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Tracklist Space Avenue:
01. External
02. Far Away
03. Wolves On The Streets
04. Progression
05. Blind Zone
06. Purify Yourself
07. Stars
08. Prime Time
09. Main Stream
10. Look Out Tonite
11. Walkin On The Neon
12. Mad Luxury
Bonus Track on Digipack:
13. Purified (Instrumental-Mix)
Tracklist Far Away Single:
01. Far Away (Radio Edit)
02. Look Out Tonite (Edit)
03. Blind Zone (Album Version)
Tracklist Blind Zone Single:
01. Blind Zone
02. Wolves On The Streets
03. External
04. Mad Luxury
Review
This finnish band has never worried about musical limits. Starting as a folk-metal combo, Waltari played around with Death Metal, Techno, Classic, and Pop ingredients whenever they wanted to. On "Space Avenue" (1997) they went to discover the breakbeat metal and industrial sphere, and got major assistance by executive producer Rhys Fulber. The single "Far Away" even charted into the Top 5 import singles charts in Japan.
External
A very cool programming on the intro, and boom boom boom here we go. External sums it up pretty much, and is one of the coolest tracks of the record as well. People not familiar with Waltari will find out that their songwriting is pretty variable at times, that theyre a metal band with a lot more than just metal, and all that Waltari stuff. At 3.20 we got the violin solo. The song is full of decent Fulber programming experiments, and great keyboard experiments, a lot of details, and not to forget an uptempo metal song, a great one.
Far Away
And this is where it gets outstanding. More breakbeatesque than the previous track. And the songwriting, whow, this is clearly the best choice for the first single, and people who dont like the album still like this track. Kärtsys vocals go thru a talkbox effect, and the vocals, let me mention it, are one of the reasons why people are put of the Waltari sound. So what, this track ownz.
Wolves On The Streets
Beeps, guitar riff, freaky rap. The verse is cool, but that chorus is perfect. Sounds like I imagine Finland, cold, dawn, autumn, polar lights, spacey, inner warmth. As soon as you get to understand the verse lyrics, you discover a lot of Kärtsys universe. Song ends with a double bass part. Too much of a typical album track, but a nice one.
Progression
Some fans complained that the production on Space Avenue is too thin, and this track is an example. Further I think the composition is not as great as on the first 3 tracks here. For me this album has too much fillers like this one, if it only had more really great tracks. However, might be that other people might like this track more than Wolves for example. Doesnt leave much Space to the Fulber programmings though, rather a standard metal track.
Blind Zone
Full of hooklines. The track is a bit too thin on the sound again, but on the melody side this one wins, another hymn. Regarding the sound issue, I can clearly recommend to put the bass on for listening to the disc, that will add a lot of warmth. Leaves me with mixed feelings, there are better tracks on the album, this one is nice, but not outstanding.
Purify Yourself
And this one of the outstanders. Features breakbeat metal, great synths, and strings played by the boys from Apocalyptica. Everything is well done on this track, shows the metal influence. Good guitar and drum work, then the strings add another load of skills. Technically this is clearly one of the best tracks. The song is cool too.
Stars
This is a cover, probably of a finish band, as Kärtsy is credited for english translation. Not my favourite track, though well done, I dont like the composition. The break sounds cool though. A typical rock song, doesnt make any mistakes.
Prime Time
Rock Metal. So far a standard metal track. Pushes hard, but then doesnt come up with anything special most of the time. But the fast part around 2 minutes then, this is really cool. Twice as fast as the rest of the rest of the album. One of the weaker tracks in its whole.
Main Stream
My least favourite. Might work cool as a mosh metal song, if the sound wasnt that muddy. Yep, even though Rhys and Greg Reely did the sound, Im pretty disappointed with it, its muddy most of the time. The chorus on this track, uh oh, you can guess that the thundering sound is a double bass, but what you actually hear is mud. The songwriting is standard on this track anyway.
Look Out Tonite
Whoa. I like this one. Only the production keeps this from being really cool. Pretty fast, with eastern samples here and there, fast, almost breakbeatesque drums. Vocals are funny, Kärtsy on a fast furious freakout. Songwriting and sounddesign are great, this also has some strings from the Apocalyptica boys. All in all a fast furious ACTION! track, cool one, great atmosphere.
Walkin In The Neon
Hmm. If it had no guitars, this was Abba-pop. Guest vocals from Anita Davis, I dont think she's the singer in 2Unlimited (lol), but thats what she sounds like. The song was remixed and singled out from the Decade album one year later. Some people like this one the most off the album, its funny, but on another day I might find it annoying though. But its not bad, its pretty out of place, but one of the better tracks for sure, good songwriting. And its better than the mentioned remix.
Mad Luxury
And maybe the best track for the ending. almost a slap bass, some relaxed drums, a few guitar tones, and great vocal line in the verse, plus some cool lyrics (im coming into the ventilation pipes:) AND THE CHORUS: the best mosh metal part on the whole album, ive waited for that. Builds up pretty well. While the album leaves you with mixed results, this one at last shows you where its at. After the last killer chorus, this slowly fades with some sounds and loops.
Hidden Track
After Mad Luxury has faded out, youre getting 12 more minutes of weird soundscape. Pretty much of nonsense of walking in a wood, birds singing, and upcoming noises.
Purified (Instrumental Mix)(only available on the limited Digipak)
This one rules, I even prefer it to the regular version. Minus the vocals AND the guitars, you can clearly her Rhys' superb programming, the drumwork, and actually the Apocalyptica strings. I wouldnt have a problem with hearing all the tracks in this stripped down way, cause it gives a cool insight, and you hear a lot of the well done production work by Rhys. I mentioned that I have a problem with the mix on the album, maybe it was just too much.
The Singles
Btw, the Far Away Single comes up with Radio Edits of Far Away and Look Out Tonite, not really important or worth getting, just to mention it here. The tracks on the Blind Zone Single are all the album versions, yet theyre most of the best songs.
Overall, mixed feelings, but even if just half of the songs is really good, theyre worth it. Waltari are not everyones favourites, and theyre really something to get used to. I've listened to this album pretty often though. Decide for yourself.
Reviewed by Henrik aka 21st Century Jesus
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Last updated 2005-05-02 00:30:23 by: unknown user.
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