| Maturity - I
honestly believe that out of all the djs in this scene, I hate the idea the
most. Thus, I've never been one to completely accept the growing trend of
"mature" music within the genre of EBM that has almost taken over the
form of media roughly ever since 1997. Although it would be simple to conclude
that this sort of sound has become so popular within the goth / industrial
sub-culture due to the fact that most of the people within the scene have
reached a certain age where any sort of hard music gives them a migraine, one
must also take into consideration the fact that an individual whom has been
listening to electro-industrial for so long would eventually crave something
softer with a more clear and distinct flavour to it, similar to the way that
only an alcoholic would truly appreciate 12 year old scotch :). Along with
experience comes refinement. However, the above isn't always necessarily true.
Having been listening to industrial myself for nine years straight now (yes,
disturbingly enough, this is the truth), on a personal level, I've always been
somewhat intolerant with this sort of "mature" direction that EBM has
been headed in. From my point of view, industrial music has always had a
reputation of being one of the hardest genres in the art form of music as a
whole, and it pisses me off that people are constantly trying to pass off
light, fluffy techno crap for it (sure, throw it into a set, just don't call it
industrial). Thus, given the above, along with Covenant's recent label change,
and the fact that when I interviewed the band about a year ago the one guy whom
we spoke with was a complete jack-ass (although he did give us free booze, so I
suppose that made everything better...), I certainly had a pre-conceived notion
in my mind that this album would most definitely not appeal to an immature
little fuck such as myself. However, I was almost totally taken by surprise to
find that I was to a large extent wrong. Despite the "easy-listening"
nature of this release, I actually thoroughly enjoyed listening to
"Northern Light", the newest album by Covenant.
Although, before I begin to describe the actual music in detail, I must digress
upon one of the main differences about this album that sets it apart from
almost, if not every single other album within the genre - Covenant's label
change from Dependent Records, to yes, it's true... Sony! Although
"Northern Light" was officially released in Europe on a label
affiliated with Sony Music, entitled KA2 Music and Entertainment, the copyright
on the back of the European version of this album, along with it's manufacturer
and distributor, is indeed 2002 Sony Music Entertainment (Germany) (although it
remains that the album has still been licensed to Metropolis Records for North
American release on Dec 10, 2002). However, despite the above, "Northern
Light" is surprisingly enough not nearly such an obvious sellout like for
instance, the vile, horrid, and genuinely wretched waste of an album that was
Apoptygma Berzerk's "Harmonizer", in spite of most people's
predictions about the group's musical intentions. The album still possesses a
rather dark and intelligent electronic feel to it, and if one were to ask me as
to whether or not I could see it getting any sort of mainstream media
attention, my answer would be a definite no.
Musically, "Northern Light" is by far rich, dark, well-produced EBM.
Intelligent, well-crafted, and varied, the album takes on a unique approach to
the electro-ebm style, being the fact that unlike many releases within the
genre, all the songs don't strive to be club hits. Rather, the listener is
offered a variety of slower, softer, more ballad-like tracks, such as my
favourite song of the album, "Bullet", a track with almost a rock
feel to it, but done strictly with electronics. This element of the album is
again something that supports my opinion on the "easy listening"
nature of this release. At the same however, the cd does feature the faster,
more pounding club tracks, such as for example what I've come to call the
future Darkrave hit "Call The Ships To Port", or "We Stand
Alone", the track which any mainstream dj who gets his or her hands on
this release will instinctively pick out as their fav. But regardless of the
above, the album still has it's fair share of shitty songs, such as
"Invisible and Silent" for example, a track that makes me so angry
that I literally dropped a box of cds at work this week running to the stereo
just to skip it. Fuck, that god damn song is fucking horrible.
However, another positive element within the music is that unlike many
synth-pop acts at the moment, Eskil's vocals actually add to the music, rather
than sounding like a cat giving birth, or a sick little twit using the same
delay / phaser effects on his voice for every god damn song (can somebody say
VNV?). His voice has an incredible range that just somehow carries the music
along with it, and this is definitely an element of the group's sound that
shines on this release. As far as the programming goes, I've come to realize
that with this aspect of electronic music, one can always expect a certain
standard of quality from Covenant. Rich, clean, crisp, sharp, and textured,
it's again a pleasant change to hear a synth-pop act that actually knows their
shit behind the gear they're using. More-over, such elements as live drums are
put to use within the music, again, something that makes this album stand out a
little bit more compared to other popular EBM acts at the moment. Other
projects such as Android Lust for example have also been incorporating this
aspect of taking acoustic instruments and blending them with electronics as
well, although she does it far superior to any synth-pop act hands down (for
those of you interested, her brand new album, "The Dividing", can be
summed up in two words - fucking awesome! ;-).
