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From: kinsler@hfwork1.tn.tudelft.nl
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Subject: Corrosion - promo CD review
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 13:26:10 +0100
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Somehow this review doesn't seem quite finished, largely because
the summary doesn't seem lively enough -- but here goes anyway...


CD review:  Corrosion 

Promotional CD sampler 2001

It would probably be best to avoid stereotyping, but I'll save effort
by giving in and labelling Corrosion a goth-rock band, which is, I
think, a pretty accurate description.  The CD starts with "Resurrection
Playground", which has lyrics along the lines suggested by the title. 
It's a good straight forward opening track which charges along at a
pace, but with no sign of the quasi-religious overtones that you might
get from, say, Inkubus Sukubus if they wrote a "Reincarnation
Playground".  There is a slightly squeaky synth part that cuts in a
couple of times as a counterpoint to the rest, a part which seems to me
to be crying out for replacement by a real brass section, but I suspect
goth trumpeters are even harder to find than real drummers.  

Next is "Cold Blooded Martyr", with a slow-building intro cutting into
a rather laid-back track, ... which then happens to contrast rather
with lyrics you might expect to be delivered with a little more anger:
"let the guilty burn in everlasting fire".  I'm not sure whether this
conflict is deliberate or not.  Either way would probably be fine ...
but the lack of an authoritative stamp perhaps lets the track down a
little.

Then on to "Temple of Secrets", breaking into a fragment of a guitar-
solo soon after the start, a flavour which returns throughout the
track; giving a nicely balanced feel. "Dream Stalker" is next, with
it's echoey-twang of an initial sound blending through to a
vocals-over- backing style.  The lyric "somebody wake me from this
dream before I drown" sums up the atmosphere of the track.

Second to last is a track with chunky guitar work and distorted vocals,
and the addition of some droning siren sounds to fill up the audio
spectrum.  This is "Shattered Fragments", a track that marches across
the landscape steadily, with brief thinner bits to add the necessary
dynamic range, but without ever losing the tracks sense of attack.

Last but not least, "Speak and Destroy", where Corrosion return to
trad-rock opening feel, but probably the best lyrics of all the tracks,
as they don't get lost in the ghetto of the undead/graveyard/blah
tendency, which perhaps the opening track did.

In general, the tracks here have got intelligible, non-repetitive
lyrics, and there's musical variation inside each track.  Perhaps the
non-fan might hear the selection as being a little lacking in variety;
but this would be unfair, and I think that the consistency that there
is works well given historical gigging bias of Corrosion's lineup. 
There's nothing obviously dance-floor friendly here, so we probably
won't be hearing much club-play unless they get a remix done, or the
DJ's get hit with a blizzard of requests.  On the evidence of this CD,
anyone with a liking for this sort of thing should be think of looking
out for the next gig.

#Paul
-- 
Paul Kinsler                               http://www.kinsler.org/paul/