DAD: Did you ever enter into an agreement and then immediately regret it? The cycle has moved to Elderson and he's picked this. The brainiac behind this and the subsequent Celldweller/Argyle Park stuff is someone going by the name of Klayton. I was going to start off by accusing this of being dated and derivative, but then saw it was released in 1992 and so must concede that it is of its time and possibly quite original. I will accuse the opening 'Exploration' however of sounding like a hefty KLF, without any of the humour and third track 'Demoralize' as having learned some basic lessons from Metallica. After that it's a growling, fuzzy, grungy haze. What I will say is that the themes of self-loathing, angst and alienation are bang on the money for what a 16-year old boy should be listening to. I would be worried if it was anything else. For my own part, I hope we do see some musical progression before the end, or it will be a very Grinchy Christmas indeed.
SON: Oh, this is gonna be a big one. technically, this isn’t going to be just one band. It's four. The main difference is that they are all solo projects for Detroit based industrial/metal/eighties new-wave musician, Klayton, or Scott as he went by back when Circle Of Dust was a thing. Second disclaimer: the versions of the albums on Spotify are the 2016 re-releases, and contain extra tracks. I will be ignoring these extra tracks, as any original songs will also be released on the upcoming album 'Machines Of Our Disgrace'. Okay? Is that all? Right, onto the actual stuff. Circle Of Dust was an industrial metal band throughout the nineties. Believe it or not, CoD is classed as a “Christian rock” band in its early days, though this is mainly due to the label it was signed to. Anyway, I have rambled far too long. Let’s get into this. The first track 'Exploration' is good. It uses clips of astronauts to give off a very sci-fi feel. Full disclosure though: the version of this song on Spotify is a ground up redux done by Klayton upon regaining the rights to Circle Of Dust. So, it’s not fair to judge it alongside the rest of the album. 'Onenemy' is where the album starts. The music is good, with some nice guitar riffs and samples giving it a harsh sound, but Klayton’s singing leaves a lot to be desired. 'Self-inflict' follows the same style as all the prior songs. It’s probably my favourite so far. Although Klay still can’t sing. 'Rational Lies' Is a little more subdued, bringing in a bit of synth piano and being a bit more melodic. Klayton sounds good singing here as well. 'Nightfall” makes good use of some distortion. The masking on the lyrics is a bit odd too. I feel like this song is trying to be “dream like”. If you want something like that, go listen to 'Heathens' by Twenty-one Pilots. 'Twisted Reality' is not too good. I mean, none of this album is specifically good. Its definitely the weakest of the Circle Of Dust era albums, and probably the weakest album overall. 'Consequence' is better, with some good guitar riffs and not bad singing. That, and the drumming is brilliant if you listen through really bassy headphones. Which I do. 'Dissolved' samples Star Wars. That’s the only notable thing about it. 'Nothing Sacred' now. It is also a little more diverse sound wise. I like it. It’s all right. Last is 'Bed Of Nails', which starts with sampled muttering. It’s not too-too bad. Just not much to say. There are three more tracks on the album (those being another song called 'Neophyte', a remix of 'Nothing Sacred' by Blue Stahli and an acoustic version of 'Onenemy'), but I won’t cover those as one is a remix exclusive to the re-release, and neophyte is a track from 'Machines Of Our Disgrace', so I will cover that when it comes to it. So, that was the Circle Of Dust self-title. It’s not good, but it is a start. And a not too awful start at that. I have heard worse. Cover: The original is Klayton shirtless, dropping flour through his fingers, with inverted colours, placed over a picture of nails with an image of a gas mask imposed over that. The re-release is the Circle Of Dust 'Phoenix' logo towering over a city. Much more sensible.
DAD: Flippin' Nora. How many of these are there? Still, listening to music that makes me irritated and despairing of the modern world is probably quite apt in the last week of 2016. I'm very happy to adopt an old fogey persona on all this and dismiss it as tuneless derivative garbage. They even have the gall to use the 'As I Lay Me Down to Sleep' rhyme that Metallica used in 'Enter Sandman'. Someone give the singer a throat lozenge, otherwise he's destined for nodule surgery in later life. And the drummer may be no more than a trained monkey with his arm lashed to a metronome. What did I pick up? There's some dialogue from Blade Runner in 'Pale Reflection' and an awful lot of sampling of the kind of authoritarian American public service announcements from the fifties. Apparently they are a Christian rock band but this is clearly the devil's work and I'll stick with the more theology-neutral mainstream if you don't mind.
SON: Let me just get this out of the way: this is my favourite Circle Of Dust album. It’s not the best (that's Disengage) and it’s not my favourite from Klayton's early work (that would be misguided). Hell, it’s not even my favourite album of his overall. But, for Circle alone, this is my favourite. The first track, 'Cranial Tyrant' shows exactly what this album is going to be. The best way I can describe it is that it took all the things that were strong about the... self-title, and improves on the rest. The sound is more full; the guitars are more varied between tracks while keeping the thrashy sound. Klayton is singing half decently, which is good. Now, on the whole I don’t like 'Cranial Tyrant” as a song, but this is such a huge step up from the self-title. And there is also lots more, much better, material on this album. 'Prayers Of A Dead Man' uses samples of the children’s bedtime prayer “now I lay me down to sleep”. This could have been so that Klayton could please his labels overlords, or because the prayer is BLOODY TERRIFYING! You could just imagine Jason Voorhees chanting it. Oh, and the song is good. The effect on Klayton's voice is kind of odd, but not distracting. Next up is the first of a pair of songs, those being 'Regressor- Aggressive Mix' and the later 'Aggressor- Regressive Mix”. Despite being remixes of each other, they are both too like each other. That’s probably my biggest issue with them- their similarities. Luckily, they are both good. It’s mostly sampled voice clips, but it helps to create an interesting soundscape. Skipping quite a few, which I don’t have anything to say to, we reach 'Descend' which uses what I can only assume to be distorted machinery at the beginning. Its unique and interesting. One interesting sample used says “we have big economic problems, but we are not coming apart at the seams”. This is in relationship to America. Yea, sure. The next song is 'Deviate'. Now, this song is arguably, the iconic Circle Of Dust song. A grand, five-minute-long stream of hard, thrashy guitars, paired with industrial sensibilities, and an overarching powerful sound. It’s the best song on the album, and part of the reason that I love this album. About midway through, it cuts out in a short fake out ending. The “last” song is “aggressor- regressive mix” which I have kind of already dealt with. The re release also features further material, including a remix of 'Deviate' by Blue Stahli, the song 'Contagion', which I will gush about when I get to Machines Of Our Disgrace, and a cover of the song 'Am I In Sync?' by Steve Taylor. The album cover for the original is a weird, distorted, photo negative eye. The re-release is an eye with mechanical parts all around it, and the circle of dust phoenix reflected in the pupil. So at least it's consistent. Next up: Klayton's first foray into side projects, with the debut (and only) Argyle Park album, Misguided.
