Review: Cryogenic Echelon – 'Taste Of Failure'

CRYOGENIC ECHELON 

'Taste Of Failure' 

STATIC DISTORTION RECORDS 

Cryogenic Echelon are not ones to rest on their laurels. Having only released their retrospective collection 'Anthology' back in July, the band are back with a remix companion featuring a brand new track. Sometimes remix albums can leave you pretty cold and bored as existing club hits are often simply recycled into new club hits. But every now and then there are those that you genuinely look forward to. And this is one of those rare occasions.

The antipodean project is only a few short years old, but they have already built up an impressive reputation as an innovative and exciting act. Which in turn has seen Cryogenic Echelon in demand for remix duties. The quality of their remixes has once again paid off as artists such as Grendel, The .invalid, Machine Rox, Ctrl Alt Del and Draconic Elimination Projects get in on the action on 'Taste Of Failure'.

The only new track on the album is the mind-bending 'Full Throttle'. Glitchy, distorted synths, meld with robotic and distorted vocals. Hard dance beats power the track forward, and the icing comes in the form of the melodic female vocals that hang above the distortion. It is a great mix of harsh and melodic that gives nods to the likes of Juno Reactor and Comaduster.

The remixes are all fairly club orientated for the most part. Although there are some interesting contributions from the likes of Machine Rox who adds some heavy guitar to 'Soulstorm', Ctrl Alt Del's dubstep-heavy take on the same track, and Draconic Elimination Project's slowly building version of 'Elixr'.

There is plenty of variation to keep both fans and DJs happy with the remixers offering up ebm, techno, dubstep and industrial rock versions of the original songs. That alone would be enough to keep the band's name in circulation for a while. But 'Full Throttle' is the real star of the show. It's another strong original track that serves to whet appetites for another full-length studio album.

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Review: Cryogenic Echelon – 'Anthology'

CRYOGENIC ECHELON 

'Anthology' 

CRL STUDIOS 

Antipodean electro artist Gerry Hawkins, AKA Cryogenic Echelon, has been on a role lately since poking his head out of the southern ocean. A string of innovative albums and numerous remix credits has seen his stock rise quickly in the global electro scene. Now hot on the heels of his last release, 2012's 'Pandora & Persephone' EP comes the retrospective 'Anthology'. The album pulls together remixes of Cryogenic Echelon's most popular tracks and features new songs and collaborations with a host of up-and-coming talent.

Hawkins' penchant for blending genres such as pop, electro, dubstep and drum and bass is as fresh and invigorating as ever and shows that, despite what seems like a huge workload, he shows no signs of burning out any time soon.

Each song is a club hit waiting to happen. Whether its the thumping ebm of 'Indigo Children', the slow and menacing likes of the dubstep addled 'The Hours Between', the classical tinged craziness of 'Common Wealth', or the hellish strains of 'The Lizard King' each track and collaboration feels distinct and unique but identifiably Cryogenic Echelon. Even the three remixes included feel as though they’re part of the whole album rather than simply being tacked on to the end of the track list for the sake of it.

There is an awful lot going on here both musically and vocally and it's nice that there is that sense of continuity through each song. The meticulous construction and sheer elegance of the songwriting is carried on through to the production, and as a result each songs sounds like both a floor-filler and a must for any live rendition.

Cryogenic Echelon as an entity has grown very fast to become one exciting project. The heavy use of collaborations gives the intricate architecture of Hawkins music a more communal feel in a scene where egos are sometimes left unchecked. 'Anthology' is a great album that, like his previous material, shows that an electronic musician can appeal to fans of multiple genres. And with a follow-up album already on the cards it looks like Hawkins will be hammering that message home for a while yet.

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Cryogenic Echelon sign with Static Distortion Records

Australia's Cryogenic Echelon have announced a new deal with UK-based electro label Static Distortion Records for a brand new album scheduled for later this year.

Static Distortion is currently home to a diverse range of artists such as Cease2Xist, MiXE1, Ghost in the Static and Digital Deformation.

Cryogenic Echelon's current album 'Anthology' is available to purchase now and features collaborations with the likes of MiXE1, Biomechanimal, [Aphelion] and Studio-X. For more information on the band please visit their official website.

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Review: Cryogenic Echelon - 'Pandora & Persephone'

CRYOGENIC ECHELON
'Pandora & Persephone'
VERA RECORDS

Cryogenic Echelon's last full-length release 'Antipode' put Gerry Hawkins on the international map as an innovative and original electronic artist. The follow-on EP unsurprisingly picks up where 'Antipode' left off for another round of dance floor anthems that blend dark electro, trip hop, ebm and dubstep into a unique and effective formula.

The album kicks off with 'The Myth', which is a subtle introduction that revolves around heavily vocoded spoken lyrics. The intro track provides a nice counterbalance to the big beat orientated title track which features soaring melodies and a great vocal performance from Eugene Nesci. 'Feels Like A Dream' featuring Ascension EX has a classic and somewhat disjointed dark electro feel underpinned by some strong grooving synth bass and jaunty beats which are deployed to great effect. 'Persephone' featuring Vprojekt breaks out the bass in a big way with a slower and sexier feel with it's bump and grind pace. 'You Will Love Him (More Than You Love Me)' on the other hand is a great dance instrumental that ups the bpm and really lets Hawkins play around and have fun. Finally the four remixes of 'Pandora' see Modulate, XP8, Uberbyte and Vicious Alliance each giving the song a dramatic reworking that only adds to the dance floor appeal of this EP.

Once again Gerry Hawkins proves that Cryogenic Echelon is a name synonymous with technical excellence. Each song is a potential dance floor hit and wonderfully crafted from conception to completion. As with 'Antipode', this EP will quite rightly appeal to electronic fans right across the spectrum.

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