intro of 'Threadbare and Torn'. Nonetheless, the positives highly outweigh the negatives. It's a wonderful album and one that deserves your attention. Seven-and-a-half out of ten! 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Nov 02 2021