Review: Volt 9000 - 'Conopoly'

VOLT9000 

'Conopoly' 

ARTOFFACT 

The fourth album from these Canadian futurepop artists takes a darker tone to the last three releases, with a firm tone on what is wrong with the world.  Don't be fooled by the rather cheesy title, these guys mean business and have seemed to have gone through an upgrade.  There are clear influences that bleed through each track, 'Tower' being a somewhat nod to Skinny Puppy and 'Pipedreams' sounding like Mortiis trying to get the cartridges on his Sega Megadrive to work!

Standout tracks from this creepy offering include 'Echodrone' (a song that could fit quite well a "bad guy song" in a Disney film), 'Toybox' (catchy and cute with a progressive bridge that envy's V.A.C) and the haunting 'House of Cards'.

There are some tracks that seem to hark back to the old school days of the industrial genre. The title track 'Conopoly' has a great clockwork motion in it's intro that reminds one of the experimental days of Coil and Throbbing Gristle, yet updated for the 21st century,  as well as the interlude 'Speak and Spell'.  In a genre that is over saturated with hardstyle and dubstep influences, it's refreshing to hear something so muted and yet so modern at the same time.

This team have shown their colours in this album.  From a circus of melodies and hypnotic lyrics, to the heavy percussion that seems to be ripped straight from an 8-bit nightmare, it's not a dancefloor filler or is it an instant classic, but it's perfect for if you plan to have a retro night in with your old consoles.

Posted in: Conopoly,music,Volt9000