Microwaved - At The Heart of Death

Welcome to the site Microwaved, a one man machine formed by solo member Gabe Wilkinson in 2003. With a long history involved within his lifetime, including going in and out of studios, learning a lot there, to being in a few projects himself, and ultimately finding musical satisfaction through this project. With a few releases already out, mainly consisting of EPs and remix collections, At the Heart of Death brings out a collection of remixes that other artists have done for his songs, as well as a cover of Heart's Magic Man.

With that said, the opening song gives out a crunchy, electronic version of the aforementioned rock group's hit song from 1975. Not bad by far, and quite decent to listen to and hear. You can't beat the classic version, but this one is a nice tribute to a beloved track.

And then we get a healthy dose of fourteen remixes (The final five of which are supposed to be hidden, bonus tracks). So, let's go through each of them:

Dirty Politics (ft. Daveoramma Seven of Society Burning and Sean Satyr Tracy of PRODUKT) (Team VSR MIX: 6AM Cabrini Green Coke Run Edit):
Certainly a long as fuck title, the song itself brought along a nice jumpy beat that was able to kickstart my senses. Very electronic. Very fun to go through.

Black Lung (EXAGEIST REMIX):
Loving the drum work presented within the song. Nice and hard hitting. Played off fairly industrial rock in a sense; the drums, guitar mixing with electronic sounds that permeated through the song. Not bad.

Black Lung (Lthrboots Black Mix):
Calmer and more synth oriented than the last, this mix altered the vocals to sound more futuristic and cyber. A nice touch to change things up a bit.

Black Lung (Chuck T's Deeply Darker Remix):
The vocals once again got touched. This time around just...Hard to describe. Certainly a degree of distortion, almost sounding like someone when they speak into a spinning fan. Something to that effect. The atmosphere is fairly moody in a creepy sense, but it was nice.

Black Lung (Short to Ground Dirt Nap Remix):
And, this was by far my favorite mix out of all the others of the same song. More synth based with a decent bassline following it through, it rang out nicely. The vocals within were slightly touched, but not enough to alienate them from origin.

eMOTION SICKNESS (SirCut Bent Mix by Roughhausen):
Blending electronics, guitar, and drums all in good effect, this was a great remix. One of the best on the album. It all blended really well together, and that's what really made this one stick out. Plus, the rhythm was nice in itself.

eMOTION SICKNESS (Societal Collapse Mix):
Industrial rock with heavy ambient structures gets right to the core in this mix when the vocals are running. When they aren't, a solid electronic pulse beats right through it. Pretty righteous.

eMOTION SICKNESS (Panda Transport Remix):
Ambient work really plays through this version for the most part. The way the vocals are presented almost offers a sort of hip-hop inspiration. Different and nice touch, and also shows the artist is open to a lot; perfect for such an experimental scene.

eMOTION SICKNESS (Rahdialect Remix):
Cut together like a bad movie, this song moves into a lot of different areas in around four minutes. Nice to see someone try and tackle so much at once, but should have tried to master one area and then the next before moving on.

Escape (Begin Again Mix):
Awesome touch with the addition of female vocals. It breathed new life into the song. Plays out more like a rock song but really plays out nicely. A synth is used in the process, but serves as a background instrument rather than a main implement. Still a nice touch. This is perhaps the best song I've come across so far.

Escape (Velocity Remix by Ego Likeness):
Slower and less rock based, this one replaces all with a love for electronics. Not much to say, though. It was nice and decent.

escape and avenge (liars' conspiracy remix):
A bit drone with the long, and dragged out notes here and there, minimal in presentation, twas not a bad song to get through. It allowed for a time for me to get the vocals more in my ear.

Escape (mickleblvd_remix):
Bass riddled the song, with nice drops here and there and a trippy beat to go along with it. Great work.

Escape (Standard Issue Citizen Remix):
Oh. A nice little club track to issue out to finish off the album. Trance elements with a hint of a somber melody played off this song nicely. And, though the vocals were originally in a mainly rock song, they don't feel out of place one bit in this little number. Nice work.

And, at the end of this album, I feel as if I now know that Microwaved can successfully craft a remix album based on a choice of good remixers. What I need now is for this guy to release a full length so I can really get a taste of what he can do more rather than what other artists can do with his work. I will be looking forward to it; for some odd reason, I have high expectations for this man. Jul 31 2014