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Kemic-Al "Twisted Parameters"
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Top level
Music reviews
Psytrance reviews
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Author: Psytones
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Publishing date: 08.04.2005 17:59
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Review by Psytones
Guest review done by Psytones of the debut album by Kemic-Al, released on Butterfly Records..
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Welcome, to the first Maltese psy-release ever, released on the first Maltese psy-label. It is dark! It is Twisted!
Kemic-Al, is a 37 year old dark psychedelic trance composer/producer from Malta. Kemic-Al is a veteran in the trance trade, formerly known as Zaldonite.
Butterfly Records is an independent underground label based in Malta (Kemic-Al Lab Studio). The concept of creating the label is purely to release previously unreleased psychedelic music of Kemic-Al's own creation, as well as underground music from their artists friends from around the globe. The label is dedicated to a long lost friend, Sharyn, who was lost in a tragic accident in Holland 4 years ago (Her nickname was Butterfly as she had a butterfly tattooed on her chest).
Kemic-Al "Twisted Parameters" (Butterfly Records) 2005 (BTF CD 01)
1. 1888 A.C. Train to Madness
2. What Lies In The Shadows
3. Piskumany
4. Wake Up Call
5. Peace On Earth (Remix)
6. Batidas Por Minuto
7. Twisted Parameters
8. Klassic-Al
9. Z.Zora
We start off with a very mystical intro of the first track, with sounds from an old amusement fair. Then, a massive bass line with a pumping, heavying atmosphere rumbles out of nowhere, followed by a deep and rumbling voice that could have come from the underworld itself. A man speaks of the returned genius. What characterizes this album is the intense dark rumbling sound of Kemic-Al's imagination. It's a deep world of horror, joy, frightening sounds and beautiful, pumping, dark beats. The first track is really the whole essence of "Kemic-Al - Twisted Parameters”. What lies in the shadows? Whatever lies in your imagination, right? Kemic-Al seems to be pushing himself hard to make the listener move into his dark and trippy world of strange voice and sound samples that make the listener forget what heaven sounds like. This sounds odd, I know, but it works.
This isn't your average album that follows a common structure. It plays with your mind, health and stability. It's bouncy and scary. High energy, massive, hulking structure and complex multiple layers. For the sample lover, there is more than enough to feast your ears on. There are so many different sound samples, like the simple, but oh-so-genius "brushing your teeth". If you are fond of lots of cool movie and sound snippets, this should work for you. Actually, the sound samples in general used in this album are so enormous that it would take me days to write about all of them. Of course, we have seen many artists that abuse samples, and unfortunately ruin their otherwise good albums, but Kemic-Al manages to use these samples in such a comfortable way, that they almost melt into the tracks.
As the album spins in your CD player, you will get tired. Although it is a masterpiece of a dark twisted world, I do miss some light in-between the darkness. Some floating pieces of light in the tunnel would be great. Because this album will not let you go, it will not let you breathe. Its intensions seem to be that it wants you to crack your head open against the wall. It wants you to suffocate, to make you understand that it is lethal. And you are just mortal.
The second last track on the album is another twisted dark track that brings you into a more playful world of classical melodies and instruments.. I am of course talking about the powerful "Classic-Al". Here, Cheech Martin, famous from the "Cheech and Chong" franchise makes sure that if you don’t like Kemic-Al’s music, then you can kiss his furry little butt. And after that speech, the classical piano jumps in. The piano is just a tool for Kemic-Al now, playing with the buttons making the world of Kemic-Al go Twisted.
After a hard pumping session, Kemic-Al turns "soft" with a slow track of 90 bpm. Now, this track isn't bad per se. But it doesn't speak to me. It seems a bit too easily made, and he seems a bit too carried away with the strange atmosphere that he has given us throughout the album. But, as a finishing piece to a dark and epic album like this, it's acceptable!
"You humans, sometimes it's hard to imagine how you made it this far"
Overall, this album is as mentioned dark, twisted and energetic. It's a massive psychedelic work, with tons of layers, depth and atmosphere. This is an artist who does not care about appealing to everyone, about normal standards, boring beats and unoriginality. This is an album seemingly inspired by earlier acts such as Xenomorph, The Delta and the likes. The baseline is in the same style of artists such as Hujaboy, Fungus Funk, Bug Funk, Psykovski and other "PsyCore" acts. But, more bouncy and creative. The production is clean and very professional, but somehow still manages to come off as dark and dirty. Highly recommended for fans of the darker side of psytrance!
Psytones (psytones@gmail.com)
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Comment List
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Magnus Støren Wedèn
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09.04.2005 19:05
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Hmm, cool that you reviewed this CD, even tough it has been out for some time now. But its not really a review, is it? Since you only actually are mentioning 2 of the tracks on the cd. Anyways, this cd is one of the best in my collection. Love it!
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Jan Erik Egelund
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14.04.2005 09:57
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Greetings Magnus!
Glad you noticed my review! Yes, this album was released a while ago now. But Kemic-Al asked me if I wanted to review his album, so I did... My review of his album is more a reflection of my feelings to this album. And who said you have to mention and describe all of the tracks for it to be a "real" review anyway? *smile* I'm glad to see that you love this album just as I do, because it shure is a fresh breath to get dark and intelligent music like this now a days.
best regards, psytones.
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