Review Summary: Forget what you know
A creeping feeling itched at the back of my mind as I started my prescribed journey into Corpo-Mente. There was something incredibly familiar about the whole endeavor, and not something so far back that I was able to pluck the notion out from my memory. It wasn’t so much the tone, but the wavering, distorted intricacy of the instrumentation. Come to think of it, the vocals were pretty recognizable as well. It took me longer than I care to admit for the name Igorrr to pop into my head, but once it did, it never left.
And what does this overlong anecdote have to do with anything, really? Well, it certainly highlights the two halves at work here, acting both for and against the album.
Corpo-Mente in of itself seems to exhibit a strong desire to be serious; a fear of laughter in the face of its previous lineage permeates the work. And yet, very often the music is startlingly similar to that of Igorrr, to the point where the parallels are unforgettable. Still there are times where the music is just too insane to be taken completely seriously. While the strange instrumentation is never exactly at odds with the more emotional beats, on tracks like “Ort” and “Saeill” they never quite reach a harmony, failing to create an equally exciting contrast of feelings and ideas as were exhibited in the frenetic chaos of
Savage Sinusoid. There are moments such as the opener “Scylla” which incorporates neither the emotion or weirdness well, creating something dull rather than conflicted.
That being said, there are a huge number of moments that hit the nail on the head. Far more often than not actually. A great majority of
Corpo-Mente contains beautiful music which does a fantastic job of elevating the electronic base influences to dramatic levels thanks to an enhanced presence of acoustic and orchestral elements. Just listen to the gentle strums of “Fia,” or the lovely but very real frustrations of “Dorma,” which uses the angelic female vocals of Rïcïnn to their ultimate advantage. These vocals are breathtaking throughout, and often hoist the music’s dramatic ambitions, but even they feel a bit samey at times, hitting similar melodies and notes throughout without always finding a distinction from track to track.
For all my griping, it might seem like my rating is a bit too high. But that just isn’t true. Honestly there are no bad tracks here, and aside from the occasional voiceless minority, even the tracks that cannot escape from Igorrr’s shadow display an exciting bilateral conflict between the serious angle of the album and inherently unserious nature of Igorrr’s constant tonal shifts. It’s almost as interesting as when they get it exactly right, but not quite. Regardless, there’s a huge stretch where they do get it perfectly and plainly right, and it’s worth exploring just for those blissful moments. It’s something that will grow and impress on you the more you delve into it, something that I’m even fonder of ending this review than I was starting it. So do yourself a favor and dive in.
It’s probably best if you forget what you already know.
