Customer Reviews

The Failure EPiphany

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

 

 

First let me say I am blown away by the intensity of the handicraft of this album. I've been craving some new very fresh flesh-ripping

ebm/industrial and I have found it! Erica's vocals are so very unpretentious and real, that I don't feel like I am being force fed generic

fuzz. This is seriously Industrial EBM taken to the next level beyond the happy synth-pop the style has largely flowed into. Unter Null has

definitely breathed some new life into a stagnant genre.

(Song Spoilers Below!)


Bloodlust - An intro track that is certainly one of my fav intros ever! It has the atmosphere of a fused industrial/black metal, the

desolation of machinery and electronics that we rivetheads so love, and the fast hyper ebm that gets you moving. It plays on what you thinks

going to happen and then wham!

Martyr - This track starts out with a familiar goth club ebm feel with drippings of trance but quickly takes off into this swirl of aggro

vocals overlayed against this intense track. The break around 2:50 is an unexpected welcome gesture before Erica brings it up again for the

ending.

Your Nightmare - Listening to this one can see why it became a club hit. Following in the tradition of the previous track "Martyr", Erica

brings together a fusion of a club trance anthem and hard-edged industrial ferocity. Very hypnotic and energetic! I can't wait to listen in

the car! Stomp stomp!

Feed the Lie - Woah! Time to switch our rivet gears! This song is excellent! If this song doesn't make you wanna stomp around, you're dead.

This song is worthy of a soundtrack on a sci-fi flick that's for sure. With some super precise white noise samples, the flanging vocoded

effect, and a speed-up trad stomp beat this surely should become a rivet anthem!

Destroy Me - This track is amazing. With the placement of the eerie soundscapes backdropping driving heated beats, I listen in awe as Erica

lays down her raspy sweet vocals. This is definitely a song you can stomp too!

The Failure Epiphany - This track goes back to the "Your Nightmare" style with again a trad stomp but with interesting interplay of her voice

on the offbeats. The progressive chords are a welcome bridge.

Sick F*ck - So far we've heard a lot of synth and processed samples but here now we have a more trad vocal sample reflecting on the track

name. Erica makes no hold on exactly what she's feeling in this song. 1:50 comes in up with the eerienees of creepy B horror movie organ

music. But not for long as Erica tears off into a vocal rampage of some sick f*ck who needs a beating apparently. Her voice is amazing,

sharp, and deadly. w00t!


Scilence - We start off in modern blade runner kind of synth harmony. But soon find ourselves in a very Wumpscut-inspired world. With heavy

distorted beats paired with the lofty synth and the repetitive hypnotic nature, Erica injects her own personal style taking a familiar form

and kickin it up a notch.


You Have Fallen From Grace - The first minute of this song is completely entrancing! Then without disturbing the beauty of the "gracefulness"

of the flow, Erica steps in with subtle but intense vocals. Here we can a hear a more personal human side reflected in the lyrics.

Stray - We start off with a gorgeous crystalline melody that breaks into an groovebox rhythm. The added asian-flavoured sound later is rather

teasing against this song that seems to restrain from breaking into full assault. Perhaps Erica needed a rest. "I only wish you dead."

The Hook - A homage to old school industrial synth floating in the background, this song also reflects a progressive trance influence. It is

more atmospheric and Erica's voice is barely if at all discernible. This should appeal to fans of more noize-based atmospheric music. Erica

suprises us around 2:40 with a sweeter processed version of her voice.


ZombieBoy - Woot! I love the interplay of strange chord progression! This song is more subdued than the rest but a good listen.

Desire - What stands out at first is the super high soprano synth voices amidst a simple dance beat, but it's the subtle distorted sounds

that make this instrumental piece quite good. This song is an appropriate ender.

After falling in love with Unter Null's SACRAMENT EP I knew I had to get her debut album, THE FAILURE EPIPHANY. Upon first impression I was a little disappointed by what I heard but the songs are really starting to grow on me now. They're just so melodic yet aggressively addictive...I can't get enough of them. I personally consider miss Erica Dunham to be the female equivalent to Combichrist and the definite Queen of Industrial right now (or what some are calling terror EBM).

If you like danceable music with an angsty edge full of violent bouts of spiteful revenge than Unter Null is your kind of gal. ("I only wish you dead.") My one complaint is that many of the songs sound too much alike and are hard to distinguish from the other, but standout tracks for me would have to be the infectious "Destroy Me", "Sick F*ck", "Scilence" and "Stray".

I've always been a techno/electronica fan and when I stumbled across a fan-made movie for the video game Left 4 Dead on YouTube, I was immediately blown away by the music used in the video. "I WANT THAT" was my first reaction and I literally listened to the track (later I found it was the 'Stray' track) about 15 times in a row that day.

After looking around on the net I found Erica Dunham's site and listened to the other clips available and was completely in love. I learned about the EBM world and started listening to other artists in the genre but I always find myself moving back to "The Failure Epiphany" as it really is an awesome mix of aggrotech style EBM ('Sick F***' is a good example of the more hardcore songs) and softer EBM such as the 'Martyr' or 'Zombieboy' tracks. Softer might be misleading but in comparison to other artists such as Dawn of Ashes and Hocico, those aforementioned tracks are definitely less slap-you-in-the-face. Lyrics really are quite powerful once you fully understand them (EBM's tendency to distort the vocals makes it sometimes hard to know what they are saying) you'll be signing along with her :)

I could not recommend this CD more to someone if they already enjoy techno/electronica music. It has found a PERMANENT home in my car.

Unter Null (aka Erica Dunham) is easily one of my top five favorite industrial acts of all time. I love how Erica finds a harmonious balance with infectious melodies,harsh, abrasive beats and scalding vocals. I finally downloaded THE FAILURE EPIPHANY, the debut album of Unter Null. I don't know why I waited so long but I am glad I finally did. The album totally blew me away. I knew it was going to be good but I didn't know just how good. The music is corrosive. I can hear the rage in Erica's distorted vocals, and it particularly shows in songs like "Martyr", "Your Nightmare", and "Sick F***k". Despite the harsh, distorted vocals, the music is drenched in pop friendly hooks which is a great contrast with Erica's seething lyrics and vocals. The rage that Erica writes and sings in her music truly can be felt. I loved every single track on THE FAILURE EPIPHANY. It is raw and abrasive yet melodic. For me, THE FAILURE EPIPHANY is a true industrial classic.

There is something truly fantastic about this album, and yet it is not quite perfect. I really want to give it a full five star rating, but I have a couple complaints.. (complaint 1.), this is one of the only female fronted EBM/Idustrial/electro bands in circulation, and yet the singer sounds like a male on many of the songs (not because she has a deep voice, rather she distorts her voice to sound like a robotic-rivethead-male). (complaint 2), some of the songs sound so close to Suicide Cammando that it is almost hard to tell the difference. Nevertheless, this is a pretty damm impressive album. The absolute best tracks on this album are "sick fu**", "scilence" and "zombieboy". This is still a new band...I anticipate bigger things. Anyways, ....buy this album! The Failure Ephiphany by Unter Null is a verry good underground album despite my 2 complaints.