BATTLESTATIONS

The debut album from this Belgian act whose members are unknown. Recorded at night between 2009 and 2011, unlike the followup In A Cold Embrace this one features a lot of sampled talking. The only voice I recognize is that of Noam Chomsky. His voice and all other human speech sampled on the album has been speed altered to add to the already ominous and moody nature of the music. This self-titled debut is almost completely instrumental but there sounds like some distant female vocals in places. There are only three tracks here which are further divided into other sections. The subject matter of the sampled voices concerns modern day life and the struggle through it; generally pessimistic and conspiratorial in nature. However, the music itself rarely gets too dark and bleak sounding.

Two of the tracks are almost 19 minutes long. The first is "Segment 1: No Survivors" which has 10 different sections. This begins mellow with guitar, cymbals and a bit of synth before the sampled talking enters the scene. When the bass guitar appears everything is more dark and ominous sounding. Eventually some lush New Age-y synths appear, leading to an uplifting melody that almost has a New Wave vibe to it. Drumming during this section but I think they use electronic drums and/or programmed drumming. Almost a duet (triet?) between piano, bass and acoustic guitar at one point.

"Segment 2: The Taste Of The Kill" is divided into only 2 sections, being the shortest track. It opens with some call-and-response between two echoed guitars. As a drum thud repeats the music builds up with violins and guitar chords. You hear a speed altered crowd chanting "stop police violence" before the music turns dark ambient. "Segment 3: Accidents Of Ideals" has 5 sections to it. It slowly builds up to a section with some barely audible female vocals singing what I assume are wordless sounds. This track seems to drag on in places compared to the previous two. Compared to this, In A Cold Embrace seems more consistent although it takes more listens to sink in. Overall a well recorded and good sounding album, contains different moods and instrumentation but the music sometimes is not sure where it wants to go. Good but not essential. 3 stars.