Review: XSRY – 'Dream Vehicles'

XSRY
'Dream Vehicles'
CRL STUDIOS

Hailing from Canada, this electronic project has been releasing EPs since 2006 before finding a home on the CRL studios roster. The project headed by Aldo Ferrusi and blends electronic, industrial, ambient and metal elements together to create rich atmospheric music that walks the line between sci-fi soundscapes and dance-floor assaults. The band's full-length début on CRL Studios, 'Dream Vehicles' is a rough but promising collection that draws on influences such as MDFMK, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and even Pink Floyd.

The album kicks off with the darkly demented ambience of 'Stained With A Colour And Marked By A Number' which brings those 80s sci-fi tones to the fore right away. The album then plunges headlong into a slew of up tempos old school techno influenced ebm that is often relatively simple in construction, but nonetheless effective. Tracks such as 'The Black Hole', 'Morpheus Rising', 'The Witching Hour', and 'Eye' show off the best of the band's club potential. While the ambience of 'The Mysterious Stranger' and 'Turn A Stone' show the true depths of the ambition for the project.

The album has a pretty rough around he edges construction that isn't that particularly detracts from the song writing, but in more than a few places it does make it sound rushed and a little incomplete. Which is a shame as there is a hell of a lot of potential in the tracks here. On the upside though, with the minimalistic style of construction of the tracks there is no danger of the mix becoming over saturated, and as such it does convey the feeling that the band would be able to replicate this easily on stage.

'Dream Vehicles' has a lot of promise, even if the execution is a little off. There are some great club tracks here that are quite memorable, as well as some luscious ambient interludes that show a real skill behind the project. However there is work needed to really up their game and live up to their potential. Hopefully full-length album number two will smooth out those rough edges and give the music the polish it deserves.  

Posted in: dream vehicles,music,XSRY