Content: Framework strikes back after an absence of 11 years. The band released their official debut album “Reflections” in 2002 by Dark Dimensions (Scanner). The band was reactivated in 2010 by Andreas Lehmann and Daniel Konrad who both remained on board for this project.
The ‘new’ Framework is an interesting and intelligent approach in EBM. This is not the average kind of body formation, but a band experimenting with different other influences. Especially the debut part of their album sounds sophisticated because of the broken, glitch-like rhythmic. Framework avoids the traditional 4×4 EBM patterns preferring to experiment with a more complex approach. The sound research and global production clearly illustrate the diversity of their work and sometimes moves on the edge of IDM. I also like most of their leads, which are especially noticeable on tracks like “Mayhem” (an absolute masterpiece) and “Submerge”.
The production of the vocals is another noticeable element of this release. There’s a cool diversity in the way of singing moving from traditional harsh parts to spooky fragments.
But aside of this rather ‘modern’ format, Framework also has a good-old 90s touch reminding me of Evils Toy and Sleepwalk. The link with Sleepwalk is quite interesting as the former Sleepwalk-singer Oliver Spring has been asked to perform guest vocalist on one of the songs (cf. “No Shut Eye”). The link with Evils Toy comes back on several songs and the least I can say is that this is much more than simply a reference. Evils Toy was a recognized and praised EBM formation during the 90s… and still a band we’re missing today for their talent and creativity.
We also get 2 bonus tracks, which are interesting remixes by Disharmony and Talvekoidik (band released on Hands).
Framework strikes back with intelligence and I wish more bands in the EBM genre would share a similar taste for creativity. The band also adds some diversity on the growing EK Product roster.
Conclusion: “Untold Stories” is a real cool surprise for injecting a touch of modernism upon good-old EBM elements. It doesn’t really feel like this band was in standby for such a long lapse of time.