QUALIA

— First review of this album —

A simple but eerie sleeve pic, and simple but eerie soundscape. Both are quite suitable for the title of this creation "Fear", released in May 2023. Actually this is my first QUALIA but I cannot believe QUALIA is a one-man project because of such a deep, heavy, and colourful sound invention filled in his opus.

From the beginning of the longest prologue "Fear I", terrific bluesy dissonance is extreme. The combination of imminent tension and intentionally weird quietness sounds tight and strict. The melody lines are pretty simple and monotonous but development of sound expansion is full of expectation. The middle part has more of improvisation and psychedelia discharged by his fuzzy, bubbling electric guitar. This qualified silence makes us foresee something explosive and catastrophic. The last movement launches straight guitar-oriented metallic electricity that smashes massive sound bullets to our inner mind. Bombastic vibes with profound heaviness should absorb us. The former phase of the following "Fear II" is, on the contrary, lyrical and tragic based upon a dark stark ambience. And wonderful is a theatrical improvement in the middle lesion flooded with magnificently blasted machinery dissonance. Sounds like powerful potential would be burst in an intetional manner. And a fragile echoic footage at the end is also precious.

The shortest momentum "Fear III" is even energetic. Puzzled distortion produced with his vocals and (maybe) synthesizer-based choirs catches our heart rigidly. The short invasive agent is crucial for this huge gemstone like a strong virus. The opening of "Fear IV" is surprisingly more and more of heavy doomy rock that reminds us of the similar vein to some British heavy metal pioneers like Black Sabbath. Excessive sound intonations and psychedelic- flavoured fluent post-rock ultimacies are enthusiastic. We can feel lots of musical elements via this track inspired by plenty of rock classics, and simultaneously much amazement he's digested and anabolized great essence by vanguards. The epilogue "Fear V" is delicate and dramatic. Melodically repetitive and auditorily noisy plus dissected but sensitive, aromatic mainstreams should stabilize our condition. Exactly it's sorta fascinating last run really.

Already knocked out by such artistic music power.