seven

this cd was originally released in 1998 by zoth ommog, but it got re-released by gashed! with extra bonus remixes. allied vision is the brain child of oscar storm from spain. the music can be briefly classified as "dark ebm". it features heavily processed vocals, religious and medieval-influenced lyrics.

first several times i listened to the cd i couldn't find anyting distinct or interesting. first impression was: too much of everything: the melody is hidden behind layers and layers of noise, beats, more noise, angry vocals. finally - if you listen to the music really loud you might find 5-10 second pieces that are brilliant, but then they get washed away by percussion and disapper in the layers of song. this is what happens with dense militant beats and dark synths on "black wizard" or atmospheric chorus on "spreader".

too cluttered, too complex, too evil. it really is the music that creates an extremely uncomfortable and frightening atmosphere: creepy, demonic, very dense. if this was the intent of the album, then oscar definitely succeeded.

however there is a good reason to buy this cd (and this was the reason why i got it) - three remixes by negative format, gridlock and aghast view. those bands emphasized the strongest points in the music of allied vision, bringing them to the front of the mix, and discarding the others comletely. negative format concentrated on the danceable side of "cup of sorrow" producing a brilliant mix with crisp clean sequences, rolling pounding beats, amazingly catchy that still retained the devilish nature of music. gridlock created a minimalistic percussion-driven piece that builds up to a typical gridlock track - dense, harsh beats ripping through your ears overlayed with transparent synths and almost invisible voice. at the end the track becomes rather chaotic with one of the fastest percussion pieces i have heard from gridlock. aghast view created an ebm-like version of "all the dead". they stripped down all the extra elements and created an extremely militant and aggressive track.

if you are into dark complex ebm this will be your choice. as for me, those three remixes will be a great addition to my collection.