 |
|
Cryptomnesia
- Hypnerotomachia Reviews:
Hypnerotomachia is the first solo flight for the Canadian trio Cryptomnesia. ~ As
reviewed by Sean Strauss – In Music We Trust
Hypnerotomachia
journeys through several labyrinths in its seventy-two minute running time
leaving the listener exhausted, confused, fractured, divided, but with little
regret.
Opening with a mad, blindfolded dash through the mind of a lunatic, Cryptomnesia
members Regan, Terence, and Mikael then begin a well paced exploration
through nightmare analysis, social commentary, desolation, depravation, and all
those themes that make manic depressant keyboard programming tolerable for over
an hour.
Occasionally allowing moments of lovely raw bass lines, phrases of logical
poetry, and an actual guitar chord to seep through the cracks keep
Hypnerotomachia breathing and protect it from becoming a hybrid of ambient and
metal that would destroy the essence of both genres.
Hypnerotomachia
provides enough massages of energy and accessible melody to maintain honest
interest and enough stretches of lost highway to let the imagination ponder
that award winning screenplay. Caffeine is not recommended while listening
unless tapping into the natural high paranoia is the thing; so put the double
shot mocha down. Don't fret about getting trapped in the hypnotic Jedi mind
trick where the music is so repetitious that waiting for the beat to change
seems a valuable use of time. There are enough variations in the rhythm within
each track to make valid progress in thought transition or club rehearsal dance
steps.
The band name Cryptomnesia translates as "hidden memory". More
specifically, it is used as an explanation of unintentional plagiarism. This is
a very dangerous name for an industrial goth metal band, almost asking for an
automated attack on their application of the advanced defense mechanism.
Remember "Basic Instinct" - using the book as an alibi? Somehow, the
subtle whispers of film scores long gone don¹t seem so accidental anymore.
Nevertheless,
Hypnerotomachia is an album obviously full of hard work,
strategy, and musical appreciation.
There is a beautifully designed and informative web site for Cryptomnesia
It is worth the time. Learn something new, or perhaps something hidden in the
memory.
The compact disc release, "Hypnerotomachia"
 |
~
Artist: Cryptomnesia
Title: Hypnerotomachia
Genre: Dark Industrial
Format: CD Album INTER05
Label: Interdimensional Industries
Given the number of years that Cryptomnesia have been in the Industrial scene,
you’d expect this release to be fairly good, and you know what, you’d be right.
‘Hypnerotomachia’ is a real mixed bag of sounds.
Distinctly Industrial in
flavour (traditional with a twist of modern synths), but with some darker elements
thrown in (bordering on Goth on some of the tracks), this release sounds good
right from the start. Distorted guitars and keyboards go to make up a spiraling
tapestry of sound – no matter where you look, sounds cascades around you,
dragging you into it’s progressive onslaught. This is good. Samples (used
sparingly) and vocals make up the rest of this ever growing wall of sound.
The tracks are mainly instrumental – in an Industrial style
(
Cryptomnesia say they have done some film soundtracks, and this is apparent on
this release), with some vocals creeping onto the occasional track.
I can find no dance floor fillers on this release – it’s just a bit too dark to
make it onto the decks of your local club dj (unless you ask of course!), but
this does not condemn this release to the archive of your cd collection. I can
see fans of this genre listening to this for a long time to come.
My only criticism would be the inlay, in which the most unreadable script font
has been used, and then reduced in size, making text inside it useless to the
reader, unless you want permanent eye strain. But does nothing to detract from
the music – thankfully.
If the darker side of the industrial scene is your thing, you’ll lap this up!
Keith Elcombe 3.5/4
Hard Wired U.K.
Minefield remixed on Vinyl featuring Karl Mohr and Cryptomnesia !
|
|