DAD: It'd be too easy to make a play on the title across several contexts, the music itself, the effect it might be having on my son, my willingness to agree to listen to this stuff. Argyle Park is a 'side project' of Mr Klayton apparently. My advice is, if you're going to do a side project, make it sufficiently different from what you usually do to justify it. The Power Station was a side project. Tin Machine was a side project. Even The Seeger Sessions was a side project. This is just making more noise under another name. So it's the same old, same old industrial thrash, throat damaging vocals and presumably dressing in black and stomping about the stage. I guess the reason Elderson likes it is that it sounds like the backing track on any of a myriad of first person shooter video games. Mrs Rockodyssey is sitting next to me as we share in this musical experience. Track three is called 'Agony' and we are united in our agreement with the sentiment. Many of the tracks are mercifully short, so maybe that's an acknowledgement of the lack of ideas. There's a touch of relief with the rippling synth part which is a little like a John Carpenter soundtrack on 'Circle' and quite a lot like Orbital/Rickie Lee Jones' 'Little Fluffy Clouds'. But normal service is soon resumed. Just to clarify as well, I'm very happy to express a negative opinion on religion, but my dislike of this has nothing to do with it being Christian, and everything to do with it being not very good. U2 are a Christian band, and while I'm no big fan, it doesn't stop me appreciating parts of what they do.
SON: Okay, so I kinda-sorta lied. This is not the only Argyle Park album, but it’s the only one counted as a Klayton project. Argyle park was a “mega band”, with its three main members being “Dred, Deathwish and Buka.” Dred and Deathwish where both revealed to be Klayton, and Buka was Chris Montello. The album was also produced by Klayton, being the first time he used the “Celldweller” alias. The band made two albums, but only the debut, “Misguided” is available. The second album, “AP2” is also technically credited to a separate group, so I don’t have too many hard feelings over not covering it. The album opens with 'Refuge' which is talking. This album is not a concept album. Why does it open with a concept album opening? The voice is JG Thirlwell, whoever that is. Its alright. The next track 'Headscrew' is good. Bit of growling, bit of singing, lots of guitars, and some good sampled noise and techno weird. The track is short. Most on here are, but that’s not bad. It works for the style of them. This song features Mark Solomon and “Klank”. After this comes 'Agony' which I guess shows why this album is my favourite of Klayton's early stuff: its caught in a midpoint between Circle Of Dust and Celldweller. It’s got the weird sampled noise and angrier tone of Circle, but the refinement of Celldweller. 'Futile' is a lot of fun techno/industrial noise. Just good, fun noise. This follows directly into 'Scared For Life' which features… Celldweller? It says so. Not sure if this was added later or not, but if it wasn’t this was the first time Klayton had used the name Celldweller as a band. Argyle Park seems to be full of firsts. The song isn’t to bad, but there is very little to say that hasn’t already been, well, said. 'A Burden’s Folly' is a little too emo for me. I mean, the lyrics are “still born, dead soul, rotting from within”. I mean, I like the song. It’s just a bit generic. 'Circle – Redux' is a bit of pointless filler. Again, it sounds good though. 'Violent' has a unique bit of techno for its beat. It also “features” Circle Of Dust, meaning that it brings some of that styling across. Which is good. This is followed by 'Diesel' which is more filler. The latter half of the album has a saddeningly large amount of this. 'Gutterboy' is more of the same. The good same, but the same. I realise I have been saying that a lot, but the strange thing is that, despite being similar, each track Is unique. 'Og' is filler, and kind of annoying. I would say it’s the only track I straight up dislike. 'Doomsayer' takes on a slightly hip-hop type styling to the lyrics, while keeping the same industrial/metal/techno music. 'Uffern' is the last classic track, but, because none of the new stuff will be featured on Machines Of Our Disgrace', I get to cover it! Which is good as “Fanny Pack” (ft. Blue Stahli and Mark Solomon) is easily the best track on the album. The instruments are full and energised, the distortion on the voices isn’t half bad, and if anything adds to it. 'The Communist Masters Of Deceit' isn’t so good, though. It is dull, uninspired and, frankly, just a little but too simple. Last up 'Lonely', which is… just okay. Nothing too notable. The final final track is a Vs mashup of 'Doomsayer' and 'Fanny Pack', which is scarily good. It’s a shame Argyle Park was so short lived. It ran into a lot of controversy in its time, and so found a hard time staying relevant, especially after the label folded. Argyle Park is unlikely to ever raise its ugly head again outside of supporting roles in other Klayton projects. Well, back to normality with the last circle of dust album for twenty years Disengage. Cover: trees. Both have trees. Not much else to say.
DISENGAGE –
CIRCLE OF DUST (1998)
DAD: Disengage!
Pull up! Pull Up! Unfortunately, I’m committed. And track one is called ‘Waste
Of Time’ If I can’t read those signals I’m beyond help. However, this IS a
little better (Elderson claimed it would be). Less frenetic and a little more
tuneful. ‘Babylon’ is a kind of BBC radiophonic workshop offering and is
moderately interesting. Funnily enough, Elderson, Youngerson and I were playing
Munchkin Cthulhu last night and many of these tracks have titles that sound
like squirmy, tentacly, brainsucky things from a parallel dimension: ‘Yurasaka’,
‘Thulcandra’, ‘Perelandra’. Teenage boys like that kind of stuff so it makes
sense to appeal to your target market. The songs are also Lovecraftian in that
they’ll probably drive you mad and leave you in a gibbering heap in the corner.
There’s a touch of The Prodigy about some of it. ‘Chasm’ is a bit like ‘Pressure’.
