Review Summary: Rom Di Prisco's debut album lacks in the supremacy department, but hey, its free!
Properly used synthesizers can result in enjoyable music, but such is the not always the case. Now, Rom Di Prisco has been in the music business forever, contributing soundtracks for popular video games, films, and television shows. To put it bluntly, Rom Di Prisco is the master of his trade, untouchable in the business, and unstoppable. Surely, with his vast amount of veteran experience and musical knowledge, he would be able to make an album of his own, but not just an ordinary album, one that is superior to all others. How hard can it be for such an expert as Rom Di Prisco to showcase his talent with an album of epic proportions? Apparently it’s a bit more difficult than expected.
I like synthesizers because they can contribute to loads of fun, but I don’t like it when they are abused. Such is the case with Cryptidalia, in which synthesizers are used to pointlessly abusive proportions. What I mean by this is that I find the entire album to be rather pointless, to have no ultimate goal. Now that Rom Di Prisco is finally venturing out of his soundtrack world, his music sounds completely lost, as a boy running away from his home who has no idea where to go next. The whole affair seems unnecessary to begin with anyway, so when it is found out that his debut album sounds like just another one of his soundtracks, why not play a Need for Speed game instead? After all, the music he produced for the Need for Speed series would play while the game was running, and it sounds eerily similar to the music in Cryptidalia. However, this album is made available for free download, and I suppose that is as good a reason as any to listen to this. In fact, that is the strongest reason for why a person might check this out.
Cryptidalia basically showcases what Rom Di Prisco does best, and that is tasty EBM. A collection of ambient music, techno, house, and minimalism, the album is attractive, and gorgeous as usual. Also as usual is the recording quality which is simply stunning, possibly one of the best sounding (in terms of recording quality) albums I ever heard. A gripe I have is that the songs sound cold and unemotional, like the vast void of space. It is difficult to imagine a scene to put with the music because the music does not invoke emotions or anything of the sort. The album has a lot of cool, and perfectly applied synthesizers, but that is really the only thing going for this album. Fans of tasty electronic music will definitely find something to enjoy here, however, and if some synthesizers is all you need to enjoy an album, this album is for you.
