The “First LP” by Gloom Influx is, simply put, pure unadulterated and infectious high energy from start to finish. With an impressive range of synth work, shredding guitars, hard driving chiptunes, and blast processing beats this release is one that you cannot miss and, for my money, is already a contender for one of the best releases this year. Also, how amazing is that artwork by SWZ? Vinyl worthy! *hint*
The first track, Entropy, kicks things off with some subdued sound before ramping up into overdrive like a spaceship passing through the atmosphere. This song has it all with both synths and guitar in a duel for supremacy before being silenced by a nice breakdown featuring some sultry sax-like sounds.
Transient features some of that hard driving chiptuning that I mentioned earlier, which reminded me a bit of Master Boot Record, and here it’s used as a nice backing complementary to the overarching beat of the song by helping to give it a nice edge. Afterminage, in comparison to the songs that have come before it at this point in the album, is a much more relaxed and chill affair for the most part but it still manages to ramp up the difficulty on the beats at just the right moments. Obsidiane is simply an epic track, featuring choir-like vocals, an up and down range of emotions hitting you with dreamy synth work complimented by the more hard hitting guitar. It’s an all around delight.
Anodizer ramps the intensity back up, assaulting your senses with more of that chiptune goodness, and helps give you that real feeling of being able to overcome the odds and accomplish anything; like the kind of music that would play over an intense boss fight. Of course, like any boss fight, once it’s over you’re happy to find that next Checkpoint and the song of the same name on this album also has that ability to fill you up with an equal sense of exuberant relief; Continue?
Yes, with Aeons, which slows things down a little bit by providing a more haunting and cryptic sound but keeping it heavy all the same throughout. Plus, those choir-like vocals make a comeback too, which again not only gives it an epic feel but at points can send a shiver up and down your spine. Metropolis, the last track on the album, is in a way a more technological affair than most of the other songs; it has this way about it which is very reminiscent of Snatcher.
Overall, the “First LP” from Gloom Influx is an incredible ride, and I implore you to pick it up today as well as their “First EP” because they are both extremely well put together and polished releases. As I said before, this is easily in early considerations for one of the best albums out so far this year, and I am already waiting in anticipation for the “Next EP” or “Next LP” to come out in the future!
Watermelon Banzai 