Customer Reviews

Hallucination

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally something new has come along in the nu-metal scene. It started with funk, like Primus, Faith No More, and Jane's Addiction. Then it moved on to rap, with Korn, Rage Against the Machine, and Limp Bizkit. Then it sorted to fade into emocore, when the Deftones became popular. Now it has seemed to take another twist, with bands like Pitchshifter, Linea 77, Static-X, and most importantly, Apartment 26.

Taking the less aggressive side of this new trend, this British band use techno breakbeats and various samples rather than hard edged guitars, although the latter is used more than once throughout this disc. The drums are high velocity and energetic, and don't slow down for air. The bass could definitely be louder, and it sounds as if it was produced without an amp. Biff's vocals are great, but still do not match up to Chino Moreno's, Brandon Boyd's, or Max Cavalera's.

The CD is quite long, but much of it is bonus tracks. Another thing I don't like is the use of the band's name in a song, something I've seen with Full Devil Jacket too. Most of the songs have the same kind of breakbeats to them, but there is always a different touch to each of them. Some of my favorites on this album are Doing it Anyway, Keep You, Bruised, Hallucinating, and Dusk.

Apartment 26 are the next new band in what seems like a new wave of European techno-metal bands. Kill II This, Linea 77, Rammstein, and Pitchshifter are all good bands from Europe. If you like your breakbeats and crushing guitars Americanized, check out Static-X, Ultraspank, Powerman 5000, and Dope.

Sadly, Apartment 26 have been designated critical whipping boys from the get go. Their first album, Hallucinating was one of the most impressive releases from the then current crop of metal/electronic fusion (including bands such as Static-X and Pitchshifter). But their biggest breakthrough was that they didn't rely in industrial textures as much as those others. Instead, they tended to focus on more blips-and-bloops oriented techno, to back up their standard heavy guitar assault (even occasionally wandering into trance(!)). Unfortunately, this was ignored, due to their lead singer being the son of Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler. This led the press to whine about favoritism being the only reason this completely unknown band got a spot on the Ozzfest tour.

The other thing perhaps holding them back then was that the album resolutely avoided any apparent emotion. No angst, ala Korn, and no cathartic rage, ala Static-X. Just really good music, that sounded like a really talented machine couldn't stop spewing forth great beats and melodies.

The best tracks on this album are the high-speed spazz-beat ones, such as the title track, and "Slicebeats". At some moments in these songs, it feels like you're slowly but surely being sucked out through some sort of vortex into a parallel dimension. The band is also reasonably adept at your standard mosh-ready guitar stomp, and when paired with their nice techno twist, a lot of the more generic songs come out sounding better than you'd expect. For the best example of this, check out "Basic Breakdown" with probably the best riff of the entire album. The song "Question of Reality" is without question the most intense track here... sort of sounding like Stabbing Westward on methamphetamines, but MUCH bleaker and heavier.

If there's a complaint I have, it's that the band should have focused more on the electronica and less on the metal, simply because they seem so much better at it. The more melodic, techno interludes are the high points, especially the final minute and a half of "Keep You", and the utterly mind-blowing bridge in "Bruised". But these quibbles are minor in the face of an album that's this much fun to listen to. You can get it cheap now, so give it a shot. It's definitely worth your time.

I saw these guys open for Rollins Band about 1 month ago, and I must say they blew my mind. I became an instant fan. Their debut album is an amazing piece of work. Vocals, drums, guitar, bass and electronica mixed very nicely. It's about time new music comes into the scene that's worth listening to! Personal Fave: Backwards, Doing it Anyways, Sliced Beats,Apt. 26 and their first single: Basic Breakdown. This cd is a definate must have!

This Debut album from Apartment 26 is fantastic. There are no weak tracks. With the exception of The Fear which depends on your mood. As most people who have heard of this band know, the singer Biff is the son of Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath Fame. I first heard of Apartment 26 with their song Backwards off the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack. Half of that album was [bad]. I liked Backwards and then downloaded the songs the Hallucinating and The Fear. Let's just say I was not disappointed. Excellent combination of Hard Rock and Techno. It took a few listens for the keyboards to really stand out. Now this isn't industrial stuff like Nine Inch Nails. It really isn't that dark. I don't think a lot of the songs are about anything at all. But they are filled with good lyrics, nicely structured songs. And like I said, there are no weak tracks. Some people actually complained about this saying that this results in no standout tracks. Well if your like that then you should just stick with your bands that have 3 or 4 good songs on an album which result in 3 star ratings. At least that's what I do. Well here are the songs.

