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

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State of Being - Signs (song review) |self-released, The Misinformation Age, 2016|

State of Being are an electronic-industrial rock band from Cleveland, OH. I met them on Myspace in 2005 when social networking, self-promotion, and HTML customization were not only allowed, but also actually fun. SOB released their debut album in 1995, followed by an EP and three other full length releases until 2005. They played a variety of US shows back then, supporting well known industrial rock acts such as Pigface, My Life with The Thrill Kill Kult, or Kill Hannah. However, as many die hard industrial fans may admit, industrial rock music started fading away after Y2K. Therefore, Christopher Foldi (the founder) put the band on hiatus for 10 years, occasionally producing remixes and playing with his new band Frigid Touch.

Industrial music hasn't returned to its mainstream position since then, but nowadays bands can find better on-line opportunities to promote and sell their songs. It seems that this encouraged Christopher to resurrect SOB by focusing on lighter electronic music, and give it a shot by releasing The Misinformation Age - a new album in 2017.
The nine brand new songs were inspired by: the increasing divide between the darkness and the light within human civilization, provocative media, political & religious manipulations ('fake news'), attempts of stealing & destroying the land of indigenous people (the Standing Rock protests) - just to mention a few sources. Despite such alarming themes, the music on the album is free of distress.

As an example, the fifth song on the tracklist (entitled 'Signs') brings deep bouncy beats mixed with a steam release-like sound, and a low-profile guitar. Foldi's vocals, fitting within these arrangements very well, can be recognized by any careful listener who heard him sing before. His voice holds pessimistic and optimistic timbres at the same time, with one in 'control' and balancing the other. The dark tone is something you can find in goth & darkwave vocals, the more positive one fits pop music.
Both verses and choruses are extremely catchy, which should make it easy even for a child to sing along. In addition, the unstoppable drum beats are wisely contrasted with pitched synth sounds. The idea to prevent sameness is remarkable here, because it's well known that human ears find sonic contrasts entertaining. All this makes 'Signs' a highly danceable track supported by colorful, vibrant dynamics. An interesting, perhaps cartoon-like video could be made to illustrate the song further.

All these 'signs' and shifts we've been witnessing on many recent occasions speak for our world's re-design and they will certainly awake those who are still spiritually asleep. We all know one truth however - the light will prevail in the end. If you feel overwhelmed by the gloom seen on the TV, then perhaps listening to this song may brighten your mind for four and a half minutes.

(Reviewer: Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Industrial Rock & Metal Encyclopedia, February 15th, 2017. Proofreading: Mike 'Vesper' Dziewoński)

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