Customer Reviews

Grounded

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

 

 

Your Kidding Aren't you when you give one star??? How could you say it's not good!!! You are missing a whole lot.. When I heard the first time...I was instantly hooked.. I didn't expect a Winger sound nor a hard rock sound.. I went in without any expectation but I know that Kip was singing.. And also how could you say he sang backup vocals and played bass only.. He sang lead on most of the songs. His voice can be heard on all the tracks...This album yes is a project by Cenk Eroglu. His melodic song writing with catchy choruses mixed with a little bit of electronics is so refreshing to listen to.. I have most of rock and metal bands' album that's so inpactful with their sound.. it is so calm and relax to listen to XCARNATION because the enegy that it generates differs from an all out rock or metal band. You could imaging yourself in a different space and time because of its spacey electronic effects...This is one hell of a cd man!!! I will pay for 10 more without any questions asked!! I've always love Kip's melodic song approach.. Whever he is I will be there...If anyone of you are looking for a melodic songs with not much heavy guitars or a full band output..this is the album for you!!! Otherwise look elsewhere but remember this is not a HEAVY METAL outfit here!! Breathe the new sound in and digest!!!

Highly respected Turkish guitarist/vocalist Cenk Eroglu has created an intense debut, injecting his talents into various incarnations of futuristic modern rock with a few choice wafts of prog and World. Think of the electronic based throb of Marilyn Manson and NineInchNails, twisted with the snarling rock power of Velvet Revolver and a subtle inflection of Waters era Floyd. Enlisting some collaborative assistance from notable U.S. musicians including Kip Winger, Pat Mastelotto, Rod Morgenstein and Reb Beach, Cenk's prowess in songwriting, vocals, and multi-instrumentations bursts forth like a supernova, augmented by thought-provoking lyrics. The feverish rock pulse of "Personal Antichrist," powerful soul grasping ballad "Without You", and the Mid-Eastern tinged synth pop of "Lucky Day" are just a few examples of why this is an imaginative modern rock force to look out for. URL: (...)

The Good
I feel it is my duty to inform you that if you are expecting something that sounds like Winger circa "Seventeen", you won't. You will however be getting more of sound that mixes Kip Winger's solo releases with Stabbing Westward (on NIN, but everyone has used that comparison). Don't misinterpret what I said to mean you will be disappointed, because you won't be. Unlike NIN, you don't have to solve a mathematical equation to figure out what the songs are about.

On "Personal Anti-Christ", Cenk uses effective songwriting techniques to covey his message that you may just be your own worst enemy. It's all Cenk on the industrial sounding melodies that accompany him too. A pulsing electronic drum sets the pace for "Everlasting" and is soon met with some fuzzy guitar riffs. Cenk's vocal delivery on the chorus is full-of emotional pain (as is the subject matter). Give Cenk some touching lyrics and a piano and you have yourself the killer ballad "Without You". It doesn't have too many words, but it doesn't need too.

"Reason to Believe" was penned by Kip Winger and he shares vocal duties with Cenk. Sonically, the music arraignment uses more of Cenk's Eastern influences. "Lucky Day" also draws upon the same influence in the way it employs Turkish string and percussion instruments. It still manages to keep an epic industrial feel to it. "Willing to Wait" has Kip Winger returning as the main songwriter and bass player. The track has darker tones and themes as compared to previous ones.

The Bad
Sadly, as good as this album is, it would have been better received ten years ago when industrial was the sound of the moment.

The Verdict
Okay, so industrial music is tough sell in these modern times, but it doesn't mean there's not some good industrial music out there. Xcarnation combines that sound with Eastern musical elements that blend perfectly with Cenk's melodic delivery. Although they are used as selling points, the members of Winger are not very prevalent, and it's Cenk that steals the show. Whether he's laying down the rhythms or the vocals, Cenk is an impressive one man show with a flair for the unique and uncommon.

If you ever wondered what Kip Winger would sound like in a techno/industrial band, the 2005 debut by XCarnation will certainly answer that question. I, however, never wanted to know what industrial Winger might sound like, so I was less than thrilled by his collaboration with Turkish techno composer Cenk Eroglu.

