If Dream Theater and Rush had some sort of Steampunk lovechild, it would be called Spiky. This rock orchestral musician’s debut album, Carnival Symposium, came to the Chronicle by way of the French Steampunk scene (which, if interested, can be followed via www.steampunk.fr) and it was a musical landscape of a nightmare world of steam and soot that would make Tim Burton smile with glee.
The album blends orchestral strings and drums with the symphonic metal and power of an industrial machine. They summarize their album incredibly well in one sentence, “an orchestra in a factory.” The opening track, “The Chronophagist” (incidentally, the names for all these songs just tickled me) set the tone of a dark and grim industrial landscape. From there, they paint with song a world of gears, smokestacks, and the plight of the workers over the robber baron overlords. In this album, there is dystopia, struggle, and hope. It’s a fun listen start to finish.
There are a few parts of the album that I felt were a touch over-synthesized or a bit too dark, but I am sure the more goth/industrial inclined ear would enjoy those tracks just as much as I enjoyed the symphonic rock elements of tracks like “Steampunk Engineering” and “Tesla.” And seriously, any additional song to add to my music about Nikola collection is a good thing.
Of particular note, I was overjoyed to hear the familiar vocals of one Captain John Sprocket of The Cog Is Dead on a number of tracks. If you are not aware of his work, I am convinced the good Cpt. Sprocket is a person whose vocals were the identical twin of Danny Elfman’s, switched at birth and sent through time.
Mind you, there are a number of purely instrumental tracks. Normally, I feel instrumental tracks are vanity compositions for the composer. But in this case, these tracks serve to bring the listener fully into this world, and I cannot imagine the album without it. These compositions are haunting, sometimes even atonal and unsettling, but really sell the album as a holistic audio experience.
I need to also comment that this album was masterfully mixed. With sounds of Didgeridoos and Theremins complimenting heavy drum punctuations and electric guitar. Nothing ever really dominated the score, and each track seemed to flow seamlessly into the next. It was just incredibly clean, and by that I mean the sound quality, not the grimy soundscape of the music itself.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the art. The album, for sale HERE, comes in a Digipack with wonderful art by French artist Aurélien Police. The illustrations complement the mood, tone, and tenor of the album. So you’re getting art and music, as well as supporting our French allies across the ocean… so I wholly endorse you pick up your own copy soon and enjoy.
