CD, Voide Records, 2009
www.voide.net
This journey into psytrance by Voide’s D. Almgren on his third full length, “Humachine”, is your run-of-the mill flavor of the genre.
The title song includes robotic voice modulation and pin point high synths and at first demonstrates promise but linger too long with the same drum and synth palette. “Between Sheets” starts out with a nice thumping bassline and squirming synthline but loses momentum with the additional synths and begins to remind me of mid-90s anime soundtracks. A similar problem arises with “Adrenaline”, “Toxic” and “How Does It Work”, which all enter well but fail to live up to their name sake. The production ability is pronounced on “How Does it Work” and “Classsica”, producing a decent soundbed but the whole affair sounds too midi. “In Agony With Hope” is my summary of this album, the song has tones of mid-90s electro but lacks the ability to evoke an emotion or the aggression to hold the listener captive. “Sometimes I Daydream” is a fitting title for this song which enters with sparse synths and floating pads. The song eases the seat back and floats with sprinkles of synth hooks. “Rock the Geek” starts out well, stomping its way through fast snarling synths but loses itself in repetition of those same hooks. “The Mechanical Fiddler” has the right idea but lacks the production intuition to make this a serious listen.
As a whole, this release shows an artist with promise but lacking the versatility and attention to detail.
[6/10]
— James Church