Strafk - Phaseshifting

I know not much about the duo behind Strafk, as their internet presence seems to be all but null and void except for a filler page on their label's website, but what little knowledge I have of them shall suffice. They are a Russia based duo, the man behind the bass, drums, synths, voice being Leegheid, while the other, Stof, is behind the guitars and noises. However, both are part of the lyrical writing process.

Their debut EP released on the thirteenth this month, and now here I am presenting it to you. And, what we're delivered is a pretty metal ridden album consisting of four different songs separated into phases, with a subtitle following. Phase I - (Void)stare is a generic metal song that has it's muddiness apparent, with the vocals being quite whisper-like without being able to understand a single word. There's a neat little break in everything between the two minute and three minute mark, which makes the whole song take a lighter tone, but sound like something out of a sci-fi movie as a sound (like an abducting aircraft) comes forth and an extremely deep pitched and distorted voice comes out.

The second song really didn't do much at all for me. Drums, guitar work, and another voice that is barely audible, subliminal in a sense breaks through. Phase III - Death and Decay of Your Identity wasn't all too great, either. Coming off a bit clumsy on the ears (though I think that's how the song was meant to be), the guitar work turned out to be pretty off with the drums that were presented. The final song, Phase IV - The New Embodiment, started off rather simple, playing with some synth notes, and remained fairly well within the dark ambient genre. Perhaps if a few of the higher notes were turned down some, I could have enjoyed this more, but they weren't, so I didn't.

So, really, what we have here is a fairly mediocre album. The positive thing that I can say about this album is that, from a nobody, this is fairly well produced. Other than that, I can only express either boredom or distaste with what I was given to listen to. No hard feelings, though; perhaps I'll find one of their future releases to be rather decent. But, this is something I cannot listen to. May 18 2014