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Absurd Minds - Serve or Suffer


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We are pleased to associate with Absurd Minds' music for 10 years now. They won recognition of fans by making "Brainwash" and "Deception" in 2000, showing their ability to create melodic electronic music with elements of EBM and reflective lyrics. A decade after their debut albums, having released a number of other records in the meantime, they are back with "Serve or Suffer", to remind about their musical potential. The band accomplished success at dark-alternative scene quite unexpectedly. Over the last 10 years some of excellent albums released by other artists seemed stylistically closer to what we can hear on "Serve or Suffer." What I mean are the bands like In Strict Confidence, De / Vision or Nitzer Ebb. Hence one could have had concerns about how band would cope with those associations and whether their new album would not be too much inspired by those performers.

While listening to the first songs from the album, you can see the similarities in the style of the competitive projects. These comparisons come off well for Absurd Minds because they derive the best elements, but also bring a lot from their own style. Album opens with modest "The King". More of a reminiscent of something from albums of bands such as De / Vision. Vibrating electro, with no outbursts and gentle singing of Stephen Grossmann.The best is still ahead of us. The first tacts of the next song "Human Bomb" sway to the rhythm of the melody, to calm down for a moment in "Interconnectedness." Reflecting, symphonic ballad. A pleasure for the ears, perfect as an interlude in-between wild dances at parties.
From the very beginning of the album we are pleased to hear a great diversity of sounds, which were composed in the pop beat, nicely complementing the songs, adding more spatial dimension. A good example would be "Pendulum Swing" and "Eternal Witness," which precede the title track. "Serve or Suffer" is one of the stronger moments on the album with memorable choruses.

The next three songs are very diversified. From an exemplary industrial atmosphere in the "S(hell)s", through a close-to-pop convention in "Countdown", to music inspired by the early years of the 90’s in "Tear it down." The tracks, at least two of them, do not appeal to me. I regard them as the worst as they seem to be a bit of redundant "filling" of a really good record. When something begins well, must end well.The last three songs create a coherent whole with the rest of the album, particularly in terms of pleasant electronic melodies. In the last of them Absurd Minds skillfully fused dynamic EBM with interesting additional effects and made heads move rhythmically to the beat of the music up to the last seconds.

After having listened to the entire album several times, I think it was worth waiting for Absurd Minds to open a new chapter in their work. "Serve or Suffer" is capable of making the listener move to the dynamic rhythm and well-mixed melodies, evoking positive emotions while additionally captivating with its well-thought lyrics. Nobody will get bored listening to it.


Tracklisting:

01. The King
02. Human Bomb
03. Interconnectedness
04. Deficit Mindset
05. Pendulum Swing
06. Eternal Witness
07. Serve Or Suffer
08. S[Hell]S
09. Countdown
10. Tear It Down
11. I Enter You
12. Somebody
13. Holier Than Thou
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Translator: murd
Add date: 2010-12-12 / Music reviews


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