Review Summary: It is Celldweller.
There are reasons why this album was never reviewed. One is that the album is completely forgettable. When I use the word completely, I do truly mean in completion. I remember attempting to review it at the time of its release, only to realize I forgot how the album sounded. Later on in life, I also forgot the album existed. After revisiting this album lately (my first time since the album was released), I can safely say I didn’t miss out. Brutal, but true.
The thing that makes this album special? There are hardly any vocals in it. “Yippee!” says Klayton in his cave, yet I am unconvinced of the musical integrity attached with his yippee. His supposed musical genius bit was cool for a bit until one realized Klayton only had one trick, and that was considerable programming. This album suffers greatly based on that notion, sounding like a man much to pleasured by his own work.
At the time of release Celldweller fans craved more Celldweller (waiting for ages for the next proper album), and all they got was this — Klayton playing with his computer and giving us his tinkly tinkers. That being said, there’s some good stuff occasionally. Certain tracks don’t sound like half-assed leftovers, or half-finished Celldweller singles that never saw the light of day. Certain tracks would be great to put in a soundtrack for eerie scenes that require a thick atmosphere. You see, when Klayton focuses his efforts outside of his atypical crunchy, generic guitars meet generic techno synthesizers magic is made. Sadly, magic isn’t made often enough in this album, with so many of the songs sounding like an uninspired retread/recycled product derivative of Switchback. At the very least, the album shows Klayton’s potential as a soundtrack producer. When the music hits right, the synths, strings and beats coincide in excellent rhythm to produce quite a soundscape, but more often than not, the tracks have throwaway drawing board energy.
There are great tracks within this bloated, extensively long album. However, you must wade through trash to find the gold. There is no cohesion — it is a collection of ideas. The album would’ve been infinitely better off with tracks that are finished, singing and screams included, and a less scatterbrained direction. This album is really just for diehard fans, and not worth a revisit. Time to forget this album exists — again.
