CD, Aliens Productions, 2006
disharmony.aliens.sk
À propos an astral episode where your mind might otherwise have been occupied by the sheer immensity of the void that once was your living room, you find yourself incorporeally skirting across a viscous mass from which an ornate and fragile construct is welling. Materializing from this as if settling back into your body, honey oozing from your ears, Disharmony’s “X-frames” emerges like patterns in static.
Although cinematic in nature, “X-frames” is essentially downtempo EBM with ritual ambient influences. Often individual tracks are more iterative than suits the styling, however there is suitable variation between tracks to avoid redundancy. Vocal samples, abundant throughout the album, generally are well suited to the music. However, the samples are commonly not in accord with the percussive notions and imbue an overarching garbled character. Separate from these samples are what I take to be lyrics. Filtered to such an extent that they are often indiscernible, they give the impression that their purpose is to affect a “dark” or brooding tone to otherwise melodic structures. Neither suiting to the atmosphere nor distinguishable, I’m left to question their relevance.
All in all this is a well-produced album, nothing original, but accomplished none the less. Atmospheric and enveloping architecture combined with rich sound design leads to an immersive listen. Equally as impressive is the homogeny of the composition while masterfully avoiding pattern saturation. Discerning each component of the polyphonic arrangement is as distinct as the spectrum of light through a prism. If you can look past a few underwhelming traits, you will find this album this is well worth a spin. It may even end up growing on you, but I will leave that to your ear.
[6.5/10]
— George Caruso