Mechanical Moth – Mirrors (Album – Scanner / Dark Dimensions)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, Electro-Pop, Wave-Pop.
Format: Digital, 2CD.
Background/Info: “Mirrors” is the seventh full length album by German formation Mechanical Moth. Four years after their previous album, the band became a duo seeing the female singer Ivy joining in again. She previously contributed to the “Rebirth”-album (2009). This album is a double disc featuring the same eleven songs on each disc, but one disc features female vocals and the other disc male ones.
Content: Ladies first so the first disc is featuring female vocals. It feels a bit like a band that has reinvented its own sound. The sound treatments are pretty heavy, some passages being very dark while other ones are carried by bouncing kicks. The female vocals inject a sensual- and a graceful touch on top of the composition. It’s a diversified composition, which sound-wise also reveals a pure transcendental passage in “Extinction Theory”.
The other disc featuring male vocals sounds clearly different. It’s more into a Dark-Electro approach, the cavernous vocals creating a totally different effect, but Mechanical Moth also brought some little, but essential differences in sound production.
+ + + : The concept is original and it’s just amazing to see how different –male & female, singers can put their stamp on a music composition. But you also can hear the little differences in sound production, which have been clearly made for both singers. I personally prefer the female-edit for the impressive sound treatments, which sound a bit as a contrast to the sensual vocals. Songs like “Stuck”, “La Petite Mort”, “Animals” and “Extinction Theory” reflect some magical moments. But on the other side I also noticed a few songs from the male-edit, which are much better. This disc is harder and darker. I recommend listening to “Pain With No Face”, which is maybe not the most powerful piece, but revealing a great progression.
– – – : The record has something pretty confusing, maybe a bit schizophrenic, but in the end it will catch a wider audience.
Conclusion: “Mirrors” has inspired Mechanical Moth to achieve a great concept, trying to find the ultimate harmony between female- and male fronted songs. It’s without a shadow of a doubt my favorite opus of the band.
Best songs: “La Petite Mort (Female)”, “Extinction Theory (Female)”, “Stuck (Female)”, “Animals (Female)”, “Pain With No Face (Male)”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.mechanicalmoth.de / www.facebook.com/mechanicalmoth
Label: www.darkdimensions.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
