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Ephel Duath - Pain Remixes The Known

Monday, 31 December 2007

Editor's rating

6.9

out of 10

Reviewed by:
Chad Coup
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Monday, 31 December 2007
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Music Information

Track Listing:
01. Hole I
02. Hole II
03. Hole III
04. Hole IV
05. Hole V
06. Hole VI
07. Hole VII
08. Hole VIII
09. Hole IX

Artist: Ephel Duath
Title: Pain Remixes The Known
Genre: Progressive Metal • Alternative
Release Date: 16 July 2007
Record Label: Earache Records
Format: Full-length
Country: Italy
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Plastic slipcase w/liner notes.

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Editor review

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Overall rating (weighted)		6.9
Musicianship		7.0
Composition		7.0
Experimentation		6.0
Production		8.0
Value		7.0

Remixes are a mixed bag, to understate. I personally find them offensive and overall disrespectful to the original artists. Just pay the artist some royalties to botch up the original intent and then slap your own name on it. Remixes usually stray a bit close to the original material, like various club/dance remixes of 80s and 90s pop hits. Sometimes they are minimalist and only entice the viewer to just check out the first song to begin with. See almost any Nine Inch Nails remix EP. Every once in a while, an artist takes the parts that made the original so great and then warps and distorts them, mostly to complete misfire. Experimental artist V/Vm did this with tracks from electronic figurehead Aphex Twin's legendary 90s catalogue, among others.

I used to really love the electronic/IDM genre. I found the experimental possibilities endless. I enjoyed the spazzy nature and cold, detached feeling of a lot of acts such as Autechre and Squarepusher employed. However, I soon got the overwhelming feeling of inorganic, soulless human input. It's not always the case with the genre, but I wanted something new and eventually turned to metal for the complete other spectrum of human input.

Ephel Duath's remix album is kind of all these aspects rolled into one. Depending on your mood or who you ask, 'Pain Remixes The Known' is an experiment that Ephel Duath fans will at least feel something about. This record is an interpretation of the themes and sounds of their excellent 2005 album called 'Pain Necessary To Know.' The artwork to the newer album is nearly identical to its predecessor, but the music within is not. Not in the slightest. Ephel Duath's record, a remix album supervised by the band itself, makes me connect with my older feelings of the uninhibited freedom of expression that I felt the electronic genre employed, but it also makes me extremely apathetic.

I loved 'Pain Necessary To Know' and was fascinated by the remix album. The promo came in and I jumped at the chance. After the first spin was over, I felt kind of let down. The music was hardly reminiscent of the album at all. I'm sure that the band and the crew could pick out each part of the original that was included in the remixes, but I couldn't. It was essentially an IDM record with some vocals in the background. Some songs were successful, like the last half of the album, but the first half of the record seems to try too hard to become a drill-and-bass electronic album. It's like someone with a passing knowledge of electronic music mainstays got to remix an amazing progressive metal album but left nothing in return.

This remix album ultimately works by itself as an unoriginal, standard electronic record. That being said, I'm glad that songs like "Few Stars, No Refrain And A Cigarette," from the original record, aren't featured here with some cheesy, clubby bass line and piano leads. The record is respectable, complicated and well-layered, but the creative spark that was in the original recording is absent. ED fans with a wide musical palette should check this record out, but people that want something a little more from their music should wait for ED's new record coming out in 2008. For those who can't wait, this may tide them over. It's not bad music; it's just an average, decently-successful experiment.

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