To complete the aO trilogy of reviews!
This album was released way back in 1999 before what I consider their commercial 'breakthrough' albums of 'AMGOD' and 'Cypher'. aO brought out this gem of an album without any warning - sure their debut 'Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts' was good but it was clear, having just acquired a new contract, they were playing it safe with their brand of Dimmu-cloning popular at the time. And while their later albums wandered too far into industrial/technopop realms than for my liking, SICO remains their most creative and best effort to date. The music is best described as symphonic synth-drenched ambient BM. The whole album feels like you're wandering through a bizarre, sinister dream, and the lyrics complement these thoughts nicely (especially with song titles like 'I wish I was pregnant' and 'acid sex and marble teeth you-phoria'). And they are effective too - images of two-headed swans and children drowning in acquariums still enter my mind when listening to this. The thick, dense keyboards and wall of guitar just draw you in and don't let go. The songs themselves switch between atmospheric and aggression but are perfectly balanced and all stand alone as individual songs. Although this is a double album, CD2 isn't worth much attention as it is a bunch of ambient tracks put together in a few hours.
A solid album and I still believe there has been nothing as original and out-there in the BM scene since.
This album was released way back in 1999 before what I consider their commercial 'breakthrough' albums of 'AMGOD' and 'Cypher'. aO brought out this gem of an album without any warning - sure their debut 'Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts' was good but it was clear, having just acquired a new contract, they were playing it safe with their brand of Dimmu-cloning popular at the time. And while their later albums wandered too far into industrial/technopop realms than for my liking, SICO remains their most creative and best effort to date. The music is best described as symphonic synth-drenched ambient BM. The whole album feels like you're wandering through a bizarre, sinister dream, and the lyrics complement these thoughts nicely (especially with song titles like 'I wish I was pregnant' and 'acid sex and marble teeth you-phoria'). And they are effective too - images of two-headed swans and children drowning in acquariums still enter my mind when listening to this. The thick, dense keyboards and wall of guitar just draw you in and don't let go. The songs themselves switch between atmospheric and aggression but are perfectly balanced and all stand alone as individual songs. Although this is a double album, CD2 isn't worth much attention as it is a bunch of ambient tracks put together in a few hours.
A solid album and I still believe there has been nothing as original and out-there in the BM scene since.
