Reality’s Despair – Perfidious Depopulation (Album – Insane Records)
Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Belgian solo-project Reality’s Despair was set up more than twenty years ago. After numerous self-released productions and a hiatus of numerous years, Reality’s Despair struck back and even signed a deal with the Russian label, Insane Records to unleash the official debut album.
Content: “Perfidious Depopulation” features 11 songs plus 3 reworked (older) cuts. This work will appeal to EBM lovers and reveals a quite diversified spectrum of EBM influences. From pure old-school EBM reminding me of DAF, Orange Sector and co towards more sophisticated writing à la Calva Y Nada, the common thread between the songs is the 90s driven source of inspiration. An essential element in the sound is the melodic touch of the strings. The vocals were mainly produced in a ghost-like way.
+ + + : This work will ravish EBM nostalgic from the 90s. “The 509th” is clearly reminiscent of the sophistication of Calva Y Nada. It’s a brilliant song, which according to me reveals a true potential. But “1952 Flyby” is something totally different and into retro EBM à la Orange Sector and co. And here again Reality’s Despair reveals great writing skills. I also have to mention some of the reworked songs, but especially “Cytokine Storm – Club Edit” is worthy of examination.
– – – : A few tracks like “Distance Kills Existence” and “A Shadow In The Fog” have something more inhibited and that’s not exactly the best part of the album. I also get the feeling Reality’s Despair is still in search of its own sound and EBM format, the album being pretty versatile.
Conclusion: This work is an antidote to innovation, but it’s a cool retro-inspired EBM production.
Best songs: “The 509th”, “1952 Flyby”, “Cytokine Storm – Club Edit”, “Our Future Is Cold – Extended”, “Evil Intent”, “Oasphe Collapsing”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.facebook.com/realitysdespair
Label: www.insane-records.com / www.facebook.com/InsaneRecordsEU Read the news on ‘Perfidious Depopulation’.
About Reality’s Despair
Reality’s Despair is a one-man dark electro and EBM project from Antwerp, Belgium, formed in 1997. It self-released the album “Evil Intent” in 1998, the EP “Invasion” in 1999 and the album “They Come In Peace” in 2000, all on CDr, after which the project stopped for eighteen years.
It restarted in 2018 with a run of self-released digital tracks, among them “Catoptromancy” and “Like Boötes Void” in 2019 and “The 509th”, “The Cold Room” and “Cytokine Storm” in 2020. Several of those titles reappear in reworked form on the album reviewed above.
“Perfidious Depopulation” was released on 17 April 2021 and was the project’s first record for Insane Records. A follow-up album arrived the next year, covered on Side-Line as Belgian dark electro act Reality’s Despair back with an all new album: ‘Normative Conformity’.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
