Artist: Saltillo

Album: Monocyte

Genre: Trip Hop, Industrial, Gothic

Label: Artoffact Records

Recommended for fans of: COIL, Tricky, Love Spirals Downward, John Bergin

Rating: 5 out 5

Quite honestly this has been my favorite record this year so far hands down.  Seriously, I’m trying to think of another record that I’ve enjoyed this much and nothing comes close yet.  This is an album that is a companion piece to a comic that the musician and artist did himself, but I must be honest I’ve only just skimmed the comic book so far, I’ve been so deeply engrossed in this album that I can’t quite get past this beautiful piece of work.

What I find most intriguing about this album is that he doesn’t need lyrics to convey his message or his ideas, the music the timbre, the samples, the programming all speak volumes.  If Trent Reznor can get an Oscar for his sound design then surely menton3 can find his place in this business to do the same, and if he doesn’t this will be criminally over looked by the art community in whole.

What this album does is take you on a ride from beginning to end, using dynamic sounds to capture you, it could be easy background music or something you could just play and forget about while you focus on other more important things, but the subtle melodies and haunting female vocals grab you by the ear and lead you on a journey.  This album is a journey from beginning to end.  It’s engaging, haunting, beautiful and inspiring all at the same time.

A lot of times the albums I review are really for a certain audience or for a certain brave person who likes to take risks, but this album I could as easily recommend to my mom as I could to my 13 year old niece.  It’s like classical music, modern classical music with solid beats and excellent use of melody.

So now that I’ve gushed enough about the music how is the production you say?  Absolutely amazing.  Some of the best production I’ve heard in this genre in a long time.  Every thing is solid, you can hear every instrument, every note and every range.  Simply put this album is the first flawless record of 2012 for me.

So do yourself a favor, walk, nay RUN to your local record store, web store or Storming the Base to get your copy of this record today!  You will not be sorry and if you are leave me comments below.

A copy of this record was provided to me from Artoffact Record for review purposes.

Posted under Album Review, Music