Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Body-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: X Marks The Pedwalk this year celebrates its thirty fifth anniversary. Sevren Ni-Arb and Estefania also released the newest opus of their sonic brainchild which is the eleventh album in history.

Content: Two years after “Transformation” XMTP moves on exploring Electro-Pop paths. The songs are supported with wafting atmospheres, creating a deeply space-like effect. A few ‘harder’ cuts remind us this band always has had something to do with dancefloor music. These tracks are carried by solid, EBM-orientated bass lines. Estefania remains the main singer although Sevren Ni-Arb is still singing on a few songs.

+ + + : Hard to say if I prefer this album to “Transformation” which I personally considered as the most accomplished production from the band’s Electro-Pop era. I like this new work for its subtle arrangements and global sound treatments. You can hear it in a few details and that’s precisely what makes this band different from the ‘average’ Electro-Pop formations. XMTP is not dealing with catchy melodies but privileged the atmospheric side or accentuated songs with darker bass lines and danceable kicks. “Kill Me Tonight”, “Yesterdays” and “Into The Light” are brilliant exposures of the composer’s talent.  

– – – : The album only features 9 songs and that’s maybe a bit too short. I’m not that fond of the ‘softest’ cuts which however inject diversity in the tracklist.

Conclusion: X Marks The Pedwalk remains a warrant for creative and exciting Electro-Pop music. “New / End” is a styled piece of Electronics.

Best songs: “Into The Light”, “Kill Me Tonight”, “Yesterdays”, “Wonder”, “Miss Me”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.x-mtp.com / www.facebook.com/xmarksthepedwalk

Label: www.meshwork-music.com / www.facebook.com/meshwork.music Read the news on ‘New / End’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Body-pop, ambient-pop.

Background/Info: X Marks The Pedwalk became one of the main EBM formations during the 90s and struck back in 2010 after a break of 15 years. The second life of the band set up and driven by Sevren Ni-Arb is quite different in sound and influences, XMTP becoming more pop-minded and experimenting with ambient atmospheres. “Secrets” is the ninth album to date and the fourth one since the band’s return. “Secrets” also is the first XMTP work on the band’s very own label Meshwork Music.

Content: I think to might say that “Secrets” moves on there where previous albums stopped. We get a rather similar electro-atmospheric composition empowered by harder elements, which might remember the EBM past of the band, and achieved with pop ingredients. XMTP is first of all electronic, but doesn’t really belong to one specific genre.

The main evolution on “Secrets” is the more important role of Estefania. She’s doing the female vocals since the 90s, but never became the main singer. It now seems to be the other way round. Sevren Ni-Arb is still singing and especially on some harder cuts, but there clearly is a noticeable move about the vocals.

“Secrets” is mainly featuring well-crafted songs filled with reverie and sometimes a bit soundtrack-like (I mainly refer to the instrumental last cut), but still has a few more danceable and harder cuts.

+ + + : Sevren Ni-Arb was a talented EBM composer and a genius producer when it comes to EBM and dark-electronics, but since the comeback of the band he never stopped to increase his composing skills for atmospheric electronics and pop arrangements. The songs are well-crafted, characterized by a great progression, carried by solid bass lines and great synth leads. “Secrets” is a varied work, but the songs are complementary.

– – – : If you compare the work from the 90s with the releases since 2010 there clearly is a serious hiatus about sound, influences and even image. I sometimes get the impression we’re no longer talking about the same band and now and then I’m missing the early, darker side of this band. I’m mainly missing their ‘power’ and that was never that present as on “Secrets”.

Conclusion: “Secrets” is a styled and modern electronic work revealing several cool songs and a few potential hits.

Best songs: “Photomatique”, “Masterpiece”, “Secrets”, “Ghost”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.x–mtp.com / www.facebook.com/xmarksthepedwalk

Label: www.meshwork–music.com / www.facebook.com/meshwork.music

Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

www.side-line.com

Sevren Ni-Arb, who you will know as brain behind X-Marks The Pedwalk, has started an own electronic music label, Meshwork Music. Meshwork Music will focus on projects by Sevren Ni-Arb first. New works by X-Marks The Pedwalk and also his instrumental project SN-A are already ‘under construction’.

Since 1988 Sevren Ni-Arb has been active as a musician and a producer and over the years he gained a reputation especially thanks to his X-Marks The Pedwalk project. His influence in the industrial and electronic music scene was considerable during the 1990s including releases on the former label of DJ Talla2XLC, ZothOmmog.

The label name refers back to the 1995 album “Meshwork” which was the fourth album by X-Marks The Pedwalk. It was released by Zoth Ommog in Europe and Cleopatra Records in North America, both in CD format. This album expanded on the stylistic change that had begun with X Marks The Pedwalk’s previous stand-alone single, “Facer”. In an issue of Side-Line magazine, Sevren Ni-Arb commented: “Many fans were not happy with my new style! But on the other hand many listeners also rated the new stuff as the best XMTP work ever… For us the most important thing is to do the music we wanted to do and secondly that the “normal” audience can approach XMTP…”

You can find more on www.meshwork-music.com.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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