First Aid 4 Souls – I Am The Night (Album – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: Cinematic-EBM, Epic-EBM.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Hungarian work addict István Gazdag strikes back with an new- and conceptual album of his First Aid 4 Souls project. He renewed the experience working with his compatriot ‘Mortum’ -who lives in the US and you might know from his own project Human Vault. The concept of the work can be summarized as Soundtracks that have been composed for paintings by international artists.
Content: First Aid 4 Souls will take its fans by surprise. The work which is often pretty EBM-like -and reminding me of FLA for its complexity, has been adapted into a heavy orchestral approach. It accentuates the Cinematic sound of the work and might remind you of Stiff Miners and Parzival. The vocals are totally fitting with the Epic-EBM format. The opus features 13 songs plus 4 instrumental bonus cuts.
+ + + : István Gazdag is clearly not repeating himself and definitely took me by surprise. I think there’s not enough bands dealing with this kind of sound. It’s an original approach but still resulting from a creative process. Mixing elements of EBM and Epic music together is not the most accessible kind of music but I was deeply impressed. You clearly can feel the Soundtrack approach and I really like the concept behind the paintings. First Aid 4 Soul in a way reinvented its own sound. The writing is intelligent and the sound extremely elaborated. There are several great songs but I want to mention “Your Symbols Will Fall” and the instrumental “The Well Of Bones” featuring a Psychedelic touch on top.
– – – : I’m totally fond of the instrumental tracks at the final part of the album but it would have been better spreading them all over the work. Despite this great composition, it’s not exactly the easiest Electro format to catch a wider audience.
Conclusion: First Aid 4 Souls has achieved a wider artistic concept by bringing music and painting together. The Orchestral-EBM format is a successful fusion getting my full support.
Best songs: “Your Symbols Will Fail”, “The Well Of Bones”, “I Am The Night”, “The Light In Us Was Darkness”, “Not Enough”, “Compromised”.
Rate: 9.
Artist: www.facebook.com/First-Aid-4-Souls-180876236297
Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘I Am The Night’.
About First Aid 4 Souls
First Aid 4 Souls is a Budapest-based electronic project founded in 2007 by István Gazdag, evolving from his earlier industrial and EBM outfit Vacuum. The project has worked with rotating collaborators and guest vocalists, and has touched industrial, EBM, dark ambient and new wave influences.
Early releases appeared via Some Bizarre, Electro Arc and Poison Girls Records before Gazdag joined the Belgian label Alfa Matrix. Milestones include “Deathstep” in 2011 and the “Beyond The Galaxy” era, later revisited under Alfa Matrix. The collaboration with US-based singer Mortum of Human Vault began with “Keep This World Empty” in 2019.
“I Am The Night”, the album reviewed here, continued that partnership and was issued by Alfa Matrix in 2022, with the bonus version dated 13 May 2022 on Bandcamp. In 2025 the project shifted sound again for “Progenitrix”, a post-punk and darkwave album built around a long list of female guest vocalists including Aux Animaux, Emke of Black Nail Cabaret, Marita Volodina of Stridulum and Kriistal Ann of Paradox Obscur.
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