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VOXiS - Darkeworld Project One
'Darkeworld Project One' is the first and only album released by industrial metal/rock musician Bret Autrey under the name VOXiS, before changing his name to Blue Stahli and releasing 'Antisleep Vol. 1' in 2008. All the songs here were thought up between 1998-2006, making this album a compilation of sorts much like electronic musician Deadmau5's albums which include songs written from various years.
Like Blue Stahli's 'Antisleep' albums, 'Darkeworld' shows a wide range of styles mixed in. There is a combination of metal, drum 'n' bass, trance, and fast-paced electronic music that would not sound out of place in the soundtrack for a cyberpunk video game like Quake. The opening song 'Version One Point Nothing' starts out with electronics that sound perfect for a late 90's video game soundtrack like Quake. There is some great slow drumming before the song really gives you an adrenaline rush with serious fast-paced electronics and percussion, then it soon changes tempo again with a slow relaxing bridge. The next song 'Misconstrue' is the first song on the album to have vocals, and one of my favorites from the album, mixing the high-adrenaline electronics, heavy industrial guitar, and menacing vocals perfectly. Autrey's unique vocals just work amazingly for his style of industrial metal, being able to be both aggressive and melodic.
'Nihilistic Neon Afterglow'. This is another one of my favorites on the album because it kind of has a Snivilisation-era Orbital feel, being able to switch quickly from melodic electronic melancholy parts, to crushing techno beats. Yet another song showing Autrey's amazing ability to switch from style to style is 'Coiled'. This is a really beautiful song, having very atmospheric guitar that reminds me of David Gilmour's guitar work on Pink Floyd's 'The Division Bell' album. This combined with plodding along middle eastern drumming makes this a very easy listen. Towards the end though, the song picks up with fantastic use of the phrygian scale in both the electronics and guitar.
The song 'Pour Elle' is yet another highlight, with a nice intro before the pounding industrial guitar comes in. However, there are many transitions between beautiful piano and crushing guitar riffs. My favorite part is certainly at the middle with beautiful violin before you get your face punched by the skull-crushing blast of the guitar. Probably my favorite song on the album though is the adrenaline-pumping masterpiece 'Myndhax'. It starts out with pure fast drum 'n' bass/techno goodness before after four minutes in, you get assaulted with machine gun-like guitar attacks.
Overall, this is one of the most varied albums I've ever heard. However, while many varied albums suffer from inconsistency this album should be right under the definition for 'How to make a varied album'. This album flows flawlessly, with all of the songs fitting perfectly together even though they may have few similarities. This album really feels like a journey, and a very rewarding one at that. Highly recommended for any fans of electronic music and industrial metal. Hope you found this review helpful.
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