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REVIEWS
Buy this album from Amazon.co.jp
Cruel Division (Roadking Remix)
Misery Loves Company (Isolation Mix)
Subsequence (Velours Perfect Remix)
Behind (Squid)
ID (Tongue-Tied Lies)
Cruel Division (Kearley Vivisect Mix)
Behind (Distorted Strings of Pain Mix)
Misery Loves Copmany (Sephuco Remix)
Cruel Division (Drop of Sybreed Remix)
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REVIEWS
Harshrealm
[Lies/Cold Display]
Veronica Records
Posted: Friday, March 14, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor
This Japanese export offers up a variety of remixes enhancing their already assorted mix of lush electro-pop and aggressive industrial rock.
They're not so well known outside of their native Japan... but they should be. With their debut album in early 2007, [She/Underwater], Harshrealm produced a sound that was monolithic in its scope, blending lush ambiences with walls of almost psychedelic guitars, creating music that had the caustic rage of industrial rock but meshed with the enticing melodies of '80s new wave. Now the band follows up with the first of two remix EPs featuring an assorted grouping of ambient, trip-hop, club, and, of course, industrial.
The album's opening number, "Cruel Division" is given the triplex treatment, first with the Roadking remix, which takes the pounding energy of the original and replaces it with a danceable array of beaconing synths and guitar textures perfect for extended club play. The Kearley Vivisect mix changes things up even further with some dub-like ambience and light breakbeats reminiscent of Haujobb's late '90s work, while the Drop of Sybreed remix bears a closer resemblance to the original track with devastating guitar riffs and pounding synth and percussion. Similarly, the raging stomp of "Es:id" is further enhanced on the Tongue-Tied Lies version, slowing the beat down and turning the volume up to 11. The same can be said of the Sephuco remix of "Misery Loves Company," while the Isolation mix transforms the track into a cornucopia of pumping EBM beats and scorching synth leads. Two of the album's softer moments are also presented here as "Subsequence" is given an ambient trip-hop-like treatment as off-time pianos merge with almost cinematic brush strokes of discordant synths, and the two mixes of "Behind" are both as energetic as they are atmospheric, emphasizing the intensity of the song's melodies.
Exquisite and epic, Harshrealm's sound is difficult to categorize, blending all the best elements of industrial, goth, synthpop, and all points in between. [Lies/Cold Display] does well to augment their formula with the individual remixers' own styles incorporated into an already assorted musical concoction. While the language barrier may be offsetting to English-speaking listeners, the vocals act as much as an instrumental accompaniment, more about conveying emotions than the actual lyrics. This remix EP only helps to prove that Harshrealm are one of the more exciting groups in the underground music scene today, worthy of worldwide attention.
The album's opening number, "Cruel Division" is given the triplex treatment, first with the Roadking remix, which takes the pounding energy of the original and replaces it with a danceable array of beaconing synths and guitar textures perfect for extended club play. The Kearley Vivisect mix changes things up even further with some dub-like ambience and light breakbeats reminiscent of Haujobb's late '90s work, while the Drop of Sybreed remix bears a closer resemblance to the original track with devastating guitar riffs and pounding synth and percussion. Similarly, the raging stomp of "Es:id" is further enhanced on the Tongue-Tied Lies version, slowing the beat down and turning the volume up to 11. The same can be said of the Sephuco remix of "Misery Loves Company," while the Isolation mix transforms the track into a cornucopia of pumping EBM beats and scorching synth leads. Two of the album's softer moments are also presented here as "Subsequence" is given an ambient trip-hop-like treatment as off-time pianos merge with almost cinematic brush strokes of discordant synths, and the two mixes of "Behind" are both as energetic as they are atmospheric, emphasizing the intensity of the song's melodies.
Exquisite and epic, Harshrealm's sound is difficult to categorize, blending all the best elements of industrial, goth, synthpop, and all points in between. [Lies/Cold Display] does well to augment their formula with the individual remixers' own styles incorporated into an already assorted musical concoction. While the language barrier may be offsetting to English-speaking listeners, the vocals act as much as an instrumental accompaniment, more about conveying emotions than the actual lyrics. This remix EP only helps to prove that Harshrealm are one of the more exciting groups in the underground music scene today, worthy of worldwide attention.
