By Corey Vikser
Staff Writer
“Love Death Immortality” is the sophomoric effort of electronic music trio, the Glitch Mob. High expectations come from fans and critics impressed by their debut, curious to see the follow up. Unfortunately the album is derivative and repetitive, failing to emulate the uniqueness of the first album.
The Glitch Mob consists of artists edIT, Boreta and Ooah, with most of their work rooted in the glitch-hop genre. The LA based collective debuted their first album, “Drink the Sea,” in 2010 to raves from critics and fans. Now 4 years later, the group is coming out with a highly anticipated second effort.
Tonally, the group ditches the experimental ambient-glitch-step they became famous for in favor of a more conventional, mainstream approach, rooting itself in heavy dubstep. The album, as a result does not come close to matching the innovation and originality as seen in the previous work.
The album’s strengths are most prominently found in “Skywalker” and “Our Demons”, two tracks that successfully evoke the theme of “Drink the Sea”. The use of slow build ups leading up gradually leading up to blaring, bass-heavy drops is not an original concept in the EDM community, however the mixing of samples and synths give these tracks a unique, original feel.
This however cannot be said for the rest of the album, as tracks like “Skullclub”, “Carry the Sun”, and “Can’t Kill Us” are more reminiscent of the onslaught of generic dubstep tracks from the early ‘10s than a Glitch Mob work. The songs impressively recycle the structure, synths and sounds from other tracks on the album that implemented them to much more success.
As the Glitch Mob is known for its eccentric and unique sound, there are a number of alternative tracks on the album. “Becoming Harmonious”, “I Need My Memory Back”, “Fly By Night Only”, and “Beauty of the Unhidden Heart” are the most experimental, all implementing modified vocals and unorthodox beats. “Harmonious” and “Heart” are the only ones that work, crossing subtle vocals with high tempo beats, merging in a strong mix that has the perfect balance. “Memory Back” and “Night Only” however suffer in their use of poor vocals along with pop and dubstep hybrid instrumentals that are too high toned and odd to correctly mend.
Failing to match the expectations of eager fans of the first album, the Glitch Mob’s second effort “Love Death Immortality” is a disappointingly generic and routine exercise in dubstep, not justifying the four year hiatus of its release.
“Love Death Immortality” is now available in retail and digitally.
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