CD, Disques Blessé, 2005
www.cn2r.com
Originally formed as an industrial-rock outfit in the late 90’s, Collapse Into Reason have since abandoned the guitar driven face of their music to head towards a slightly more synth orientated sound, with a dose of gothic undercurrent thrown in for good measure. The change came about after their previous album “Letters Never Sent”.
Starting off the album is the track “Finola Pale (Scene From A Film Noir)”, a good solid opener with a sound quite reminiscent of early to mid nineties US industrial. From there on it becomes quite apparent of the bands change in style. As we get to see a much more haunting side of the duo. Tracks such as “My Revenant”, “Our Little Secret”, “Another Walking Wounded”, and “In The Waning Light” are an obvious example of the bands musical transition into a darker yet softer sound. The one track that seemed to hit the mark with me was “The Empty Set”. With it’s infectious industrial groove and it’s catchy chorus, it really does steal the show so to speak.
The album on a whole is by no means a bad album. For example, the production, both musically and vocally, is very well done. The only true problem that I found was that the tracks are far from what I would consider catchy. I feel the listener’s interest will certainly find itself wading off after two or three listens. It could possibly just be that the band are experimenting with their new sound and finding new musical paths to take, but still, there is a desperate need for at least two or three stand out tracks to carry the rest of an otherwise fairly empty album. On the plus side, by the next album, I can see Collapse Into Reason working on their new sound and delivering a far more interesting piece of work.
[5/10]
— Paul Marcham