Weirdly ‘Blindeye’ starts like ‘Who Are
You’ but, alas, fails to progress from a good start. Then, with ‘Mesmerized’
they even attempt some REMish chiming guitar. Toward the end great empathy is
shown to the listener with ‘You Are Fragile’. Indeed I am after this, and the flatulent
white noise of that particular track is not helping. And finally, they engage
the services of animated blue tang Dory to do a bit of whalesong on the title
track. This may be the most listenable effort so far, but that doesn’t mean I’d
listen to it out of choice.SON: This is the best Circle Of Dust album. No, no, be quiet, it is. four years obviously did Klayton some good, as the opening track ‘Waste Of Time’ has *gasp* good singing. Maybe it’s the rougher sound to Klayton’s voice, but he sounds good. Admittedly, the chorus is quite forced, but it still works. The sound is also good. I think that’s sampled sound making up the beat. ‘Refractor’ doesn’t mess around, jumping straight into it. Yet again, a unique sound and good singing. Although it does seem like the singing occasionally gets buried underneath the guitars. The song isn’t bad, but it’s not great. ‘Yurasuka’ is “you’re a sucker” with the spaces removed and in text speak. How very clever. And original. It also happens to have one of the best chorus lines ever in my opinion. I mean, the way Klayton sings it just makes the very simple line of ‘did it for a sucker, that’s a sucker like you’ amazing. The music also isn’t too bad. Bit of beepy electronica, bit of guitars, not bad at all. ‘chasm’ is my favourite track. Klayton’s singing does seem to be a bit off, but when it gets into it, it improves drastically. Also, the re-used lyric of ‘You Are Fragile’ adds something to this. ‘Thulcandra’ is an instrumental track. This album has a few of them. I also feel like the track title follows the ‘Yurasuka’ school of naming, but I can’t figure it out. Its good, but I wish it was an actual, vocal track. It’s kind of a relief that Klayton relegated this kind of stuff to the ‘soundtrack for the voices in my head’ series when it came to Celldweller. ‘Blindeye’ drops the ball. Klayton seems to have given up when it comes to singing. It’s not awful, it’s just bland, and a tad forced. Also, WHY IS IT UNDER THE MUSIC! Beyond that, though, still sounds good. ‘Mesmerized’ fits the title. It’s slow, melodic and has an almost dream like quality to the music. It also takes seeming inspiration from the musical version of ‘war of the worlds’. Klayton’s singing mirrors this, being slower and more melodic. ‘You Are Fragile’ is a song made only from samples of the ‘you are fragile’ line from ‘chasm’ as the vocals. It’s not to bad. It’s just a bit dull, although the synth work is good. ‘Disengage’ is… meh. It opens slow, grungy and meh, and just kind of keeps it up for four minuets’. After this there are a few unreleased demo versions of tracks, then ‘Hate Open Wide’ comes along. It uses altered lyrics from ‘chasm’ as well as new female vocals, which have no stated owner. It then samples ‘Refractor’. I am gonna call this album here. There are more tracks to cover, but they are all quite far apart and separated by stuff that I can’t talk on. The Blue Stahli remix for this album is ‘Yurasuka’, and the track off Machines Of Our Disgrace is… ‘Machines Of Our Disgrace’. And this was, for the next two decades, the end of Circle Of Dust. After the release of this, the label that circle and Argyle where signed to shut down, leaving Klayton without control over his projects. While he did later regain the rights to Circle Of Dust and Argyle Park, he spent the time in-between going by another name: Celldweller. cover: original is a… face? With a photo over part of it? I have no clue. The re-release is a fleshy figure, suspended by tendrils, walking forward with the phoenix in the background. I have… no idea.
DAD: So one thing I need to try and work out is the difference between all these incarnations of this Klayton person. It’s an easy out to claim it all sounds the same (it does) so I’ll have to come up with some theories. Maybe Celldweller is more band-ish? Not going in for instrumentals so much? Dare I say, more ‘pop’. ‘Switchback’ is OK. Quite insistent although he gets somewhat fraught at the end. And ‘Stay With Me (Unlikely)’ has a decent tune. It’s almost a love song, although he’s not working very hard at the relationship. If you imagine Anthrax doing the Big Brother theme tune you might get a sense of what ‘The Last Firstborn’ is like. He is literally gasping for breath at the end of one particularly forthright scream. He approaches quiet and reflective on ‘Under My Feet’ and 'Afraid This Time'. Quiet and reflective self-loathing at least. There's a nice female vocal on the Teen-Spirit tinged 'Unlikely - Stay With Me' (see what he did?). Dory is back at the start of 'Welcome To The End', which as a title shows that even Klayton might suspect that it's been a gruelling experience. In the end I just ended up rather bored with this, which amounts to an improvement of sorts, since it wasn't upsetting me any more. And it goes on too long. There are 18 tracks, and while a few are less than a minute, clocking in a just short of 70 minutes is too much for me. This and the last album have been just about acceptable, and while I wouldn't describe it as a purple patch, maybe it's a rich brown? That's a Doctor Who weeping angel on the cover isn't it? Since this predates their TV debut I will assume that Steven Moffat is a big fan and my respect for him has fallen further.
SON: Five years later, and Klayton returned, in a… blaze of glory? Yea, we’ll see about that. this is the second self-titled debut album that Klayton put out. Now going by the name ‘Celldweller’, times had changed. And this album is… just kind of okay. It’s not heaps better than ‘Disengage’ was, but its defiantly an improvement. The opening track is ‘Cell 1’, which isn’t talking, but deep breathing. This album is not a concept album. WHY DOES IT HAVE A CONCEPT ALBUM OPENING? ‘Cell 1’ leads into the first proper track, ‘Switchback’. If this, or anything on this album sounds familiar, that’s because you may well have heard it before. According to the *sarcasm begins* always accurate Wikipedia *sarcasm ends* every track on this album has been licensed to one thing or another. For example, ‘Switchback’ was in Spiderman 2 and the old Punisher movie, and other tracks have appeared in the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie, one of the ‘XXX: Xander cage’ films, and numerous other movies and videogames. Anyway, back to ‘Switchback’. It’s all good, nice guitars and singing and all, but then Klayton starts rapping. Oh, boy welcome to the early 2000’s. okay, it’s not too bad, just a bit strange. ‘Stay With Me (Unlikely)’ is a slightly more synth focused track, but still has a lot of nice thrash guitars. Klayton seems to force the high notes in the chorus. In fairness, he has stated that he can’t hit falsetto notes due to ruining his voice in the Circle Of Dust days. ‘The Last Firstborn’ is boring until the chorus, where there is some nice female chanting and the fast-paced chorus lines hit you. And the techno/electronica side hits you. And it’s wonderful. ‘Under My Feet’ starts with some acoustic guitar. It is slow, melodic and interesting. It wouldn’t sound out of place in giant space epic. ‘frozen’ has nothing to do with Disney, came first by over ten years, is better, and does convey a very cold tone with the music. It’s interesting, and possibly one of the best songs on the album. ‘Symbiont’ feels a bit like a Linkin Park song. I don’t know why I say that. It just kind of does. I like it, though. ‘Fadeaway’ starts off quite slow and dull, then picks up, and then goes scream right at the end. It’s a strange song. After that is ‘Cell 2’ which is talking. THIS ALBUM IS NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM! ‘Own Little World’ is very much single material. I wouldn’t exactly call it bad, just a tad simple. Following this is ‘Unlikely (Stay With Me)’ which is a kinda-sorta remix of ‘Stay With Me (Unlikely)’. Despite this, it manages to stand on its own. The acoustic sounding guitar, the bouncy synth effects, and the almost dubstepesque drop contribute to making this a unique song, apart from the rest of the album entirely. ‘One Good Reason’ starts awfully. But, then the actual song kicks in, and it’s great. ‘Cell 3’ is talking. THIS ALBUM IS NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM! Finally, ‘Welcome To The End’ starts with whale song. The whole song has a sort of aquatic feel. The song is also quite mellow, both in music and singing. Quite the departure from… the rest of the album. I like it. And that is the start of the second half. ‘Celldweller’ isn’t too much of a departure from Circle Of Dust. But, it was a departure. And, if I do say so, a good one. this is not my favourite Celldweller album. But it is arguably the most important. Cover: Tentacles surrounding a praying statue.
