Review Summary: "In the future, nobody drops the bass."
I'm still trying, at this point, to comprehend why exactly Knife Party's latest EP left me feeling cold. I mean, I knew exactly what I was in for; generic house/EDM beats mixed with annoying as hell voice samples and synth riffs laden with effects that can cause a headache if listened to at the right volume (and if loud enough, a migraine). However, having listened to their previous EP,
Rage Valley (which I also hated), at least there was some novelty in it. Here, I can't understand for the life of me why anyone would enjoy music that sounds as if Swire and McGrillen got super lazy and just let their computers do the work. While I streamed the EP on SoundCloud, the comments that kept popping up included stuff like: "amazinggggg!" "epic!!!" "the wait is over!" "knife party r da best!", and the majority of those comments came from the first ten seconds of the song(s)
alone.
Of course, it's easy to see why Swire and McGrillen went for this type of market; it's the "in" thing nowadays, and even the boys themselves blatantly admitted it. That, right there, should be an immediate red flag. And as lame as
Rage Valley was, at least that album has some variety. Not very much, of course, as the songs often were split between dubstep and electro house; but at least the last song was mildly fun to listen to. Not much of the same can be said here. All four songs sound exactly the same and blend into each other at once; none of them sound even remotely compelling or "fun". They're all boring as hell, uninspired, and so obviously produced on machines. The intro to "Power Glove" shows some promise, but then suddenly begins repeating over and over before the migraine synth kicks in almost half way through and delivers an uninspiring riff that loops over and over until your head explodes. And this is the album as a whole; uninspiring, exhausting to listen to, only appeals to the lowest common denominator.Â*
The only thing else mildly amusing about
Haunted House are the voice samples at the beginning of "Internet Friends". They're pretty hilarious and consist of a woman asking questions such as "Do you think I'm hot?" "Why won't you talk to me???" "You're probably ***ing some other slut, aren't you?" "Are you gay?". And of course, you've heard the story; it goes downhill and doesn't evolve. Which sums up my feelings about
Haunted House as a whole. It's clear evidence that Swire and McGrillen just don't care anymore. All they seem to have going for them is begin another duo of musicians sacrificing talent for the type of sound hat will get them played on every top 40 station nowadays.Â*I'd close this review with hope for a Pendulum reunion, but we all know that's not gonna happen for at least ten years.
