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.
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