EMKOG SAMPLER

There's no better indication of quality then finding an album that surprises you against all odds, one that excels in a type of music that you aren't normally drawn to. Emkog is a sampler with music from different projects around one Dan Britton, previously unknown to me. The material is uniformly technical, extroverted and confident, but luckily it doesn't indulge in technicalities for their own sake. That may well be the reason for the consistently positive reception here.

Regardless of the actual project, the songs amaze with the vast array of styles they go through. With fluent ease songs evolve from technical Prog to fusion, avant-garde, spacier moments and even some math/industrial metal such as in the high-tech Cerebrus Effect. I wouldn't be able to point out the particular differences between each of the projects as there's already so much diversity within each track. Due to the similarity in sound, this sampler makes for a coherent listen where all songs surprise with their diversity, quality and inventive song-writing.

For a sampler the material is remarkably consistent, most of it is even downright excellent. Near the end there's a slight dip in my listening experience as both the second Deluge Grander and the second All Over Everything track disappoint in comparison to what preceded. The songwriting doesn't seem equally efficient here and also the production leaves room for improvement. The closing 20 minute Blob is pure joy though and leaves me with a positive anticipation towards future releases from Dan.

This sampler sure delivers the goods, it comes with nice artwork, a professional production and loads of personality and creativity. It's a great teaser to start exploring further work from this artist. A sure 3.5 stars if there was such a thing.