Sound: 10
Lyrics/Samples: 6
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rated (Nonexplicit)

Comments: If you want an album that explores a great variety of sounds then look no further. The whole album is very varied, sounding airy and light at times while also lapsing into bouts of more heavy and deeper sounding material. Every track sounds different and each is very unique. Benn Jordan (The Flashbulb’s true identity!) did a very good job of assuring you’ll be listening to a lot of different styles. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Through out the entire album you can observe a bunch of different drum patterns and styles. From simple rock beat kind of stuff, to complex mind blowing patterns that are trade mark of IDM, to a simple back beat and more, never is it quite the same. It doesn’t matter what style is being used though because it’s often interesting to listen to the drums alone. The piano work in this album is really good to, as well as interesting. It grabs your attention and, just like the drums, can be interesting to listen to by itself. With out the piano the entire album would definitely be a lot weaker. It plays a key role in a lot of the songs, just like the guitar. The guitar is very nice as well. With nice distortion and some interesting progressions it can really stand out in some of the songs. Through out all of this deep resonating tones are generated electronically, they can be viewed as the bass of the album, filling in the background really well. Vocals are hardly in the whole album, and when they are present it’s usually just a sample. They don’t really say anything that important, though the first one used is very interesting. They don’t hinder the music too much, but they don’t really provide anything either, not that they’re really supposed to. Lastly I need to mention the violins, which work beautifully with the piano and only pile up onto that light airy feeling I mentioned earlier.

All of this sounds so great right? Well there are some complications, the biggest of them being the lack of power in the individual songs. Listen to the whole album in one sitting and it sounds great, it’s really something to do, even if all you’re using it as is background music. But if all you have time for is one song then you’ll realize that it’s just not as good. Only a few of them stand out as a single thing to listen to, but you really need to listen to the whole album at once to really feel the music and get something from it. And if you don’t have an hour and ten minutes then it’s pointless to try and find one song to listen to out of the thirty one packed into this album. All the songs are short though, usually around two minutes, so if you want to listen to one of the songs that bode well by itself and you have only a short amount of time then you’re in the clear. Also the first time through you’ll probably be checking to see if it’s finally over, because sometimes it can just get a little boring and you may crave something else.

But if you’re into the varied sounds thing and you like softer sounding music, or are looking for some I suggest you check this album out. It has flaws and it has strong points. It sounds good with some excellent guitar, piano, and violin work, but its major flaws are something that might drive a lot of people away. I hope that people can look past those and into the great work put out in this album.