Omei "...A Single Sickened Cell" CD
[Beauty & Pain]
Seven lengthy tracks of sinister dark ambient work from this side project of Sickness' Chris Goudreau. "The Word and the Law" opens with 10 minutes of minimal low-end/midrange windiness and spiraling feedback types of sounds with some obfuscated samples layering in amongst it all, coming close to peaking out to distortion at times, but not quite. The also 9+ minute title track follows with a smoother and more bass heavy drone to it, alongside subtle distortion that careful washes across behind the pulsing low-end hums. "Trait" is even more minimal, and almost melodic in a sense, similar to the title track but more spacious and thinned out, often fading to near silence between the ringing bass melody and strange textures of thin distortion. The samples (a newscast of sorts about some kind of violent crime) feel more at home in this track, however... distant and central in the mix, but just discernible enough to understand what's going on. Changing it up a bit, "For Mother" opens with a looped sample of choral singing before quickly backing it up with more rumbling low-end. A few minutes in, however, some of the brightest and most detailed distortion of the disc thus far starts to cut towards the front - still nothing too harsh, but definitely a bit more sizzling than its predecessors. Clearing 13 minutes, however, "Victim to Victimized" tops that, the misleading ethereal ringing eventually giving way to distorted layers of samples, lots of distortion, and what I believe are some blazing vocal treatments all jumbling together in a chaotic meshing of noise. Not bad, but this is one of the only tracks where the constant consistency of delivery wears thin on me after a few minutes. "Ten Minute Lifetime" (actually running 12:15) is among the more sinister pieces, keeping mostly in the lower-end of the spectrum with lots of vibrating low-end and a certain rugged thickness to the undercurrents. Aptly titled closer "Did You Feel Like Jesus?" is a mere five minutes compared to its doubly long counterparts, again sticking mainly in the lower registers, but bringing in spoken vocals and detuned piano notes resonating throughout. I'm not into the vocals at all, I don't know, something about all the delay makes them sound overly dominant and sort of ineffective. I far prefer all of the other tracks to this one. As mentioned all of the tracks are basically vastly consistent compositions that build themselves up and remain fairly in place with few major shifts through to the end, but I think that works great in most cases with the lengthy and at times hypnotic arrangements. The layout's alright. I like the imagery, it's just the text that can be a little jumbled and hard to read, especially in the center spread, where it's most important. Of the few images are what look like telescopic views of cells and some bloody bandages, and the text across the bottom of the center spread states, "All things start with a single sickened cell. A single flaw. A single mistake. A single thought. A single breath. We are all a single step away from everything..." Very nice. Were this a slightly more succinct affair sans "Did You Feel Like Jesus?" and at least a portion of "Victim to Victimized" I almost certainly would've granted it an 8/10 based on the massiveness of the title track alone. Honestly the 70+ minute total length doesn't bother me in the least with this well executed work, but, for me, especially in regards to "Did You Feel Like Jesus?", closing on such a weak note is an unfortunate happenstance. (7/10)
Running time - 72:44, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: A Single Sickened Cell, Trait, For Mother]
Beauty and Pain - http://www.beautyandpain.com

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