WISH UPON A BLACKSTAR - CELLDWELLER (2012)
DAD: Before we even start the date of release is causing me issues. Wikipedia suggests that it was released in 5 chapters between 2009 and 2012. Not a proper album then, more of a cobbled together collage of material. However much Elderson might protest that the Christian record label is a flag of convenience, the lyrics of the second track, 'Unshakeable', are "Beyond the edges of our galaxy, three figures watch over us". That's a fairly clear message. Also "Sing Hallelujah cos you can't change anything" on the title track is a deity-submissive sentiment. Anyway, it's a concept album, there's even a sci-fi novel that goes with it and the artwork supports this. But! This is actually a lot better than what has gone before, although the aforementioned 'Blackstar' would have a fighting chance in the Eurovision Song Contest. Klayton apparently originates from New York, but as 'yaouw', which you only really hear in Dudley, West Midlands or on Peaky Blinders. The opening to 'Birthright' is a little Jam-ish. If you really stretch your imagination it has echoes of 'Down At The Tube Station...' or somesuch. And the vocal strays alarmingly close to Le Bon territory, which is somewhere no-one really wants to go. However, as I've said already, this is approaching acceptable. Still wouldn't choose to listen to it though and it is even longer than the last one, a whopping 74 minutes.
END OF AN EMPIRE - CELLDWELLER (2015)
DAD: I won't lie, this is becoming a chore. It's nearly 2 months since I listened to the last album. However, if I've learned nothing else from Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, it's that fathers really must not let down their sons. So, a concerted effort to get to the end and get this lot out of my hair. Concept album, some kind of sci-fi vibe going on. Elderson has a penchant for Muse as well and there is a bit of them in this. I can kind of see why it appeals to him, it's quite strident and assertive. If you are suffering from testosterone imbalances I'd imagine it helps to push your buttons. You get to my age however and you'd rather hear something slightly more, well, contemplative. The release history of this involves drip feeding 'chapters' over a period of time before pulling it all together for the final release. If I might be so bold I would suggest that the ultimate in episodic musical releases must be R Kelly's R&B soap opera 'Trapped In The Closet'. Listen here to a pretty hilarious discussion of it by Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. Anyhow, back to this, fourth track 'Heart On' is sweary and contains the line "I fought a monster a mile high, arm-wrestled 20 octopi". Now they've lost me, we all know that the correct way to pluralise octopus is 'octopodes'. They've made a schoolboy error and done so in order to achieve a lame rhyme. Respect is not due. I mean, I suppose overall it's OK. And there is a fairly clear idea behind it all. If you listen very hard, stretch your imagination and take some mind-altering substances you might just detect something of Yes's 'City Of Love' on otherwise horrid noisefest 'Down To Earth'. Also a little puzzling to me, this album features both Scandroid and Circle Of Dust, and yet I've been led to believe by the old block chip that they are all one and the same person. To quote J. Rotten Esq. "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?". I don't mind the artwork, but you can see who it's targeted at.
SON: Five years later, and Klayton returned, in a… blaze of glory? Yea, we’ll see about that. this is the second self-titled debut album that Klayton put out. Now going by the name ‘Celldweller’, times had changed. And this album is… just kind of okay. It’s not heaps better than ‘Disengage’ was, but its defiantly an improvement. The opening track is ‘Cell 1’, which isn’t talking, but deep breathing. This album is not a concept album. WHY DOES IT HAVE A CONCEPT ALBUM OPENING? ‘Cell 1’ leads into the first proper track, ‘Switchback’. If this, or anything on this album sounds familiar, that’s because you may well have heard it before. According to the *sarcasm begins* always accurate Wikipedia *sarcasm ends* every track on this album has been licensed to one thing or another. For example, ‘Switchback’ was in Spiderman 2 and the old Punisher movie, and other tracks have appeared in the Keanu Reeves Constantine movie, one of the ‘XXX: Xander cage’ films, and numerous other movies and videogames. Anyway, back to ‘Switchback’. It’s all good, nice guitars and singing and all, but then Klayton starts rapping. Oh, boy welcome to the early 2000’s. okay, it’s not too bad, just a bit strange. ‘Stay With Me (Unlikely)’ is a slightly more synth focused track, but still has a lot of nice thrash guitars. Klayton seems to force the high notes in the chorus. In fairness, he has stated that he can’t hit falsetto notes due to ruining his voice in the Circle Of Dust days. ‘The Last Firstborn’ is boring until the chorus, where there is some nice female chanting and the fast-paced chorus lines hit you. And the techno/electronica side hits you. And it’s wonderful. ‘Under My Feet’ starts with some acoustic guitar. It is slow, melodic and interesting. It wouldn’t sound out of place in giant space epic. ‘frozen’ has nothing to do with Disney, came first by over ten years, is better, and does convey a very cold tone with the music. It’s interesting, and possibly one of the best songs on the album. ‘Symbiont’ feels a bit like a Linkin Park song. I don’t know why I say that. It just kind of does. I like it, though. ‘Fadeaway’ starts off quite slow and dull, then picks up, and then goes scream right at the end. It’s a strange song. After that is ‘Cell 2’ which is talking. THIS ALBUM IS NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM! ‘Own Little World’ is very much single material. I wouldn’t exactly call it bad, just a tad simple. Following this is ‘Unlikely (Stay With Me)’ which is a kinda-sorta remix of ‘Stay With Me (Unlikely)’. Despite this, it manages to stand on its own. The acoustic sounding guitar, the bouncy synth effects, and the almost dubstepesque drop contribute to making this a unique song, apart from the rest of the album entirely. ‘One Good Reason’ starts awfully. But, then the actual song kicks in, and it’s great. ‘Cell 3’ is talking. THIS ALBUM IS NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM! Finally, ‘Welcome To The End’ starts with whale song. The whole song has a sort of aquatic feel. The song is also quite mellow, both in music and singing. Quite the departure from… the rest of the album. I like it. And that is the start of the second half. ‘Celldweller’ isn’t too much of a departure from Circle Of Dust. But, it was a departure. And, if I do say so, a good one. this is not my favourite Celldweller album. But it is arguably the most important. Cover: Tentacles surrounding a praying statue.
DAD: Before we even start the date of release is causing me issues. Wikipedia suggests that it was released in 5 chapters between 2009 and 2012. Not a proper album then, more of a cobbled together collage of material. However much Elderson might protest that the Christian record label is a flag of convenience, the lyrics of the second track, 'Unshakeable', are "Beyond the edges of our galaxy, three figures watch over us". That's a fairly clear message. Also "Sing Hallelujah cos you can't change anything" on the title track is a deity-submissive sentiment. Anyway, it's a concept album, there's even a sci-fi novel that goes with it and the artwork supports this. But! This is actually a lot better than what has gone before, although the aforementioned 'Blackstar' would have a fighting chance in the Eurovision Song Contest. Klayton apparently originates from New York, but as 'yaouw', which you only really hear in Dudley, West Midlands or on Peaky Blinders. The opening to 'Birthright' is a little Jam-ish. If you really stretch your imagination it has echoes of 'Down At The Tube Station...' or somesuch. And the vocal strays alarmingly close to Le Bon territory, which is somewhere no-one really wants to go. However, as I've said already, this is approaching acceptable. Still wouldn't choose to listen to it though and it is even longer than the last one, a whopping 74 minutes.
