|
|
Tracklist Affliction (CD Album):
01. Nowhere Now 4.18
02. Blunt 3.56
03. Wicked 3.58
04. Emotional Stain 6.19
05. Close 4.45
06. Blood in the River 4.10
07. Cruel World 4.11
08. Lost 5.03
09. Slug 4.32
10. Sycophant 4.12
11. Affliction 5.40
Tracklist Wicked (promo CDS):
01. Wicked 3.58
02. Wicked (The Mantra Mix Edit) 4.19
03. Wicked (The Mantra Mix) 7.35
04. Wicked (The Drop Mix) 5.32
Tracklist Close (promo CDS):
01. Close (Edited Version) 3.50
02. Close 4.45
Nowhere Now (promo CDS / 12"):
Tracklist, cover, info needed.
Credits:
Produced by Rhys Fulber and Econoline Crush. Recorded by Rhys Fulber at East Van Dusen Studios, Vancouver B.C. - September / October 1994. except 'Cruel World' recorded at Machine Works - December 1994. Mixed by Greg Reely at Machine Works, West Vancouver B.C. - October 1994, except 'Cruel World' - december 1994. Assisted by Endre Lukacsy. Preproduction - Nal Sound. Mastered by Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, MaineEconoline Crush: Trevor Hurst - vocals. Robbie Morfitt - guitars. Daniel Yaremko - bass. Gregg Leask - drums. Keyboards and programming - Rhys Fulber. Additional programming - Greg Reely, Econoline Crush. Technical support - Ray Fulber.
Cover photo - Patrice Bilavka. Design - Verve Graphic Design Consultans (Toronto)
Review
A rock band from Vancouver. And a man on a mission. This album was the first full album that Rhys Fulber did as producer in his career, this was done back in 1994. Executive production, keys and programming by Rhys, with help from Greg Reely and assistance from a person called Ray Fulber. For further FLA references: Tom Ferris (the guy who was in Mike Balchs Blackland project later) was a member of the band before they did this album, so he co-wrote a few tracks of those that landed on here Mike Balch himself was or was not involved with some additional programming too, he's not listed in the album credits though.
Generally Econoline Crush are a heavy rock band with a vocalist that reminds me of The Tea Party, "Affliction" was their debut album. I heard that the band is or was pretty successful in Canada in the 90ies.
Looking at this album from the view of the FLA fan, the programming is pretty Hard Wired (I mean it was done at the same time, so the listener will discover some of those techniques on it). It's present in the intros and bridges mostly, sometimes you hear those effects and weird sounds and you're totally sure to know who did it, if you know what I mean:) But this isnt a FLA album, its an EC album with a few cool sidenotes.
Nowhere now - A heavy rocker. Snare crashes as strong as those on Fear Factory's Demanufacture, no coincidence as that was Rhys' next job, but nice to hear huh.. The song reminds me of Therapy? in their better moments. One of the best tracks. Lots of great sound installments plus a killer outro. In the break there are some great keyboard additions.
Blunt - NOTHING! Pretty electronic groove in the verse, its only vocals and sounds there, no 'real' instruments. Great chorus "I can feel nothing" reminds me of Soundgarden at Badmotorfinger, that album is a good reference indeed. Song gets pretty fast at times, recommended. Great harmony in the vocals, cool riffs, great dynamics.
Wicked - Processed guitars, drumloop. One of the singles. Good to mosh to, but doesnt get me quite as much as the first two tracks, a bit too cliche. Just a little though, the first 3 tracks are all pretty cool, and the sound design is excellent, not many rock albums have that.
Emotional Stain - Mid tempo. The guitars are grinding slowly, Rhys plays a little keyboard melody on top, and the song waltzes foward. It's a pretty slow track, not doom metal, but some kinda melodic doom metal if you wanna say that... it lasts over 6 minutes, its got good melodies, definitely a nice moody piece, but I'm into faster stuff personally.
Close - Another single, and my other favourite on the album. Great melodic song, not heavy, kind of balladesque, powerful vocals, lotsa spheric keyboards. Quiet verse, energetic chorus. You lift me up, drag me down. The break from 2.30 min is just wonderful with the additional keys, best moment on the whole record.
Blood in the River - Less inspired, a standard riff, a typical riff rock song. Only the mosh part rules, but the chorus and all are too generic. No dramatic sound installations too, apart from the flangers in that mosh part.
Cruel World - Menacing guitars. All in all another standard song without the big bad idea. Chorus is okay, a few nice samples, goes down without the big moment.
Lost - Moody guitar melody, nice to hear, then the breakdown on bass, and BANG a crunchy chorus, yeah yeah. And the same allover again. Funny structure, nice one.
Slug - Great intro soundscape, and another solid rocker follows. The spacey sound effects are still the big plus above another rather standard rock song, too bad that they dont have that many hooks. I mean, the stuff makes a good listen for sure, but the great moments are too rare.
Sycophant - Very fresh guitars, with cool dynamics. The verse is rather standard, chorus is nice. The guitars and the lyrics are strong here, the track is prolly the best one of the second half of the album, good for a few headbangs.
Affliction - The ballad at the end, the closer. Voice plus soundscapes. A mixture of the Noise Unit - Decoder sound and that newer Fear Factory instrumental 'Ascension', plus vocals and a little piano at times. At 2.30 back to guitars, cool slides. A rather cool moment, only the drums are too static, and the string samples arent really necessary. At 4.30 the soundscape plus vocals part continues, and then it ends.
Generally I miss too much here and there, its a nice listen for 70% of the tracks though. Solid works by all the musicians, rather a few missing pieces, should have had more hooks, and I overall miss the hihats, its very focused on snare and bass drum. As mentioned, being the person I am I really dig those sound effects, and that makes this album relevant enough to listen to once every few months. Some great moments among this, decent album. Remember that it is 10 years old now.
Reviewed by Henrik aka 21st Century Jesus
Back to the top of the page...
Old news items regarding this page:
Last updated 2005-05-01 23:51:51 by: unknown user.
|
|
|
|