On paper it looks promising. Kip Winger rarely disappoints, and Reb Beach even contributed a solo to the album. I just can't get into this kind of programmed music, and hearing Winger's voice without any guitar hooks or melodies just seems like a waste of time and talent. His voice is virtually buried in all of the atmospheric blips and bleeps, and honestly, an 80's hair metal guy really has no business trying to do the Trent Reznor thing in the first place (Vertex, anyone?).

I'm being generous with a 3-star rating, but I'm probably not the best judge of this kind of music, so maybe I'm being unduly harsh. I came into this album as a Kip Winger fan, and as such I was disappointed.

Kip and the boys were looking for someone like this to mind-meld with... they were looking for some new direction and in my view they've found it.
I think Kip has steadily modernized his sound while retaining his identity
over the years, but the depth of composition and the eclectic instrumentation and patch choices from the synths are the driving force behind this merger of talent from different corners of the world. Musicians are always searching for something, so I'm not surprised, but rather happy Kip found some new chemistry to boil his blood with.

It's easy to compare this to a NIN type of sound, I even hear some Eric Serra (Fifth Element, ala Little Light of Love) even if the similarity is completely unintentional and non-influencial to the artist. What separates this work from NIN is a completely different melodic sense, and thus, chord changes and uses of relative major keys, which gives this album more of a hybrid sound between industrial and, at times, a more commercial flavor of rock. Overall, thumbs up.

If you like Kip Winger, and basically enjoy his solo outings then this will be a sure fit for your musical enjoyment. Not alot of ground being broken here, other than a good rock album with alot of Kip's influences. I won't say it's the greatest, but just something different from a different part of the world, mainly the vocalist who put it all together from Turkey. At least his vocals are up to form and not whining or oversung like alot of artists from other parts of the world where you have to wonder about their singing ability.

The Good
I feel it is my duty to inform you that if you are expecting something that sounds like Winger circa "Seventeen", you won't. You will however be getting more of sound that mixes Kip Winger's solo releases with Stabbing Westward (on NIN, but everyone has used that comparison). Don't misinterpret what I said to mean you will be disappointed, because you won't be. Unlike NIN, you don't have to solve a mathematical equation to figure out what the songs are about.

On "Personal Anti-Christ", Cenk uses effective songwriting techniques to covey his message that you may just be your own worst enemy. It's all Cenk on the industrial sounding melodies that accompany him too. A pulsing electronic drum sets the pace for "Everlasting" and is soon met with some fuzzy guitar riffs. Cenk's vocal delivery on the chorus is full-of emotional pain (as is the subject matter). Give Cenk some touching lyrics and a piano and you have yourself the killer ballad "Without You". It doesn't have too many words, but it doesn't need too.

"Reason to Believe" was penned by Kip Winger and he shares vocal duties with Cenk. Sonically, the music arraignment uses more of Cenk's Eastern influences. "Lucky Day" also draws upon the same influence in the way it employs Turkish string and percussion instruments. It still manages to keep an epic industrial feel to it. "Willing to Wait" has Kip Winger returning as the main songwriter and bass player. The track has darker tones and themes as compared to previous ones.

The Bad
Sadly, as good as this album is, it would have been better received ten years ago when industrial was the sound of the moment.

The Verdict
Okay, so industrial music is tough sell in these modern times, but it doesn't mean there's not some good industrial music out there. Xcarnation combines that sound with Eastern musical elements that blend perfectly with Cenk's melodic delivery. Although they are used as selling points, the members of Winger are not very prevalent, and it's Cenk that steals the show. Whether he's laying down the rhythms or the vocals, Cenk is an impressive one man show with a flair for the unique and uncommon.

I had such high hopes for this CD....the previews sounded good, and the prospect of an album from a band with Reb Beach and Kip Winger was what made be bite.......but buyer beware! This is NOT a "band " album. It is essentially a solo album by Cenk Eroglu......and a weak one at that. Reb Beach's contribution is a single guitar solo. Kip Winger's contribution is background vocals and bass on one song, and one of his songs is on the album......THAT's IT! If you have heard any of the 1 minute sound clips on the web, you have heard it all. Not much to like here.....at all!