As time has passed on, electronic music has become more and more prevalent, as well as more varied and interesting than what has come before. Ed Rush and Optical deliver this album of electronic exploration, but is it any good? Let’s find out.

We begin with City 17 which from the beginning, sounds interesting. It has a voiceover intro from the political leader of the city, then leading into a dark and unusual track that sounds really awesome, with some drum and bass beats. Some rapping emerges over the top of the track, make this a dark science fiction sort of exploration. “Bring the paranoia, the system destroyer” is chanted here, and it is a great track to listen to, if you dig EDM tunes. It has many different elements to it that make it a dark and compelling listen, although it seems more suited to home listening than otherwise.

Next is Temper which begins with some cyber melodies before kicking into some awesome beats, and some additional ethereal noises. It’s a solid and interesting listen, and has some Acid sounding melodies here. It’s a really excellent listen, and is a good one to hear if you like a trip sort of experience. It is fast, furious and unusually exciting for electronic music of this sort. It goes into a dystopian midsection before going back straight into the main section of the track itself. A great electronic track that is well written and structured.

Padded Cells comes next, which has more dark sounding cyber melodies to begin with. Semi drum and bass beats then enter the track, along with some unusual string type sounds. It’s a dark yet uplifting listen, very much inspired by some of the darker electronic music here. It goes in-between the main melodies into super dark breakdowns. It is an excellent listen, very dark and techno groove based. A great listen, sounding like almost nothing else out there.

Magical Thinking comes next beginning with some basic melodies and a low pitched shifted voice advising one of the rules of the galaxy, or so it seems. It then goes into a super dark melodic piece with the usual semi-drum and bass/dubstep beats. It is a dark and freaky listen, not really something poppy at all whatsoever. It’s a dystopian and futuristic listen, showcasing the freaky galaxy, as it is. Definitely science fiction sort of music here.

Next is Chubrub which begins with some lighter sounding melodies, before a dark and very catchy melody emerges. It’s freaky listening, but very catchy at that. The beats then kick in, making this a fine example of the darker side of EDM. It is a very good and well structured piece of music, just going to show you can freak out your parents without swearing or anything like that. A super futuristic and great listening experience. It goes into a midsection that definitely sounds urgent, before going back into the main part of the tune. One of the better pieces of music here by far. Dark and trippy. It ends with a cyber fade out.

Following is Snaggletooth which begins with some sampled quotes about the dark side of humanity, before going into the usual drum and bass/dubstep beat. It has some Acid melodies that really sound amazing here, and drive the track along very well. This is superb, and daresay, very underrated. A hypnotic set of melodies propels this along, with a great sense of brilliantly done track construction. Welcome to the real dark side of EDM, folks. There are numerous breakdowns in this track, adding to the suspense here.

Move It comes next with some minor key Acid melodies and other cut up electronic sounds, before launching into a cyber trip across the galaxy. It’s an excellent and inspiring listen from a musical point of view, but dark and menacing as well. It progresses nicely and adds different melodies to the palette. A varied and interesting listen here, it goes into a freaky breakdown which sounds melodically disturbing, before launching back into the loud beats. It’s a decent listen, with some well placed sound effects and technological surprises.

G-Force Jesus kicks off with some unusual and rather nasty sounding vocal parts, before kicking off into a loud and disturbing sounding piece. It is a good listen, showcasing a great sense of rhythm and melody here. There are more Acid noises aplenty on this track, along with some heavily treated gospel backing vocals. It goes into a more straightforward EDM beat session after the breakdown, which is a good listen and change from the typical format of the album. It speeds up towards the end, which is good, yet strange. A better and more varied listen than the other tracks here, it is a standout on this album.

Next is The Kindred which is about the nature of human exploration. It’s not very good to hear, to be honest. It has a bad set of melodies and melodic structure here, which is disappointing. It goes into yet another very typical drum and bass/dubstep set of beats. It is okay, but rather tiresome at this point to hear very much the same thing stylistically. A good try, no doubt. But it doesn’t sound very good, really. A nice try, all the same. There are some interesting textures here, however.

After that we have Titanium which has a spacey, long intro to it. Soon enough, the beats kick in to this dystopian listen. It then has some interesting low end melodies to showcase the piece. It’s an improvement on the previous track, and is nicely mixed and well done. The subsonic bass frequencies on this piece are really excellent and superb. The bass sounds like a distorted bass guitar, which is quite interesting. It goes into a spacey midsection, with the incredible bass sound here, before launching back into the music here. A precise and great sounding bass heavy tune. The outro sounds like a head rush.

Space Monkey comes next, and sounds weird, with an odd intro to it. It’s a definite weird piece, with a female singer singing like a gospel singing. It doesn’t really fit the music here, to be honest. It then launches into another very typical piece for the album. The dubstep style beats then kick in. The cyber techno melody that comes along next is better, which is an improvement. The track is nothing special, and the gospel vocals sound out of place, however. Would have been better off without the vocals here. Good try, though.

Schrander’s Dice is the last track here, sounding very weird in the intro. It then begins with some kick beats, sounding very dark and odd. The usual dubstep beats emerge here, and the music here is okay. A better track than the last one, it sounds quite interesting. A nice way to finish off this Orwellian album. There is nothing quite like this album in the world of music today. This music should be straight out of a science-fiction/horror film.

This is an okay listen. However, it is only a good album, not a great one. Why this is the case is due to the fact that it falls flat on some tracks, and to be fair, the beats all sound exactly the same, no joke. It’s a good effort to showcase the dark side of the 21st century, but aside from that, you’d be better off listening to good pop music than this. A good idea that just doesn’t work musically.

1984-ish.

7/10