SON: Must…. Resist…Bowie…joke. but, yes, this did
technically come first, and is a better album in my opinion… sorry? I don’t
know, honestly, as i have only really heard ‘Blackstar’ second hand (as in, I
have never actually listened to it, but i overhear it) and it just is not my
taste.. I feel wrong saying that, despite it having been a year since Bowie’s
sad passing. Enough dilly-dallying, though. This came out about ten years after
‘Celldweller’. this was because of Klayton setting up his own record label
(FiXT music) and building his studio, so that’s fine. First point: the deluxe
edition is better, and it’s not because it has any extra tracks. I just think
the ordering is better. But, I should do the normal version, so here goes. The
first track is ‘The Arrival’, which is a short little bit of synths. This album
is a concept album. Just a head up. The first proper track is ‘Unshakable’
which kind of epitomises this album. Its cleaner. The sound is very precise,
and uncluttered. There is a lot more focus on synths over your traditional
metal ensemble, as seen in the circle of dust years. It almost has a sort of
drum-and-bass, dubstep-y feel to it, intermixed with some metal styling in the
heavy guitars. I will say that, despite Klayton saying that this album was
about the songs, and so lyrics came first, the lyrics are the weakest part of
this whole album. They are all kind of simple and repetitive. The title track ‘Blackstar’
kind of shows this. The first line is “you must have wished on it, I saw them
riding in a Blackstar” which, if you ask me is not to good. But, the music is
good. Very different to the last track. ‘Eon’ Is probably the most ‘single’ of
the tracks on here. I really like it, despite it being a bit bland overall. ‘Louder
Than Words’ is another good example of why the lyrics on this album are sort of
lacking. “actions speak louder than words, I don’t want to hear dead words from
you” is the chorus line. Again, not sure if it’s just me, but this is kind of
very eh. ‘memories of A girl I haven’t met’ is a short little piece, mostly
there to remind you that, yes, this is, in fact, a concept album. As it goes,
though, it’s not a bad little thing. The lyrics are very good, all be it brief,
and Klayton’s singing Is on point. ‘Gift For You’ is a creepy little blighter
of a game. The lyrics and their delivery make it legitimately spine-chilling at
times. Also, once more, the synths take centre stage to make up most the melody
while the guitars sit at the back. Also, when listening to this I can’t help
but imagine a smiling serial killer leering over me. I ain’t sleeping tonight… ‘The
Lucky One’ is notable for having the best breakdown segment towards the end.
Other than that, more eh lyrics and interesting instrumentation. ‘The Seven Sisters’
takes a very bleak outlook on everything. Then again, what on this album
doesn’t? ‘It Makes No Difference Who We Are’ is why the deluxe edition is
better. This should be the opening track. Beyond that, it’s great. The little
synth melody at the beginning gives me Goosebumps every time. It’s just a good,
sci-fi sounding tune. Downtrodden and sad, while also hopeful, which is kind of
this albums whole theme in my opinion. ‘Tainted’ is the penultimate track. Not
much to say, other than that I love it. If it wasn’t for the next track, ‘Tainted’
would probably be my favourite track on the whole album. ‘Against The Tide’,
however… oh by. This song. This song is near perfect. It’s a sad little tune,
but also gets more powerful later. I don’t know how to sum it up. It’s just
great. As is this album. ‘WUaBS’ represents the moment when Klayton finally
figured out what Celldweller was. It gives of a nice, sci-fi air to it, and has
very few technical flaws beyond some slightly derivative lyrics. It’s not
perfect, obviously. I would never claim that. but it’s a damn good album.
Cover: dull, sci-fi eh-ness, with Klayton trying too hard to look cool in those
goggles.. Go to the deluxe edition for a good cover… or just a better version
of the album in general (trust me, the track ordering does matter in turning
this album from good to great.)
DAD: I won't lie, this is becoming a chore. It's nearly 2 months since I listened to the last album. However, if I've learned nothing else from Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, it's that fathers really must not let down their sons. So, a concerted effort to get to the end and get this lot out of my hair. Concept album, some kind of sci-fi vibe going on. Elderson has a penchant for Muse as well and there is a bit of them in this. I can kind of see why it appeals to him, it's quite strident and assertive. If you are suffering from testosterone imbalances I'd imagine it helps to push your buttons. You get to my age however and you'd rather hear something slightly more, well, contemplative. The release history of this involves drip feeding 'chapters' over a period of time before pulling it all together for the final release. If I might be so bold I would suggest that the ultimate in episodic musical releases must be R Kelly's R&B soap opera 'Trapped In The Closet'. Listen here to a pretty hilarious discussion of it by Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. Anyhow, back to this, fourth track 'Heart On' is sweary and contains the line "I fought a monster a mile high, arm-wrestled 20 octopi". Now they've lost me, we all know that the correct way to pluralise octopus is 'octopodes'. They've made a schoolboy error and done so in order to achieve a lame rhyme. Respect is not due. I mean, I suppose overall it's OK. And there is a fairly clear idea behind it all. If you listen very hard, stretch your imagination and take some mind-altering substances you might just detect something of Yes's 'City Of Love' on otherwise horrid noisefest 'Down To Earth'. Also a little puzzling to me, this album features both Scandroid and Circle Of Dust, and yet I've been led to believe by the old block chip that they are all one and the same person. To quote J. Rotten Esq. "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?". I don't mind the artwork, but you can see who it's targeted at.
