Salt – Invisible (Digital Album – Ant-Zen)
Genre/Influences: Industrial, IDM, cinematographic, electro-ambient.
Background/Info: We all know Stefan Alt aka ‘Salt’ as the owner of Ant-Zen. The label fans know that from time to time Salt has released some of his own material, but mainly as a collaborator with other projects. After years of commitment he took the world by surprise unleashing this full length featuring 10 tracks. The album is also available on cassette format.
Content: This is a real surprising work, which is mainly characterized by its diversity. It all sounds a bit like Salt put all kind of music genres we’ve been used to hearing on Ant-Zen and the different sub-labels on one album. Nothing seems impossible and “Invisible” rapidly appears to be a fascinating sonic travel throughout industrial- and ambient music, but also touching ground with IDM and even vague techno influences. I also have to mention passages featuring heavy drones and one track, which sounds as a noise-soundscape. There are also numerous spoken samplings running through the work.
+ + + : There are so much great and visionary bands on Ant-Zen, but the ‘Master’ of the label in person shows how good music has to sound. The diversity of the work rapidly appears to be one of the main strengths. It’s a contemporary industrial format featuring a few cool surprises. I have to mention “Feeling Connector” featuring Noiseconcrete x 3CHI5 revealing an exciting sensual format of industrial music. “After Diner Dip” has been made with impressive effects. Another attention grabber is the more technoid-like “Fear Of Yellow” which appears to be a potential club-track. Last, but not least I also recommend “Unhidden Content” for its slow rhythmic mixed with EBM influences and experimental music.
– – – : Ant-Zen has recently announced to move on as a digital label only. When I hear such a well-crafted and enjoyable work I regret it has been not released on CD format. Content-wise I can imagine some listeners will maybe have a problem with the album’s versatility.
Conclusion: “Invisible” makes me think to an imaginary sonic labyrinth of industrial music. It’s an accomplished piece of music, which creates a sonic bridge between different industrial sub-genres.
Best songs: “Fear Of Yellow”, “Feeling Connector featuring Noiseconcrete x 3CHI5”, “Beneath The Skin”, “Unhidden Content”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.facebook.com/stefan.alt
Label: www.ant–zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official
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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.
