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Review Summary: The Pakistan bred atmospheric black metal band Necktarium have released a respectable if somewhat unexciting record. Fairly new in the atmospheric metal genre, Necktarium show promise with their drawn out chord progressions and interesting samples. Sometimes described as (maybe even a genre coinage) “shoe gaze atmospheric black metal”, Dreamblur shows many elements of a fine record including that of a retail level. The production whilst not of the highest quality matches the mood created on the album as a whole. As well as having some interesting features to keep the listener entertained on this ‘voyage of dreams’. There is a lot of melancholy to be found here. These features while prominent in theme may sometimes be lost under the mixing and the distortion of the album. It is better to hear everything that is going on with a decent set of headphones, rather than miss out on some things that may go unnoticed with a ‘general listening’ or if listened to as background noise.
The album/demo shows levels of contrast, ultimately in the form of sweet (supporting the ‘dreamy’ themes and taste in the music)mixed with distortion and high gain layering’s’ that can be heard most often in the guitar work throughout the album. This gives listeners a higher tolerance level when listening to the music and maintains the listeners’ attention. While there is a lot of features going on here there are some that stick out and catch the attention of the listener more than others. Some of these features include the vocals (obviously at the fore-front of the album) that change from whispers that can be heard in sections of ‘fogdance blue’, spoken word (in various parts of the album), and even includes some chanted lines. Typical of a black metal record there is the usual growling and raspy vocal lines throughout the recordings. Diversity can be found all over this demo, but listeners will especially notice the samples and out of the ordinary sound sources. These features include birds chirping, and drone sounds and all have their place in Necktarium’s music.
While this demo has some very commendable attributes, it is let down by some simple elements. There is a tendency for the album to drag around the middle section, and also within tracks. As this demo was built on random ideas and active thoughts, with a highlight on some personal themes that represents the artists’ state of mind. Highlighting the album is ‘Sweet, Pale Fingers’ a melodic track, with emphasis on the instrumental work of the piano. The atmosphere here is light and the track itself is short enough to maintain the listeners’ attention throughout.
Overall, this is a very commendable if some-what experimental atmospheric black metal demo. While it does drag a little, there should be many features to keep the ‘metal-heads’ enthused and while it may not be for everyone, it retains a steady, but not high re-listen value.
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If somebody could find album art for this it would be much appreciated, everything i have found has been the wrong format. Cheers!
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Wasn't sure what release to make it, just went with the earliest (Sept 06)
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Cheers, thankyou muchly. Yeah some details on this were pretty scarce. Or i was just looking in the wrong places. It will be interesting to see what kind of attention Sputnik gives this demo.
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"atmospheric black metal band Necktarium"
"shoe gaze atmospheric death metal"
?
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Oh shit, "BLACK".
Edited.
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lol r they even allowed to make bm in pakistan?
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Apparently so, the guy said in an interview, that it's becoming more and more accepted. However there is a lot of 'true metalheads' that like to beat their heads up and down.
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def not a genre coinage lets not be retarded.
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This just sounds like a poor version of Velvet Cacoon.
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Velvet cacoon you say?
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Review's cool, but it's a bit shorter than usual. I second the comment about black metal in Pakistan. Being Indian, it makes me lol that these guys are brown
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layering’s’
Fix this.
Review still suffers from the same exact problems as your other reviews (most notably grammatical
errors and horrid sentence structure and flow). It really makes me wonder whether you genuinely want
to improve or simply don't care.
The album/demo shows levels of contrast, ultimately in the form of sweet (supporting the
‘dreamy’ themes and taste in the music) with distortion and high gain
Read this sentence without the part in parentheses and you will realize it makes no sense. Levels of
contrast in the form of sweet? What are you even trying to tell us?
Sometimes described as (maybe even a genre coinage) “shoe gaze atmospheric black
metal”
You say this as if no band has tried mixing shoegaze with black metal before.
As well as having some interesting features to keep the listener entertained on this ‘voyage
of dreams’.
Fragment. Also try explaining what you mean by "voyage of dreams" so the rest of us know what you're
saying.
These features while prominent in theme may sometimes be lost
Needs punctuation.
It is better to hear everything that is going on with a decent set of headphones, rather than
miss out on some things that may go unnoticed with a ‘general listening’ or if listened to as
background noise.
Obviously people will miss out on details if they are listening to a record as background noise.
The album/demo shows levels
Choose one.
While there is a lot of features
While there are a lot of features...
obviously at the fore-front of the album
Forefront is one word, and if it is so obvious they are, why do you feel the need to tell us?
sections of ‘fogdance blue’
Capitalize song titles please.
and drone sounds and all have their place in Necktarium’s music
Why did you write "and all"? You only listed two things.
As this demo was built on random ideas and active thoughts, with a highlight on some
personal themes that represents the artists’ state of mind.
Fragment again. You write "as this demo was built on random ideas and active thoughts" but don't
elaborate on what effect that has on it. For example "As this demo was built on random ideas and
active thoughts, it _____________________________."
album is ‘Sweet, Pale Fingers’ a melodic track
Needs punctuation again.
some-what
Somewhat*
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Decent review. I liked your last one a bit better i think. I still will pos.
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Looks like Dev borrowed his magic marker to Crysis.
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@Blidsided, From crysis? Lent Dev?
@Crysis,
It really makes me wonder whether you genuinely want
to improve or simply don't care.
Fair go, I definitely want to improve these writing skills. There is a lot of reason for this "horrid grammar" and things that need to be untrained or simply removed from my writing styles. Namely in the form of my aural/music theory training that left a lot of bad habits and also contributed to some contextual/writing ideas that may either be misrepresented or out of context completely depending on whether readers know the terms of 'musicology' or rather anything i am going on about. It's all a matter of finding a balance of what works whilst removing this awkward and for the most part unhelpful writing style.
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'Capitalize song titles please.'
Some of the track titles themselves were not capitalized, i thought i would keep them as they were displayed by the artist. But if it will please Sputnik then I shall edit this.
The rest of your criticisms i have no explanations for, and will address acoordingly now. Thanks for taking the time again Crysis.
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Oh ok, if that's how the band has them then forget what I said. Just keep working with the constructive criticism people are giving you and you'll definitely get better.
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'Just keep working with the constructive criticism people are giving you and you'll definitely get better.'
That's the goal, it might just be annoying for readers to keep seeing this all the time, but i assure you that their is a development between reviews.
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The production whilst not of the highest quality matches the mood created on the album as a whole.
using "whist" in this sentence, while it works in essence, kind of makes this a bumpier read than it should. I'd change it back to "while"
but not high re-listen value.
try replay value
your attention to detail is good, you're definitely improving as a reviewer. you bring up some interesting ideas and give a good perspective for anyone looking into the album. some minor issues here and there with usage and grammar, but overall a good review. pos'd
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It's mainly grammer and some terminolodgy that let's me down. I sometimes use the musical concepts to help convey my points, but as Dev pointed out recently nobody knows what the fu*k i'm going on about.
Cheers Buddy!
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