Vortex Rikers - If I Lose You Tonight, I Lose You Forever

If I were an unprofessional music critique (which I pretty much am), I would be able to simply describe Vortex Rikers latest album If I Lose You Tonight, I Lose You Forever as "Kinda witch. Kinda ambient. Kinda chilling. 7.5/10." I guess that would be the lazy man's review, and this is where everyone who doesn't like to read should stop reading. Everyone else, hop on board for the ride and let me tell you a little something about Vortex Rikers. 

As the names of the members of the band are unlisted, I cannot say who is involved in the project. However, I do know that they are based in both Konstanz and Dortmund in Germany. This leads me to believe there are at least two members in the band, unless the only one involved is A) able to split themselves apart and be in two locations at once or B) are secret millionaires and own two homes. But, given the reality that my previous sentence is more than likely loaded with fiction, I shall press on. 

So far, Vortex Rikers has released a grand total of eight EPs, three albums (not including this one), and six videos (one of those being a Single/video combo). Considering they've only been active since September of 2010, I'm guessing they put all their time and effort into creating the music of Vortex Rikers. 

Anyway, If I Lose You Tonight, I Lose You Forever is a beautiful piece of music whose songs are slow but whose pace is rapid. Each of the songs on the album are usually less than three minutes. In fact, seven of the ten songs are either around three minutes or under. This not only makes the album never dull from repetitious lines that plague witchy music, but also allows VR to showcase their talent in a rather fashionable form. 

'I Know, You Know' is bound to be a fan favorite; the absolutely dominating synths and creepy overtones really made this track stand out. I wasn't a huge fan of the long pause of static silence at the end of the song, but it'll do. 'All Dark Everything' should massively appeal to the goth crowd that wants to rave but doesn't want there to be any color but black involved in their personal rave. In other words, the grave rave scene should take to this song like flies on shit. Witchy, trancey, dancey. You can't get much better than that. 

Neo-classical elements flirt occasionally on the album with tracks such as 'Cause And Solution' as well as 'In The Wasteland'. These quieter, emotional songs almost mark a transitional period on the album from dragging and loud electronics to a more peaceful ambient field. The final track on the album 'Falling Asleep In A Warzone' equally blends ambient textures with slightly witchy touches. 

As the title of the album suggests, I believe If I Lose You Tonight, I Lose You Forever was meant to be an occult themed love story. Perhaps that of life-and-death as one half of a loving duo loses their other. Perhaps not. Or perhaps I'm even looking a fair bit too deep into Vortex Riker's album. Either way I like it. An so should you. Go check it out. 
Mar 28 2016