Customer Reviews

128 1/2 Days

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What can I say.......

I have been waiting for this release for about a year now and its finally here.
Droom is a band that made my jaw hit the floor when I first heard their music. I don't think any band has ever made me as excited about a new discovery, as they did.

Droom is exactly what todays synthpop scene needs to push it a notch higher than where it stands. This is a band that took synthpop beyond its limits and boundaries to a new level. Blending New Romanticism with hard pounding beats, dramatic and dark lushes synth lines, echoing guitars and one of the kind programing, creating a masterpiece like no other. You may call it future-pop, but I call it heaven.

Graham Jackson's voice sends chills down my spine almost every time I hear a Droom song. His voice is truly amazing, unique and mesmerizing !! The lyrics are nothing but pure poetry. Graham is what I like to refer to as the Robert Smith (The Cure) of Synthpop, also playing guitars, and doing programing. We also have William Winslow-Hansen who can work the synthesizer like a magician, creating an orchestra of atmospheric dreamy sound to complete carving and shaping this masterpiece together. They are truely musical geniuses.

I was lucky enough to see this band LIVE along with their new live guitar player (Ian Giesbrecht) whom rocked that night. I have to admit that no band has EVER !!!!!! excited me like these guys did. Having them as guests for the weekend of synthpop festivities was also defiantly unforgettable and fun experience.

DROOM is defiantly the next big thing. This album is now on my top list for best album of 2003.

Droom's brilliant debut, 128 1/2 Days, knocked my socks off from Day One! It is without a doubt the best electronics-based album I've heard in the past several years.

Every musical element is top-notch. The instrumental composition and execution are multilayered and masterful, the melodies and vocals are airtight and engaging, and the tone of the album strikes the emotional sweet spot that is both galvanized euphoria and brooding melancholy at the same time. (Want big chunky bass lines and fast-moving beats for dancefloor delirium? Check. Evocative soundscapes for wistful contemplation? Check. Something you can sing along to while cruising down the highway? Check.)

Borrowing from British New-Wave-era songwriting and production style without being circumscribed by it, this album packs a powerful punch. Fans of synthpop, goth, and EBM alike have equal cause to rejoice in the long-awaited arrival of this auditory pearl. If you've been searching for an album that reminds you why you're passionate about music, your ship has come in.

DROOM RULES is all i see these days on the www.adifferentdrum.com forum when i log on. well i finally got my copy today (canada post is slow). this is indeed a gem in my books.

i think if i had to tag it, i would say sounds like assemblage 23 with a touch of images in vogue. this album leans more towards the industrial side of synthpop without the screaming distorted vocals, but something they would play at a goth club for sure. the 13 track cd is over 70 minutes long. all the songs are long enough to get a real good feel of the song. the cd is well recorded and very well produced. i highly recommend fans of vnv nation, apop, assemblage, covenant, and anyone who just feels like some synthpop with an edge on it. very nice and melodic too by the way.

ken

I love synthpop and, don't get me wrong, this release certainly delivers. But it is two steps shy of "great" because the production values (mixing) are sub-par. Dunno who produced this puppy, but the mix is muddy. All the synthpop cliches that we love are here (yet a number of tracks borrow too much from VNV nation), and the voice of the singer is lovely, but the whole album sounds like it was recorded through a telephone at times. I see big things for the group in the future, and this album is promising, but as is, its amatuerish.

I think that by the amount of praise that this album receives that there's a lot of people out there that haven't listened to a whole lot of synth rock. After reading about how amazing this album is, I decided to buy it. Maybe my expectations were too high, but this is nothing at all above average. All the bad cliches of synthrock are present, along with a lot of bad goth rock cliches thrown in. Jackson is not that great a vocalist, he has an ok voice, but a truly great singer can turn a boring song into a masterpiece, through vocal melodies or charismatic singing, both of which Jackson lacks. On top of that, the songs get incredibly tedious to listen to due to the fact that most range from 5 to 7 minutes in length, and have little or no variation within, so basically, they're boring and repetative. The distortion on the vocals is incoherent and cheesy. This sounds like a really bad version of Assemblage 23 and Bella Morte. I guess this is ok for someone who's just starting to immerse themselves in the synthrock genre, but for the veterans out there, you've heard anything this album has to offer 100 times before.
I saw someone refer to Graham Jackson as the Robert Smith of synthpop??? Please...

I purchased this album after sampling the two free songs downloaded from Amazon, "While We Can" & "Stay!". Needless to say, these two tracks were so wonderfully done and exhilarating that they actually gave me goosebumps. While these two club hits flowed with hard hitting, dance-able beats, the album actually encompasses a surprising assortment of introspective & melodic pieces.

"Sugar Crash" is slow, light and melodic, almost reminiscent of VNV's Airship, or Wolfsheim's Blind, though probably not as brilliantly done as either.

"Eyes like Oceans" is similarly pleasing. The beautiful melody is distant and somber, fittingly performed by the female vocalist. The entire arrangement reminds me of Anything Box's "All These Days Undone", but with a better vocal performance.

"A Thousand Ghosts" is another example of the slower/introspective pieces. The meandering melody is accompanied by a haunting piano score. The background effects on this piece appears to have been intentionally distorted. This may have been the cause for a previous reviewers' comment of "recorded through a telephone". I can see how this would bother some, though it didn't affect me.

Overall I was very pleased with the album. This is a "must have" if you're a fan of dark synth/EBM. It's definitely one of those albums that can stay in your playlist for months without tiring.

The only reason this album does not get the fifth star is really due to a personal preference. Most of the tracks are much too light on vocal. The human element takes a back seat to the elaborate synth tracks, as if the vocal is the background with the synth at the forefront. It's unfortunate, because Graham has a great voice and the songs could resonate that much more.

Droom has SUCH promise! I'm intoxicated by the first few tracks...but then...wait...has the track even changed to the next? I got bored the first time I listened to 128 1/2 Days, because it all sounds the same! And I've listened to it several more times, thinking maybe I'm just not used to the band yet to pick up the various colors of each song, but still the same reaction. Different lyrics...somewhat, but that is about it! I recommend skipping this album. Droom has a beautiful sound but there isn't enough variety between songs. I cannot say anything about the other albums...they could very well be better.

Droom is really one of the best bands outhere, and this album is really amazing! But his second album called "Ten Songs" is even better! Buy anything you find by Droom is what I recommend!