CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Henning Pauly is a German multi-instrumentalist and producer living in USA, and after he by chance got a record contract in 2003, he's been involved in numerous different projects. This release is the second album released under his own name.

Describing the music on offer here is a tad difficult. Although the album in the press blurb is described as a metal album, the tag metal doesn't even begin to describe the music being served here. True enough, most songs feature hard rock and metal guitar riffing, creating a dark and aggressive backdrop in most of the songs on the album. But there's other aspects of this release that's more noticeable.

The most noticeable element, used mostly to a large extent on this album, are the beeps, blips and beats you'll usually find in industrial rock and metal, as well as in the musical output of groups like Prodigy.

These sounds and rhythms tie this album together, creating moods, atmospheres and a drive that is recognizable on all the songs on the album, and although these sounds are subdued on some of the tracks they are still present.

Apart from the industrial rhythms and a crunchy metal guitar, Henning seems to have fun putting in more or less strange elements in the songs in some cases; the main sonic experiment on this album is the inclusion of the banjo on a couple of tracks. Which works perfectly, in case you may wonder. Henning plays with the nu-metal genre on a couple of tracks as well, which also works out quite nicely.

All in all, I find this to be a very good release. No fillers, a lot of good tracks, and three outstanding tracks: "Six" - where the crunchy metal guitar and the banjo creates a truly original soundscape, "Seven" - a ballad filled out with a plethora of industrial sounds and ending with a big dramatic finale followed by some mellow ambient sounds while fading out, and lastly "Radio Sucks" were Henning have fun playing in several styles similar to radio friendly rock and metal while spicing them up sonically and saying his 10 cents worth of the state of radio today in the lyrics.

But although I rave quite a lot about this release, I also have to say that quite a few people probably won't like this album. Because this is an adventurous album, were ideas are tested out, genre barriers are ignored - and to some extent made fun of. But the adventurous prog metal or metal fan should check this one out; especially if you're the kind that likes to sit down and really -listen- to music.