Celldweller - Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol. 2

Dubstep. For those of you who are still reading, fear not. To my ears this is a far more refined affair than the music that the fellow with the asymmetrical hairdo produces. And its inclusion on a few tracks is justified, for this release is more of a fine degustation meal than a coherent entity. Every track is a mere tasting plate, to be sampled in isolation. Have a bite, sir. If you don't like this one, try the next...

What we have here is a disjointed warp jump into the pulsating frontier of electronic music. There's something for you here, whether you like cinematic soundtrack music, industrial rock, ambient electronica, video game soundtracks, or the aforementioned dubstep. Some may say that Klayton has sold out by pandering to every new fad that comes along, and incorporating it into his music. But I call bullshit on that, because there are so many elements of sound design included that are most certainly not staples of the populist electronic repertoire.

The synths are cold and clinical in their portrayal of a distant future. Epic cinematic percussion drives many of the tracks forwards, preparing the way for massive distortion drenched guitars to dominate the landscape. The use of vocals on this recording is restrained, and almost always ensconced in a thick layer of effects. It's an android transmission intercepted by a civilisation still dreaming of the stars.

The disc kicks off with "First Person Shooter", so there are no prizes for picking the video game influences here. It's a slick race between dubstep and tight soundtrack design. Closely following this, at track 3 is "The Wings of Icarus", a track so hauntingly beautiful that it has made every "Epic Music" playlist that I've made on my iPod for the last year or so running. You see, many of these tracks have been floating around on various mini releases that Celldweller have previously released in bite sized 'chapters'. But don't let that stop you from making a purchase here, I'd rather own two copies of a few tracks than miss out on some of the real gems on this album.

"Solid State Playmate" is a masterpiece of science fiction sound design, luring us in with intriguing ethnic instrumentation before unleashing a massive distorted industrial rock onslaught. Further along, "Elara" is quite possibly the most successful marriage of dubstep and film score design in the history of ever. Remarkable.

The planetary opus "Venus" is saved until very late in the album, a dreamy ambient track that offers a captivating vision of radiant beauty. The vocal line is simple, stripped back, alluring :

"Silent lips. Molten eyes. On her face, her beauty shines."

Welcome to life on the shimmering frontier of electronic music. If you don't like it, the next inter stellar transport will be docking at 0800 hours. Bon voyage. Sep 23 2012