Cutoff:Sky - Scars

Cutoff:Sky is a Russian techno-industrial project founded by Moscow DJ and sound producer DJ Xaler. 'Scars' is a 6 track EP released on the Synth-Me label.

We start in hardstyle fashion with "Scars (Single Version)", with pumping synths and deep hard sounding drums combined to make the dance beat, helped along by the short vocal samples. A fun track made for the party and the club except for the dubstep interlude which for me ruins it. "Wir Sind Die Nacht (vs Covenant)" is a fast beat dance track, featuring some good use of samples. The synths seem to give it more life at times, but for the most part a non-stop mover and floor filler. A perfect beat for its intended purpose which is to make people move.

With the track "Cyclogenesis (Instrumental)" we go hardstyle, movement making, floor filling, dancing madness once again. As a thunder on the dance floor track it will be a winner anywhere with its mix of hardstyle, hardcore and trance sounds, interspersed with industrial. "SDI 2011 (Instrumental)" contains dubstep sounds and style at the start building up tempo into hardstyle with those hard drums once again so prominent, and we are moving again. Helped by some nice synth lines to make it more interesting. It reverts to more of a dubstep style at a point, which I found hard to take at first, but after a few plays I got used to it and the track then seems to gel together much better.

We follow with a remix from fellow Russians Project E.V.A. and "Scars (Project E.V.A. Remix)" which loses the hardstyle drum beat and adds some very industrial sounds at a lower tempo. This kills it almost as a floor filler but musically it gains a lot and so from a listening experience it is a big improvement. We finish the EP with "Humanity (Feat. The Nameless City)" which is over 11 minutes long, and very much in contrast to the rest of the EP. A dark soundscape is created of a experimental and ambient nature. Personally I prefer the dance music but this proves versatility and that Cutoff:Sky is also more than capable of much more than dance floor ditties.

Conclusion
I recommend this EP if you want some free techno-industrial dance tracks as its a free download from the labels site. I quite admire this so called techno-industrial style which DJ Xaler for me pulls off with his combination of darkelectro, hardstyle, hardcore, trance, and drum'n'bass which he then throws dubstep into. But I know for certain many others do not feel the same way.
Aug 14 2012