V3Rb tH3 N0un - Th3 dUbsT3p d3m0 // NMMREM III

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music - III
[Siro187] V3Rb tH3 N0un - Th3 dUbsT3p d3m0

My First Wub Wub Re cord/view

I've never dag deeper on dubstep except a few uninteresting tracks, Scorn's majestic Stealth -album and occasional Skrillex track (from which Scatta is the only one that i've listened outside of beer-infused-moments).

However lately, from a reliable source, I came to realize there indeed are a few categories!

Take a look: http://www.explosm.net/db/files/Comics/Rob/intervention.png

The actual review record The Dubstep demo falls heavily to the wub wub category. And that is just fine as it is where Scorn belongs too. First thing that cames to my mind after encountering the record is why sane people still use numbers in their titles? It does not look cool for people 15+, in fact, vice versa. Secondly, the cover photo is pretty damn cool. A bit 2000s (probably cause of the paint shop pro reminding text) but cool, glitchy. Love it.

The beginning of the first, rather randomly named track, dooF esenihC, gives an image that the music is produced better than it actually is. Anyway promising beginning, but after a while it becomes obvious this basic beat isn't going to hold for a long time. The drop lacks the unexpectedness and doesn't fill the soundvoid like a supreme drop is supposed to. Varying background noises don't make it significantly better (even though they are much more interesting than the drop itself), nor do the dapdapdap dabadada breaks. Thank god the track progresses into a nintendo-like intermission at 3 minute mark because the constant repetition makes it drag badly. Much more interesting. Then we "progress" back to the oh-so-boring wubwub drop. Allright, brains off.

My brains turn back on itself as the second track type03, inflates me with some Scorn-like darkstep sounds. So much better! Atmospheric. Unfortunately the track takes a hippier aspect with the 1 minute break. Then on comes the next break, furthering the downward spiral into another less interesting part. The package ends like it started, only now it sounds uninteresting and off-place. The structure of the song is in need of serious finetuning.

Third track is finally something fresh! Hungryshima is CHAOTIC with lots of breakcore edge and filled with cool noises and distinctive melodies! First part ends to a rather sick random break. This drop has so much more than the previous. OUCH THE TREBLE! Not dubstep for the masses thats for sure but for a noisehead this is pretty amazing. The end is absolutely sick too. Maybe a bit more volume-balancing should have been done with the obscure sounds? When listening this with headphones it is generally advised to turn the sound down so the trebles won't bust your eardrums.

On the next track, dubstep with a mario clip, the perverse chaotism of Hungryshima is long gone. This track takes a a basic wub-wub approach, sounding unfinished. Same goes for the last track, which has nothing more than an interesting title. It is just screaming for some proper south london grime vocals. At least it made me google the genre grime to see what the hell it is.

All in all, the release has a feel of being "my-first-dubstep-record" as it delivers a very random package and odd unfinished tracks. Thus the name "Dubstep demo" suits it well and you can't really expect the quality of a normal ep from a demo.

I have no will to put most of the tracks on my playlist but the throughoutly entertaining Hungryshima is for sure going to visit it regularly. If I have to pick a throughoutly mediocre release or mostly uninteresting release with one great track, I'll pick the latter any time.

Overall score: 5+/10

Download the release: http://www.archive.org/details/siro187V3rbTh3N0un-Th3Dubst3pD3m0


Overall ranking so far (I listen to enough dubstep to have MORE than 2 sub-categories!)

1. Master Toad & Pollux - Offer Their Souls
2. Golden Cloud & O.S.I.S. - Split
3. V3Rb tH3 N0un - Th3 dUbsT3p d3m0


Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music, why?

Being an avid underground rock/metal listener and huge fan in finding new music and genres I stumbled to TRASHFUCK Records, RedSK and their noise in 2009. A lot of their releases at best make me bored, scared and entertained at the same time. This impressesed me to try out more of the weblabel scene and introduced me to Sirona Records' Arnaud. I decided to start reviewing electronic music records after I realized Im really not sure what is going on in half of Sironas' releases.

Im trying to give my humble opinions on some new music, whose genres, I may or may not have any familarity, but sure thing is they are far from my normal music grounds. I have a feeling, if by chance I happen to stumble to albums with genre titles like "rave" "deathcore" or "techno", I might have a hard time saying a single positive thing, but nevermind that. You can always bypass it by the fact that im just narrow-minded metalhead reviewing experimental music.

Electronic artists which I can say im a fan of are few, but some. Including Venetian Snares, Scorn, Nothing, Boris Clitoris / The Amoeba, Master Toad, Godflesh, Slagsmålsklubben. P.S. I know its hip to hate dubstep nowadays, but some dubstep can be mindblowing.