Review: Adoration Destroyed – 'Ritual Deconstruction'

ADORATION DESTROYED
'Ritual Deconstruction'
CLEOPATRA RECORDS

Adoration Destroyed return with the new companion EP to their stunning debut 'Ritual Damage', in the form of 'Ritual Deconstruction'. A blend of new tracks and remixes courtesy of The Rain Within, Ego Likeness, and Interface, the EP picks up nicely where the LP left off with their blend of dark and sensual synthpop, darkwave, industrial, and classic ebm intact but this time with more pronounced guitars adding a little more grit to their sound.

The three original tracks 'Timelapse', sounds great as it slithers out of the speakers with the electronic bass and guitars adding a lot of power and ferocity to their sound. While 'Fingerbleed', and 'Never Mine Redux' keep up the bass and rhythm-heavy combination that was the cornerstone of the debut albums to great effect.

The three remixes all add very different spins to the originals with The Rain Within's take on 'Torn Apart' reimagined through their own retro-flavoured sound. The reworking of 'Voices Carry' carries on this retro theme with a dark synthpop meets old school ebm vibe coming together for a great dance tune. The final remix sees the band's lead single 'Carnal Dirge' radically deconstructed into a techno club banger by interface.

As with the previous two releases this EP has a crisp but slightly retro-tinged sound running throughout, though the remixes and guitar-heavy opener add a big shot of variety into what is on offer. But in terms of production the EP holds it together despite the sometimes radical shifts in sound and style and still presents a relatively unified whole.

This is a nice release from the band that begins to build on the foundation of the previous album. It may be a short and sweet follow-up but it does enough to hint at where the sound of the next full-length release could go, as well as provide some dynamic remixes for DJs to get their teeth into.  

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Review: Adoration Destroyed – 'Ritual Damage'

ADORATION DESTROYED 

'Ritual Damage' 

CLEOPATRA RECORDS 

The dark and sensual electronic pop act Adoration Destroyed return on the heels of their 'carnal Dirge' single with 'Ritual Damage', a full-length release that blends modern edm influences with hints of synthpop, darkwave, industrial, and classic ebm. Spearheaded by Erik Gustafson of 16 Volt fame, the band are quickly and quite rightly making a name for themselves. But will the album live up to the hype?

Thankfully, yes it does. The band have intelligently mixed catchy and dance friendly tracks with left-field flair to create a bass-heavy and rhythmically pleasing core to the album that will undoubtedly find favour in the club scene, but also lends itself to more intimate listening experiences.

Songs such as 'Here To Bleed', 'Torn Apart', 'Carnal Dirge', 'Last', and 'In Elegant Decay' are slow, methodical, sexy and powerful as they combine steady beats, deep bass, catchy melodies, and emotive vocals to create a dark but very approachable backbone. While the likes of 'Never Mine', 'Nothing Left', and 'Both Of Me' kick things up just a bit for a heavier dose of the band's intentions.

The biggest pleasure has to be the cover of Marilyn Manson's 'Coma White', a song that has been given a few overhauls by alternative electronic bands, but Adoration Destroyed comfortably make it their own.

The two remixes courtesy of 16 Volt, and Mr. Kitty add a little extra to the proceedings with 16 Volt's remix of 'Here To Bleed' seeing a rather cool stripped-back blend of edm and techno. While Mr. Kitty gives 'In Elegant Decay' a very nice and futuristic synthpop overhaul.

The production is excellent, with a modern but slightly retro-tinged flavour running throughout. But the songs, despite not varying greatly in pace, maintain a steady and methodical resolve that grabs your attention and doesn't let go until the very end.

This is a very promising album that hints a great things from Adoration Destroyed. There are points where the temptation would have been to add some variation in tempo would have injected something a little different. But the album doesn't actually need that, and the band have instead focussed on song-craft and honing their sound into a strong one, which definitely shines through here. Hopefully we'll see more releases from the band sooner rather than later.  

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Review: Adoration Destroyed – 'Carnal Dirge'

ADORATION DESTROYED
'Carnal Dirge'
CLEOPATRA RECORDS

from the mind of Erik Gustafson of 16 Volt fame comes the dark electronic pop act Adoration Destroyed release their sexy new single 'Carnal Dirge' on Cleopatra Records. Blending modern edm influences with elements of synthpop, darkwave, industrial, and ebm, the band present a fresh, dark and sensually dance friendly sound that will appeal to fans of classic acts as well as newcomers to the genre.

The title track is a smouldering blend of steady dance beats, grooving bass and rhythmic dance leads that will play well to dancefloors around the world. The second track is a cover of Til Tuesday's 'Voices Carry' which has a great rhythmic intro before going into a nice bass-heavy, dark dance anthem. The single is completed with a remix of the title track from their previous single, 'In Elegant Decay', courtesy of Cynical Existence which adds a nice blend of harsh and melodic to the original .

The production is tight. It is dark, dance-friendly and the songs sound nice and modern while keeping an air of classic appeal. To be honest though it is the level of skill that you would expect from a project featuring members of 16 Volt and Black December.

This is a great single featuring three great tracks with instant appeal. The future looks bright for this dark electro-pop project. The trio have the skill and the songs have the quality they need to grab people's attention. Adoration Destroyed will be one to watch.  

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