Review Summary: A truly outstanding piece of art, something that is easily accessible to anyone that might be looking at a ticket towards neo-classical music, or classical in general.
Duality is In the Nursery’s seventh studio album, released in 1992. To be short, this is easily one of In The Nursery’s most profound piece of work that represents how deep and soulful they can truly get. It’s truly a magnificent, emotionally uplifting, spellbinding, and captivating album that does not have a single weak spot whatsoever. This album is not one of those albums that is unnecessarily long and “drags on seemingly forever” going nowhere with little interest in between, this is absolutely beautiful music that is not only a surreal experience when listening to, but also vividly romantic. Luscious, dreamy piano lines and gorgeous violins/violas/orchestral setups pretty much drive the album, as with the spoken word samples that could easily trigger an emotional state within you.
At the sound angle, this album is closely resembled as “neo classical electronic” music, along with a symphonic genre of play, and let me make this clear; it’s some the greatest I’ve set my ears on. There are many multi-layered, complex orchestras and different instrumentation that are altogether perfectly detailed and crisp. A lot of deep messages within the songs give it the emotional scale too, the male vocalist whispering yet speaking passionately about what he’s trying to convey are both a huge aspect on this album.
At times though this album can actually become a bit intense, musically though. The music is so sublime and wonderful that it could easily implant emotions within you. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing though, it’s just pretty much unreal how they were able to make music as delicate as they have with this album. When listening to this album from start to finish, it’s truly an orgasmic experience that is like nothing I've heard in my lifetime. Particularly I found this to be with the self-titled track ‘Duality’, a hypnotizing work that is consumed primarily by steady, intense violin buildups, sometimes one right after the another. As well as militaristic percussion that overlays it, this is by far one of the greatest on the album. ‘Thorns’ is more friendly though and not as tear jerking, it’s rather upbeat yet still maintains that sensitive style, and the song has an enthralling piano/organ that sounds like some god or medieval beast is emerging back from the dead. That song is also one of my personal (if not my favorite) from the album as well.
To be honest, I’m almost positively certain that this album is accessible enough that you will be left in a state of awe right afterwards, or even after a specific song has finished. There’s an overwhelming sense of joy upon this album, so much enthusiasm that could be targeted to nearly anyone, even if you hate this type of music. Even if you seemingly hate anything “classical”, trust me, give this album a try and it could change your mind with it. This is
not cheesy classical music or (from what I've heard), tedious “20 minute or so long tracks”, these songs are truly brilliant pieces of work that I’m still flabbergasted as to how they were able to write something as beautiful as this. Give this album a try, it won’t disappoint.
Best songs:
Duality
Thorns
Corruption
Always
Red Harvest
