Control - Control

When you want to send your music to people to have it reviewed it is always best to send with it, as much information as possible about you and what you are and anything else you think would be needed and indeed what you want all the readers/listeners to know about you and your product.

When that doesn't happen, it means the reviewer goes searching through Facebook and Google and Bandcamp and record label sites and so on and so forth. It's not that difficult to be fair, but can be annoying. When I need to do this I listen to the album/ep/single I've been sent while doing research so I can get in my head the ideas and words I want to put here for the readers of Brutal Resonance.

Often times I have to stop what I am reading or looking for a song will strike me and I want to listen intently. In some cases I have finished finding what I want to know about the band and not even realise the music has finished. When that happens I make certain I listen to it properly so I do justice to the work.

The album "Control" by U.S. band Control was one of those times where it made an impact on me while I was researching. Regrettably, not for good reasons. So, I listened to it again. Then once more. What I heard was a disjointed album confused by genres and poor production.

For a start what stood out for me was the vocals. They sat on top of the mix instead of within the track, and were plagued by a lack of fullness, depth, strength and in some cases, pitch. And because they were above the mix, that became very noticeable. Lyrically it isn't remarkable at all. Familiar phrases and concepts heard often before in the goth genre.

Musically, the album is all over the place. The album doesn't sit well at all. The cross genre style, instead of blending together, fights each other for dominance in the mix all the while standing all over each other. It sounds as if each musician wants their bit to be the loudest and to be heard the most and then the vocals are thrown on top of it all.

Genre styles range from Sisters Of Mercy, Depeche Mode, New Order, sequenced basic techno and country/blues guitar twanging all thrown in together and may the best sound win. And it is the same in every song. I can understand the desire to want to experiment and combine all these ideas, however, not in every song. And more importantly, with more thought into what goes where and how. The only track that doesn't have this issue is a spoken word track done in Dragnet style, with some filters and some synth pads beneath it.

Control's bio states that their genres are "Alternative, electronic, SEX". The album has a couple 6 minute plus tracks and a couple 30 second plus tracks and the general 4 minute odd tracks. But nothing fits, nothing gels and its a difficult listen. As always, I really want to like what I hear on every release sent to Brutal Resonance, as do all the reviewers. Unfortunately, this album doesn't come up to scratch. Jul 06 2014