Reviewed by
Kim Alexander
Released
1997
Label
21st Circuitry
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This review is sponsored in part by
Cafe (at) Netherworld
Last Edit/Update
12 July 1999
Soul Reflections (With CDRom Section!)
"We can create our future or we can destroy it. The choice is ours."
--Inside back cover, tales from the "Midi-Head".
With a mini-interview of the CD from the Xorcist mail list.
Track Listing
1. Anima 5:15
2. Safuna 7:00
3. Governet 6:40
4. Pool of Thought 2:30
5. Scorched Blood7:46
6. Erlicheda 6:34
7. Stains 5:59
8. Meditatio 5:33
Electro-Death at its finest, Xorcist's Anima is an electro-shock futurist track with a good deal of philosophical samples about destruction, peril and moments of transition, moments of revelation layered over an incredible dance beat. "We must prepare..." [Safuna]...Exorcism..."the wrath of satan has no mercy..." excellent track, "You're afraid of death?" ... "I love life...", great sampling, dark and evil synth programming, drumming and beat is perfect for dance, bass and noise lines are awesome. One of my favourite all time tracks by Xorcist (screaming woman in the background, sonic blasts, psyche chaos, sub-harmonics drifing off into silence...).
What does Xorcist say about Safuna? [From the official Xorcist mail list...]
Last Sigh: What prompted you to write, Safuna?
Bat: I think Safuna ended up to be just that last 'fuck all' sample hell littered song so as to just get it out of my system once and for all? Perhaps it was just the right place at the right time for dialog and well, things got out of hand and Safuna was born into being. I don't like using samples too indiscriminately so to use so many in one song can be a little overwhelming at times ;-)
Governet -- "...anything you say. It's a wonderful philosophy!" Sampled about the environment, paranoia about the government contolling us -- "Take away your voice, take away your sight, take away your rights...we are your government?" "We have been lulled into a trance..." a slow beat, quite danceable with more dark wavey electro -- varied timbre, full sound, more like: "electro-death- transambient" if I had to categorize this track, heavy treated vocals...classic Xorcist!
More about Bats Philosophy from the Xorcist Mail list:
Last Sigh: Any philosophy there about the state of the planet you would like to share?
Bat: Nothing that isn't really on
the CD-ROM of Soul Reflection. I've ranted and
raved enough on there. I did see a very cool show on PBS today about the
state of the planet and the ratio of birth-rates/growth/population/use of
resources compared to the every growing changes in our planet. Bottom line
folks, unless we do a major turn-around in meat-eating, overpopulation and
over-taxing of almost every resource out there, in 20 years kiss yer ass goodbye.
The Eco-system and money system will collapse horrifically. Have children quickly
as they may be the only thing you will be able to eat.
Pool Of Thought is more experimental with layering of single key progression, samples of a man screaming and astral synth harmonics which slides into Scorched Blood, "You are a most unusual species...", sequenced shock therapy, classical harmony in the background, many changes, sampling from film, excellent drum programming and climbing cresendos make this track intensely ominous with beautiful soundscapes of often conflicting sonic character.
Xorcist on the sound of his music:
Last Sigh: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard it? Ack that *dreaded* question!
Bat: Schizophrenic. Best guess is
Darkwave electronica gothic industrial ambient
sound-tracks for (at times really fucked up) images in your head :-)
Erlicheda sounds like a midspeed electro chase of teknology with human- kind -- an instrumental piece of aural art and in Stains -- "Who will save me?", "It's a war in heaven." "You have no idea what's going on," "You get to Kill, all Day, all Night, just like an Angel!" Fantastic samples, incredible story like track, excellent harmony, noise and intensely rich sonics!
Finally the CD rests with Meditato, "Surrender yourself to death...step into the abyss, and let go...", a slower piece, meditative in fact, Xorcist tames down with this more classical work. Soft drumming, dreamy vocals and pensive samples, beautiful. (use of vocoder here?) [Additional vocal treatments on Anima, Governet, Scorched Blood,and Erlicheda by Evoltwin8].
And a mention from Bat about of Erlicheda and Meditato:
Last Sigh: I am interested too in the track: Erlicheda, and the one final track: Meditato, any thing in particular that prompted you to be so, mello?
Bat: Erlicheda was an experiment in AAA. Adrenaline, Arousal, and Asphyxiation.
Meditatio: Xorcist has always been into
creating more 'sound-track'
oriented pieces. Things that don't rely on drums or heavy percussion to
bring a song, not to mention an emotion to light. You're not going to write
past a certain angsty level of emotion with just drums and my feelings when
I write are too scattered to stick in one place. Just listen to Is Love?
off of Phantoms and you'll see what I mean. NOMAD, the new release slated
for Nov 1st will be exploring that sound-track ambient/darkwave sonic-scape
even more then ever before.
This CD is
a great asset to the electro-death music scene, and certainly not one you would want to
pass up for your collection. Be sure to check out Evoltwin's site, her art is
fabulous!
If you want to join the Official Xorcist Mail List click HERE.
