Eclectika - The Last Blue Bird
Asylum Ruins Records - ASYLCD001 - JUly 4, 2007
By George Grant
Cross pollination of genres is quickly becoming all the rage. Some bands succeed in blending the best moments of the genres, which results in a great and innovated release. However, there are times where bands just totally miss the mark. Eclectikas debut album The Last Blue Bird is a perfect example of a band taking too many influences and missing the mark completely.
Overall, Eclectika comes off as a band that is lost. Theres no clear direction for the music. The ideas jump from one part to another never giving the listener a thin thread to connect the pieces. This choppy composing leaves the listener forgotten and struggling to grasp on to something. The best comparison I could give to the music is with the albums title track. The use of clean female vocals over the plodding music reminded me of Hollenthon. Much like the Austrian band, Eclectika relies heavily on their tremolo picked guitar riffs. However, many times throughout the album the band will quickly transition to standard thrash metal rhythms, and totally drop the momentum they were building.
As you could imagine, the weaknesses on this album are too many to count. The one that really stands out are the screamed vocals. The reverberation and delivery of these screamed vocals are borderline comical. Luckily, Eclectika uses growled vocals largely throughout the album, and if they did get rid of the screamed vocals altogether the album would certainly be a better listen. Another thing that bothered me with this release was the ambient instrumentals: Les Arcanes du Biel-etre, Asylum 835 and the overly long Behind Antares. These songs really did nothing to help the album. Compared to the rest of the music played on The Last Blue Bird, these tracks just seemed thrown in there to fill space.
In the end, this record is seriously not worth your time. Given that its a debut album, there is a chance for Eclectika to pick up the pieces and start anew, because honestly, thats the only hope they have.
Official Eclectika Website
Official Asylum Ruins Records Website
Asylum Ruins Records - ASYLCD001 - JUly 4, 2007
By George Grant
Cross pollination of genres is quickly becoming all the rage. Some bands succeed in blending the best moments of the genres, which results in a great and innovated release. However, there are times where bands just totally miss the mark. Eclectikas debut album The Last Blue Bird is a perfect example of a band taking too many influences and missing the mark completely.
Overall, Eclectika comes off as a band that is lost. Theres no clear direction for the music. The ideas jump from one part to another never giving the listener a thin thread to connect the pieces. This choppy composing leaves the listener forgotten and struggling to grasp on to something. The best comparison I could give to the music is with the albums title track. The use of clean female vocals over the plodding music reminded me of Hollenthon. Much like the Austrian band, Eclectika relies heavily on their tremolo picked guitar riffs. However, many times throughout the album the band will quickly transition to standard thrash metal rhythms, and totally drop the momentum they were building.
As you could imagine, the weaknesses on this album are too many to count. The one that really stands out are the screamed vocals. The reverberation and delivery of these screamed vocals are borderline comical. Luckily, Eclectika uses growled vocals largely throughout the album, and if they did get rid of the screamed vocals altogether the album would certainly be a better listen. Another thing that bothered me with this release was the ambient instrumentals: Les Arcanes du Biel-etre, Asylum 835 and the overly long Behind Antares. These songs really did nothing to help the album. Compared to the rest of the music played on The Last Blue Bird, these tracks just seemed thrown in there to fill space.
In the end, this record is seriously not worth your time. Given that its a debut album, there is a chance for Eclectika to pick up the pieces and start anew, because honestly, thats the only hope they have.
Official Eclectika Website
Official Asylum Ruins Records Website