SON: Concept
album. Oh boy. So like ‘Wish Upon A Blackstar’, this was released in four ‘chapters’
(titled Time, Love, Dreams and Death respectively) throughout the year, and was
then compiled here. And yes, I forgot to mention that ‘Wish’ was released that
way. Sue me. The difference is that the chapters of ‘End Of An Empire’ had a
wealth more content on them than those of ‘Wish’, which only had 2 tracks per
chapter. ‘End Of An Empire’ managed a whole album worth of content per chapter,
although it was mostly padding in the form of remixes (compiled on the aptly
titled ‘the remixes’ album), and ‘factions’, which where the albums way of
delivering the story. Three of these ‘factions’ are on the standard version of
the album (which, unlike ‘Wish’ is of equal quality to the deluxe edition as
track ordering does squat for this one), they have ended up residing on ‘Soundtrack
For The Voices In My Head Volume 4’, which is an album I have no cares for,
alongside the rest Klayton’s instrumental soundtrack series. First disclaimer
over, onto the next. This also has nothing to do with Wish Upon A Blackstar’s
story, but does have connections to Klayton’s Eighties new-wave project, ‘Scandroid’
(which I am getting to). Scandroid, however, IS connected to Wish Upon A Black
Star in story, so… I don’t know. The album opens with ‘Faction 1’, which sets
up the world, but has no music to speak of, so I will ignore it. ‘new Elysium’
is… alright. As an opening track, it does nothing wrong, but something about
the EDM synth dance sound of many the instruments really throws it for me. ‘End
Of An Empire’ is a much harsher song overall. Again, not the kind of thing that
would be out of place in a space epic. It goes more metal quite quickly, which
is a shame, as I really kind of prefer the slower EDM stuff on this track. ‘Heart
On’ uses what may be a real recording of a heart at the beginning. I am not
sure. The actual verse structure of this song isn’t great, but the chorus and
following techno/ distortion breakdown is decent. If you can’t tell, I am
trying to be subdued with this one, and not just scream that this is the best
album of all time. It’s not, obviously, but, since its release last year, I
have not stopped coming
SCANDROID (2016)
DAD: So my modus operandum now is to stick it on Spotify and type whatever comes into my head as I listen to it for the one and only time. With that in mind, this actually starts quite promisingly with '2517', a fairly low-paced piece of thick electronica which is closer to Moroderish disco than previous aural assaults and continues in a similar Hi-NRG vein with 'Salvation Code'. There's a touch of Depeche Mode crossed with Duran Duran on 'Aphelion'. Hold on...this is...not completely awful (although if a saving grace is that you vaguely resemble DD then you can see that you are starting from quite a low baseline). And then, as if to confirm that I am on totally the right track by accusing them of ripping off classic eighties sounds, a cover of Tears For Fears' 'Shout' jumps out of the bushes. It's a good song anyway and it hasn't really been significantly messed with here. 'Connection' has that Ultravox-y dead electronic snare running through it. So it's not actively offensive, but after a while you begin to wonder whether it has any purpose. About halfway through and I'm finding it competently boring. Almost like an academic exercise in producing a certain genre of music, but not inventive enough to be interesting. The trick of featuring one of your other artistic personas on a song seems to be about bringing a certain style to bear on the recording. So 'Pro-bots And Robophobes' features Circle Of Dust and is therefore not as good as some of the earlier stuff on the album. If you ask me it's a pretentious conceit, and suggests that Mr Klayton takes himself a teensy bit too seriously - the worst crime any artist can commit in my book. More Le Bonnish vocal stylings on Eden and then we finish up with 'Singularity' in which Vangelis soundtracky stuff is attempted. This is the least odious of Klayton's output so far, so in relative terms, it is a triumph.
SON: It’s one thing to make a concept album, but Scandroid is a concept band. The “story” is that it’s the future (2517) in Japan and humanity has been divided, with the upper class living in “Neo Tokyo” and the lower, including Klayton's in-story persona of “Red”, live in Old Tokyo. And then robots happen or something. I don’t care enough to pay attention, and it does nothing to helping the music. All I really know is that its connected to Blackstar in some way, and to End Of An Empire, even though Blackstar and EOAE are not connected. This is, unlike everything else that Klayton has done, an eighties new-wave project. So… yea. The first track '2517' starts as a slow piece that wouldn’t exactly be out of place in a John Carpenter movie. This track is also the furthest the album goes into embracing its own mythos. It's fine, Klayton's singing is a bit eh but it's fine. Then it kicks in and shows just why Scandroid is as good as it is in my opinion. Its unique among Klayton's roster, focusing more on EDM tropes and ideas than thrash and industrial. In fact, there are very few organic guitars on here. And it’s all the better for it. Second track is 'Salvation Code' was the first track released. It’s weird. It still has the eighties synth-rock tone of the whole album, but it really does find itself lying in the midground between Scandroid and everything else. The next track 'Aphelion' goes back to the more eighties feel, but does still feel a little too much like everything else. Oh well. This is followed by 'Shout' which, yes, is a cover of the Tears For Fears song. If that was what you were thinking. It’s a decent cover, changing enough to be different. Maybe not different enough for my taste. 'Destination Unknown' is the first instrumental track. I don’t care for it. 'DataStream' was the second single to be released. And it has actual guitars. I like it, but, again with the early material, it isn’t quite what the rest of the project became. The same goes for 'Empty Streets' but this song is good enough to be ignorable in this regard. 'Awakening With You' is my favourite track. I think I am just a sucker for Theremin syllabic intros. It’s a love song which does at time feel too closely linked with the album's story. That said, it’s still a legitimately great song in my opinion. Its musically strong at lyrically interesting. 'Atom & E.E.V' is another instrumental track. It’s not bad, with a nice cyber-punk tone to it, but it goes on too-long. Also, saxophone. 'Neo-Tokyo' does embrace the concept part of the album a little too much. The lyrics are made up exclusively of references to the plot and story. Unlike “awakening with you”, which can stand alone as a weird love song with robot references, 'Neo-Tokyo' is just stuff that only makes sense if you know what is going on. This is a problem as Scandroid is likely the most radio-friendly thing Klayton has ever put out, so having the lyrics be too deeply connected is an issue, as it alienates casual listeners. 'Pro-bots And Robophobes' is a Circle Of Dust song. No, sorry, it is. It is even listed as “featuring Circle Of Dust'. I like the song, don’t get me wrong there, but it does not work here. It is also more concerned with telling the album story than being a song that you would want to listen to out of context. 'Eden' is good, fitting in with the rest of the album, but it has a few too many religious references and allusions for my taste. Klayton, save this for Circle. And that’s it. There is only singularity (another instrumental) and a remix of Eden left. For the record, I love this album, and am so glad that Klayton is experimenting with other genres of music. yea… (cover: "Red” with the Scandroid logo and Old Tokyo in the background. Very "anime", which works I guess, given the setting).
MACHINES OF OUR DISGRACE - CIRCLE OF DUST (2016)
DAD: It may not have escaped your notice if you have read through my musings on the varied incarnations of Klayton, that I haven't specifically shown great appreciation for his efforts. If so then you have come away with an accurate impression - although the usual caveats that anyone who can produce any music of any kind has a more talented pinkie than my entire body still hold. However I would also point you to the accompanying posts by Elderson. His submissions admittedly do require some editorial work, although I rarely change any of the wording at all, unless it is to correct a spelling error or misheard word (and I am a stickler for 'house-style'). At the time of writing he is 16 years old. 16! I couldn't produce writing anything like as passionate or knowledgeable at that age. And he loves and respects this artist. He speaks to him in a way that I cannot understand, which is right and proper. You won't be surprised to learn that he thinks Bruce Springsteen is boring and tedious, and bands like Marillion or Pink Floyd are just bizarre and actually a bit stupid, but despite that, I'm proud of him for his eloquence and enthusiasm, and for finding something that he can relate to that I can't really stand! This is the Circle Of Dust persona, which means speech samples and sub-Metallica electro-thrash. I do hope he uses technology to make his voice do some of the things it does 'Humanarchy' features that growly-demon voice thing that these kind of acts like so much. He does bring in some of that Le Bon-like vocal from the Scandroid album into the odd track. I'm trying to think of a way to describe it. A kind of strained anguished whine? So that's it. It's been an experience I guess. Sort of like discovering you don't like pickled eggs and then going back eight more times to make sure.
