Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz | Detailed or mini-review submissions: song, EP/album | Suggest an artist

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Spookshow inc. - random songs review |self-released, Visions of The Blinded World (pt. 1), 2013|

Scary Dream, Falling Down pt. 2, Cyberage

Born and raised in Lithuania but making music in UK and Norway, Lucky Spook (guitar, programming, songwriting and production) released the Visions of The Blinded World (pt. 1) album in late 2013, even though the majority of the material on the album was written 10 years ago. His inspirations come from a diverse host of bands such as Pink Floyd, Paradise Lost, Rob Zombie, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails mixed with modern beats made famous by Prodigy or Chemical Brothers. He can still recall that Pink Floyd and KISS were on the list of dangerous and unwanted Western culture products, as he found out at school in his Soviet homeland back then. Motivated to rebel and equipped with a guitar, he began playing with fire soon after.
The album is available as a digital download and a limited edition CD with the same 10 songs available through both channels. This review covers only three of them.

"Scary Dream" is one of the opening tracks and refers to a phenomena of dreaming, its symbolism and hidden meanings. In the lyrics, the author speaks of an oniric encounter with animals such as snakes, unicorns, and dogs. These stand for either the author's or the society's primitive instincts related to magic, which he needs to face himself.
As for the music, it is a rhythmic track. Because the lyrics are relatively short, the leitmotif is rooted rather in the repetitive instrumental parts than vocals. The leading guitar riff is altered, looped and mixed with tunes typical of Prodigy or Sonic Mayhem songs. Arrangements are wisely thought out and include a fair share of dynamics but also silent spots. "Scary Dream" sounds suitable for an action video game.

"Falling Down pt. 2" is a slightly darker track, where guitar riffs are mixed with electronica and sampling. The screamed vocals have a touch of added processing, as much as you would spot in an average coldwave track. In addition, they are mixed with a variety of well-matched sounds, which place them in a lively surrounding. It's a highly memorable track thanks to the rhythm, repetitions, female whispers, and the high-pitched guitar leitmotif. If you like White Zombie or Rob Zombie's solo work, this may be your favorite song of the three.
The track is short just like its dark lyrics are. They seem to relate to OBE (out of body experiences) that take place when a dreamer or someone meditating feel their spirit leave their physical body and traverse through space. In this case, the dreamer seems to be a fan of an access-all-areas with evil intent.

Finally, "Cyberage" speaks of a person born in an age of no peace, only fear and hatred leading to war and isolation. But there's the Internet, a cybernetic child that almost everybody adopted and got addicted to through video games, dating, trolling, gathering information or stealing copyrighted materials. Moreover, the fear of privacy abuse keeps haunting about, even though a lot of people leave open traces of their own on-line activities.
Sonically, the song resembles Prodigy with its single high-pitched guitar riff, but also KMFDM or Sister Machine Gun thanks to the minimally exposed, whispered or processed vocals. There's a nice groovy line based on beats placed between the lower and higher end of the spectrum. Both the beginning and the end of the track sound very intriguing and pleasantly attractive. The track could be a great way of getting the listeners interested in hearing more from Spookshow inc.

These are songs of high quality in terms of mastering and production - an additional advantage aside of their dynamic musical themes. It's also worth mentioning that Lucky Spook along with his friend Soltex and additionally hired musicians supported The Legendary Pink Dots live in 2005.
Hopefully, you'll check out the remaining 7 songs on Visions of The Blinded World (pt. 1) and will look forward to the release date news for the 2nd part of this album.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, May 26th, 2014. Proofreading: Mike 'Vesper' Dziewoński)

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