by Niklas Hurtig | 2 December 2016 |
A rollercoaster among highs
The norwegian act Atropine returns with the new studio album “Assailant” which is a sequel to “Recurring Nightmares” released in 2014. For the most parts the sound is recognizable from previous releases with slow and twisted electronic music alongside distorted vocals. The tempo is generally low and the surprises few. The first track that stands out is “Exterminism” that grinds on with its electronic vibrato until the mellow track “Naked Fear” continues with its mix of Squadro Blanco and 90’s electro blended with whispering vocals in a wonderful melodic ballad.
The most interesting track of the album take place during the five minutes that is “See Through” which unfolds an euphoric-dystopian sound consisting of synthezised strings. Every other track on “Assailant” is slow minimalistic industrial without that many surprises, while the remaining tracks are melodic and more experimental that actually challenges the musical intellect to analyze what you just heard. In other words this is a very divided experience.
The track “Destroys” is a dark and twisted slow story that eventually blooms into a melodic mellow finish. In summary it is very hard to get a collected opinion of the album since it is so diverted. Had the album consisted of the seven melodic, interesting and experimental tracks the overall conclusion would have been far more positive than what is the case now where about half the album is pretty bland. The rating should however be seen as a median of all the tracks and not as an overall rating of the album as a whole, because the highs on “Assailant” are very high on this sonic rollercoaster.