SON: I have been holding off on listening to this one. The singles were good, I will say, but the idea of a Circle Of Dust revival is a bit odd to me. I like Circle Of Dust, but it could very easily end up as a Celldweller clone. I must say ‘Re-engage’ is a clever opening title. The last album was called ‘Disengage’. Straight up: this sounds very robotic and ‘industrial’. I also like the way the crescendo of the song builds. This leads straight into the title track. First issue: there is definitely a lot of Celldweller here. Maybe Klayton spoiled us with exactly how unique ‘Scandroid’ was, but this is just heavier Celldweller. Oh well. I still like it. ‘Contagion’ was the first new Circle Of Dust track released. And, yes, it does still sound like a Celldweller song, but is also just a great little track in my opinion. Is that a Morgan Freeman sample on ‘Embracing Entropy’? The distortion makes it hard to tell. Other than that, this song is just kind of meh. ‘Humanarchy’ is the most Circle Of Dust track here. Which is to say it’s all A-tonal screaming. I feel like this is beginning to sound like this album isn’t very good, when it is. The problem is that, as stated before, this is too Celldweller and not enough Circle Of Dust. ‘alt_Human’ sounds like another Celldweller song. I can’t put my finger on what one though. Other than that, it’s a fairly generic song. I am running out of things to say about this album. For the first time, well, ever with one of Klayton’s albums, this bores me. There is very little to differentiate it from EoaE, or the self title, or even Disengage and the other Circle albums. ‘Outside In’ begins reminding me of ‘Against The Tide’, which is kind of refreshing. The song goes a bit ‘Scandroid’ later. It’s not too bad, good even. I can’t say the same for ‘Neurachem’ which goes back to the boring style of the rest of the album. I think my biggest problem with the album is that it just doesn’t have the explicit variety of the Celldweller albums, but it doesn’t give in to the full heavy noise of the first Circle Of Dust albums. It’s weird. ‘k_OS’ looks like an emoji. Any ideas on what it means? Back to the music: ugh! Can this just end already? I have given this album the benefit of the doubt, but it’s getting harder to do. This song seems to sample melodies and riffs from other songs on the album. ‘Neophyte’ wouldn’t sound out of place on the first Circle Of Dust album… oh, wait, it was on the first Circle Of Dust album. This one isn’t too bad. The chosen vocal samples are bad, though. ‘Malcandra’ should be on Disengage. Just look at the name and tell me otherwise. It even has the slow droning opening that lots of the songs on Disengage had. So. Klayton. Needless to say I like all of it, with only minor complaints along the way. This kind of music is just my style and speed. That being said, Scandroid is the best album, and Circle Of Dust the worst. my worry is that Klayton is either going to oversaturate himself, or lose the charm these albums have to me. Last year alone, he managed to release: the Circle Of Dust remasters, Scandroid, machines of our disgrace, and ‘Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Volume 4’, and two albums in the ‘Transmissions’ series as well as releasing a digital instrument, and scoring the soundtrack for Season 3 of the videogame KIllerinstinct, re-releasing the remix album ‘Time And Space’ with more content, and signing three new artists to the FiXT label (‘The Algorithum’, ‘The Quemists’ and ‘Raizer’). With this amount of work, it’s really no-wonder that ‘Machines’ didn’t turn out so well, as it was produced in the span of one year, and a hectic one for him at that. ultimately, though, as long as the music continues to be good, I will continue to listen. (Cover: Person with mechanical parts in the shape of the phoenix. Once again, the artist outdid themselves. Shame the same can’t be said for the music)
DAD: So my modus operandum now is to stick it on Spotify and type whatever comes into my head as I listen to it for the one and only time. With that in mind, this actually starts quite promisingly with '2517', a fairly low-paced piece of thick electronica which is closer to Moroderish disco than previous aural assaults and continues in a similar Hi-NRG vein with 'Salvation Code'. There's a touch of Depeche Mode crossed with Duran Duran on 'Aphelion'. Hold on...this is...not completely awful (although if a saving grace is that you vaguely resemble DD then you can see that you are starting from quite a low baseline). And then, as if to confirm that I am on totally the right track by accusing them of ripping off classic eighties sounds, a cover of Tears For Fears' 'Shout' jumps out of the bushes. It's a good song anyway and it hasn't really been significantly messed with here. 'Connection' has that Ultravox-y dead electronic snare running through it. So it's not actively offensive, but after a while you begin to wonder whether it has any purpose. About halfway through and I'm finding it competently boring. Almost like an academic exercise in producing a certain genre of music, but not inventive enough to be interesting. The trick of featuring one of your other artistic personas on a song seems to be about bringing a certain style to bear on the recording. So 'Pro-bots And Robophobes' features Circle Of Dust and is therefore not as good as some of the earlier stuff on the album. If you ask me it's a pretentious conceit, and suggests that Mr Klayton takes himself a teensy bit too seriously - the worst crime any artist can commit in my book. More Le Bonnish vocal stylings on Eden and then we finish up with 'Singularity' in which Vangelis soundtracky stuff is attempted. This is the least odious of Klayton's output so far, so in relative terms, it is a triumph.