Songs out of 10, intros out of 5

1. Backwards 9/10: Great song lots of keyboards and cool lyrics.
2. Doing it Anyway 10/10: This song never gets old, it's also the most vulgar on the CD.
3. Slicebeats 10/10: It starts out like Backwards, but becomes something completely different.
4. Keep you 8/10: a Love Song But it's ridiculously catchy.
5. Apt. 26 8/10: One word, Cool.
6 Dusk 4/5: A 30 second intro of what's to come.
7 Hallucinating 10/10: [good]! Lots of techno, very heavy (for this band)
8 The Fear 6/10: Like I said this song really depends on your mood.
9 Basic Breakdown 9/10: sounds like a Combination of tracks 2 and 5. Not filler though.
10 Anymore 10/10: Really good, radio friendly but it wasn't played on the radio. NICE.
11 Bruised 8/10: Ok this is a little close to being a NIN song. Lots of keyboards.
12 Evils 3/5: Weird. I'm not sure if it's an intro because it doesn't sound like the next track at all. Also 30 seconds.
13 Question of reality 10/10: This song just clicks. Its heavy with good lyrics.
14:Death: 9/10Apparently this song is about Marriage.

Tracks 15-25: every track is roughly 16 seconds. It varies. But each one adds a new sound and after a while it becomes really bad and hurts your ears. Still cool though.

26 Untitled: 11/10 Most untitled tracks are not that great. But this is the best techno song ever. Sad that its only 2 and a half minutes.

There was also a song called Afraid of You that was made during the recording sessions of this album and is hard to find. Too bad cause it's a 9/10. Apparently there is a song on the UK version titled Void with Burton C. Bell. I haven't heard it so I can't comment on it. The UK version also has a different cover. Something like a weather balloon.

In conclusion this album is currently (...) Unavailable in the states. (...) Trust me this is worth every cent.

Apartment 26 strike me as a band with a lot of potential. Unfortunatly, Hallucinating isn't all that great. On the plus side, it is a moderately experimental blending of metal and electronic music. However, there are few songs that are really worth listening to. They all just kind of run together into a relatively bland mess of distorted guitar and computer bleeps. The only song that really stands out is the hidden instrumental track at the end of the CD. It seems to be the only actual realization of the unique creativity hiding just below of the surface.

While Hallucinating is a somewhat weak effort, I still believe it to establish Apartment 26 as a band to watch for in the future.

At a minimum, sample "Doing It Anyway" and "Slicedbeats", which aren't the best tracks on the album, but if you don't like them, you probably won't like the album.

This album is a great purchase for people who weren't expecting a debut to knock them out - all they need is some publicity. I kinda expect this album to get discovered in some Hollywood soundtracks. None of these songs are dogs-none of them struck me as filler.

When everybody compares these guys to NIN (including the band itself), it makes sense but they're ignoring the awesome use of guitars. In every track, they mix great techno beats with excellent riffs. The second song, "Doing it anyway" starts with excellent heavy metal-style tenor range guitars. "Keep you" trips me out - what is that, some kinda metal reggae? Cool. "Death" on my walkman makes me feel like I'm an imaginary agent in "The Matrix." Wish I were wearing sunglasses.

The intro song will test a good subwoofer-like the rest of the album it leans more to the tenor/bass side-I'm not sure the tweeters even budge. Even though they use this medium on every song, none really sound alike. It's cleaaan, and really well-mixed. Get it before everybody else finds out about it.

This cd rocks!!the sound is intense and they vocals are amazing.Apartment 26 can't hardly be placed in a specific genre,but either nu metal or techno fans should like it!It has been a while that i ever heard any extremely heavy metal band tht succesfully mixes it with techno.Especially 'the fear','hallucinating' and 'anymore' are way too good for words, but i just picked out my fav's,others will like others songs,maybe...but anyway the cd is extremely good for a debut and certainly from a group who was claimed to be too young to play!(great work !!!piece of art!!!)

I cannot deny that Apartment 26 has delivered a very interesting debut album. This mix of techno and hard rock is something that is still a very fresh and original sound. However, I don't feel that the songs on this album are up to par w/ the music's unique sound. With the exception of "Backwards," which is an exceptional song, the songwriting is average. If your interested in taking a listen to some fairly unchartered musical territory, this might be for you. However, I really wouldn't recommend it on any other level.

"Hallucinating" by Apartment 26 is one of the best CD's I've listened to in recent memory. With the current glut of rap-rock artists out there, It's refreshing to see a band can pull it off, devoid of any rap influences. This is a very well-balanced CD, there's something to please the members of the hard-rock community, but on the whole this is a techno-industrial-metal trip. A.C. Huckvale's excellent use of keyboards and samples augment the driving riffs of guitarist Jon Greasley. The rhythm section of Louis Cruden (Bass) and Kevin Temple (Drums) sounds a little thin at times, but that's acceptable for a debut. Vocalist Biff (son of Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler) is a capable singer, but he's got to learn to sing with a more melody; he's screaming most of the time. Overall, this album is an excellent listen for rock/metal fans fed up with the current rap-rock craze. Highly recommended. Best tracks: "Basic Breakdown", "Slicedbeats", "Keep You" and "Death".

Finally, a great band with a great cd, I was fortunate enough to meet all of them after Warped Tour, they are down to earth and they really care about their fans, awesome show, awesome everything, I would spend $100 on this cd, thats how great it is.. faves include Backwards, Basic Breakdown, Question of Reality, Anymore and the rest!