Moving on, the album itself has a very winter-themed sort of vibe to it,
appropriate for it's release date. The name itself, along with the cover art,
song titles such as "Winter Comes", and the photography inside the cd
booklet (it's no Die Form, but it's definitely worth looking at), all have a
very cold approach to them. I've always had an affinity for cds that possess
this sort of atmosphere, such as Morgenstern's "Cold" (the ultimate
winter album, but definitely NOT recommended for fans of Covenant), or one of
Pain Station's releases, also entitled "Cold". There's just something
about frigid desolation, loss, and all things dead that appeals to a kid like
me :).
Lastly, another element of this release that is again something one won't
necessarily find within other industrial albums is the fact that "Northern
Light" is a Right Protected cd. This means that not only will the cd not
be able to run on some Macs and PCs, but that even in computers that it is in
fact able to work on, it can't be ripped into neither .wav nor mp3 format
(technically it can, but the end result is skips and glitches that although may
sound cool to some, completely distort and manipulate the actual songs
themselves, rendering them almost unlistenable). However, there are several
ways around this. One would be to run the album itself through a program such
as Sound Forge, using one's Line In, and simply recording the album as a 60
minute .wav by playing the entire thing (similar to taping on cassette I
suppose), and then chopping each song manually into separate tracks and
converting them into mp3 format. However, I don't expect you to do this, since
I really don't have the time to do such a thing myself.
Finally, in conclusion to this fucking novel I've written for you (well at
least somewhat near conclusion...), musically, this album is definitely geared
towards a more "mature" audience, so to speak. When taking into
consideration for example some of the more popular industrial albums of the
early 90s, particularly releases from 1989 - 1995 such as Front Line Assembly's
"Tactical Neural Implant", Front 242's "Front by Front",
and Skinny Puppy's "Rabies" to name a few, there was a common theme
that existed between all of them - they were all made to appeal to a teenage
audience. KMFDM's "Angst" for instance is a prime example of a
release that was made strictly for the kids, hence the term "and the kids
just love it!". However, as the years past, the music became less and less
abrasive, and took on a lighter, more "easy-listening" style (a
phrase which although I'm aware I have used time and again throughout this
review, it has been done intentionally in order to create a certain emphasis in
regards to my point). This sort of soft approach can be seen in such releases
as Conjure One, Mago, Claire Voyant, and Monstrum Sepsis. However, hard
industrial still exists, but it's simply not getting the attention it deserves.
Bands such as The Shizit, Imperative Reaction, Suicide Commando, and Feindflug
still do it harder, angrier, and more pissed off than everyone else, but as a
whole, labels just aren't necessarily willing to push them as much as the big
synth-pop acts at the moment, simply due to the fact that their target audience
isn't what it used to be. In my opinion, the scene isn't shrinking, it's aging,
and we fucking need to do something about it.
Despite what many have imagined up until now, "Northern Light" isn't
an album that's going to bring our genre into the mainstream. It's nothing
ground-breaking, nor is it an album that would appeal to your average Brittney
Spears and Eminem Type A specimen, it's just straight up, well produced, and
for the most part, really damn good light EBM, that's definitely worth a listen
if you like it soft. After all, Front 242 were on Sony for a while, and that
didn't change much. Also, although one may conclude that this album is bound to
sell more copies than usual due to the anti-pirating feature, I'm sure that
eventually the mp3s will pop up somewhere, so have no fear you fucking cheap
bastards, "you will get your's in the end!!" (I know I'm a fucking
nerd, god damnit). "Northern Light", simply put, is Dark Electronic
Easy Listening that sets itself aside from the rest. Unlike most synth-pop, it
actually took me a few weeks to develop a valid opinion on this release, while
with the majority of the lighter EBM coming out these days, it seems that after
you've hear it once, you've heard all there is to it. In my opinion, this
release can be compared to finding a brand new leather choker in a trash can.
It's by far great music, but is it Industrial?? Well, that would be for you to
decide.
-Flipps
Personal Favourite Tracks: "Bullet", "Winter Comes"
- review by Flipps
December 2002
link: Covenant pictures and
interview - April 14th 2001 - Lee's Palace.
Covenant official website: http://www.covenant.dk
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