SON: It’s one thing to make a concept album, but Scandroid is a concept band. The “story” is that it’s the future (2517) in Japan and humanity has been divided, with the upper class living in “Neo Tokyo” and the lower, including Klayton's in-story persona of “Red”, live in Old Tokyo. And then robots happen or something. I don’t care enough to pay attention, and it does nothing to helping the music. All I really know is that its connected to Blackstar in some way, and to End Of An Empire, even though Blackstar and EOAE are not connected. This is, unlike everything else that Klayton has done, an eighties new-wave project. So… yea. The first track '2517' starts as a slow piece that wouldn’t exactly be out of place in a John Carpenter movie. This track is also the furthest the album goes into embracing its own mythos. It's fine, Klayton's singing is a bit eh but it's fine. Then it kicks in and shows just why Scandroid is as good as it is in my opinion. Its unique among Klayton's roster, focusing more on EDM tropes and ideas than thrash and industrial. In fact, there are very few organic guitars on here. And it’s all the better for it. Second track is 'Salvation Code' was the first track released. It’s weird. It still has the eighties synth-rock tone of the whole album, but it really does find itself lying in the midground between Scandroid and everything else. The next track 'Aphelion' goes back to the more eighties feel, but does still feel a little too much like everything else. Oh well. This is followed by 'Shout' which, yes, is a cover of the Tears For Fears song. If that was what you were thinking. It’s a decent cover, changing enough to be different. Maybe not different enough for my taste. 'Destination Unknown' is the first instrumental track. I don’t care for it. 'DataStream' was the second single to be released. And it has actual guitars. I like it, but, again with the early material, it isn’t quite what the rest of the project became. The same goes for 'Empty Streets' but this song is good enough to be ignorable in this regard. 'Awakening With You' is my favourite track. I think I am just a sucker for Theremin syllabic intros. It’s a love song which does at time feel too closely linked with the album's story. That said, it’s still a legitimately great song in my opinion. Its musically strong at lyrically interesting. 'Atom & E.E.V' is another instrumental track. It’s not bad, with a nice cyber-punk tone to it, but it goes on too-long. Also, saxophone. 'Neo-Tokyo' does embrace the concept part of the album a little too much. The lyrics are made up exclusively of references to the plot and story. Unlike “awakening with you”, which can stand alone as a weird love song with robot references, 'Neo-Tokyo' is just stuff that only makes sense if you know what is going on. This is a problem as Scandroid is likely the most radio-friendly thing Klayton has ever put out, so having the lyrics be too deeply connected is an issue, as it alienates casual listeners. 'Pro-bots And Robophobes' is a Circle Of Dust song. No, sorry, it is. It is even listed as “featuring Circle Of Dust'. I like the song, don’t get me wrong there, but it does not work here. It is also more concerned with telling the album story than being a song that you would want to listen to out of context. 'Eden' is good, fitting in with the rest of the album, but it has a few too many religious references and allusions for my taste. Klayton, save this for Circle. And that’s it. There is only singularity (another instrumental) and a remix of Eden left. For the record, I love this album, and am so glad that Klayton is experimenting with other genres of music. yea… (cover: "Red” with the Scandroid logo and Old Tokyo in the background. Very "anime", which works I guess, given the setting).
DAD: It may not have escaped your notice if you have read through my musings on the varied incarnations of Klayton, that I haven't specifically shown great appreciation for his efforts. If so then you have come away with an accurate impression - although the usual caveats that anyone who can produce any music of any kind has a more talented pinkie than my entire body still hold. However I would also point you to the accompanying posts by Elderson. His submissions admittedly do require some editorial work, although I rarely change any of the wording at all, unless it is to correct a spelling error or misheard word (and I am a stickler for 'house-style'). At the time of writing he is 16 years old. 16! I couldn't produce writing anything like as passionate or knowledgeable at that age. And he loves and respects this artist. He speaks to him in a way that I cannot understand, which is right and proper. You won't be surprised to learn that he thinks Bruce Springsteen is boring and tedious, and bands like Marillion or Pink Floyd are just bizarre and actually a bit stupid, but despite that, I'm proud of him for his eloquence and enthusiasm, and for finding something that he can relate to that I can't really stand! This is the Circle Of Dust persona, which means speech samples and sub-Metallica electro-thrash. I do hope he uses technology to make his voice do some of the things it does 'Humanarchy' features that growly-demon voice thing that these kind of acts like so much. He does bring in some of that Le Bon-like vocal from the Scandroid album into the odd track. I'm trying to think of a way to describe it. A kind of strained anguished whine? So that's it. It's been an experience I guess. Sort of like discovering you don't like pickled eggs and then going back eight more times to make sure.
SON: I have been holding off on listening to this one. The singles were good, I will say, but the idea of a Circle Of Dust revival is a bit odd to me. I like Circle Of Dust, but it could very easily end up as a Celldweller clone. I must say ‘Re-engage’ is a clever opening title. The last album was called ‘Disengage’. Straight up: this sounds very robotic and ‘industrial’. I also like the way the crescendo of the song builds. This leads straight into the title track. First issue: there is definitely a lot of Celldweller here. Maybe Klayton spoiled us with exactly how unique ‘Scandroid’ was, but this is just heavier Celldweller. Oh well. I still like it. ‘Contagion’ was the first new Circle Of Dust track released. And, yes, it does still sound like a Celldweller song, but is also just a great little track in my opinion. Is that a Morgan Freeman sample on ‘Embracing Entropy’? The distortion makes it hard to tell. Other than that, this song is just kind of meh. ‘Humanarchy’ is the most Circle Of Dust track here. Which is to say it’s all A-tonal screaming. I feel like this is beginning to sound like this album isn’t very good, when it is. The problem is that, as stated before, this is too Celldweller and not enough Circle Of Dust. ‘alt_Human’ sounds like another Celldweller song. I can’t put my finger on what one though. Other than that, it’s a fairly generic song. I am running out of things to say about this album. For the first time, well, ever with one of Klayton’s albums, this bores me. There is very little to differentiate it from EoaE, or the self title, or even Disengage and the other Circle albums. ‘Outside In’ begins reminding me of ‘Against The Tide’, which is kind of refreshing. The song goes a bit ‘Scandroid’ later. It’s not too bad, good even. I can’t say the same for ‘Neurachem’ which goes back to the boring style of the rest of the album. I think my biggest problem with the album is that it just doesn’t have the explicit variety of the Celldweller albums, but it doesn’t give in to the full heavy noise of the first Circle Of Dust albums. It’s weird. ‘k_OS’ looks like an emoji. Any ideas on what it means? Back to the music: ugh! Can this just end already? I have given this album the benefit of the doubt, but it’s getting harder to do. This song seems to sample melodies and riffs from other songs on the album. ‘Neophyte’ wouldn’t sound out of place on the first Circle Of Dust album… oh, wait, it was on the first Circle Of Dust album. This one isn’t too bad. The chosen vocal samples are bad, though. ‘Malcandra’ should be on Disengage. Just look at the name and tell me otherwise. It even has the slow droning opening that lots of the songs on Disengage had. So. Klayton. Needless to say I like all of it, with only minor complaints along the way. This kind of music is just my style and speed. That being said, Scandroid is the best album, and Circle Of Dust the worst. my worry is that Klayton is either going to oversaturate himself, or lose the charm these albums have to me. Last year alone, he managed to release: the Circle Of Dust remasters, Scandroid, machines of our disgrace, and ‘Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Volume 4’, and two albums in the ‘Transmissions’ series as well as releasing a digital instrument, and scoring the soundtrack for Season 3 of the videogame KIllerinstinct, re-releasing the remix album ‘Time And Space’ with more content, and signing three new artists to the FiXT label (‘The Algorithum’, ‘The Quemists’ and ‘Raizer’). With this amount of work, it’s really no-wonder that ‘Machines’ didn’t turn out so well, as it was produced in the span of one year, and a hectic one for him at that. ultimately, though, as long as the music continues to be good, I will continue to listen. (Cover: Person with mechanical parts in the shape of the phoenix. Once again, the artist outdid themselves. Shame the same can’t be said for the music)
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