Customer Reviews

Phoenix

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

 

 

Glancing over the other reviews I've seen, I would have to agree with the one that reads: "pretty bland". There are some catchy synth riffs now and then, and a couple or three fairly good songs...but overall, I get bored with it pretty fast. In my opinion, I think if you're gonna break away from the band that you are reverened for (ie..Funker Vogt) and do your own thing....why not be a little more experimental with it and try doing something that doesn't sound like everything else??

If you're a die-hard FV or Fictional fan tho, you should prolly get it just for grins.

Another Funker side project which fails to captivate like the other side-project ( Fictional). This band sounds like Fictional it being a more synth driven. While funker sounds more hard edged,EBMish. The vocals arent done as well as with Fictional either. Yet they are better sounding than Funkers harsh distorted vocoder. All in all I would recommend any Funker album, or the first Fictional album (ficticious) over this one any day.

I had high expectations for Ravenous since two of the members of the band are from Funker Vogt. Make no mistake, Ravenous is no Funker Vogt. The clear, undistorted vocals and the slower, less aggressive songs are what makes Ravenous stand apart. I'm not a big fan of synthpop, so maybe that's why I wasn't blown away by Phoenix. Even so, I found a few songs on the CD that I found entertaining. Between The Worlds is no doubt my favorite track, but I also like Souless and Lost In The Dark. If you like sythnpop music, give Ravenous a try. Phoenix is one of their best releases.

Yes I understand that many see this funker vogt side project as just that - a side project, but its such a departure from the militaristic, hard-driven beats of FV that it comes into its own. From the first time I head Between the Worlds on the Metropolis 2001 sampler, I knew that they had lyrically more depth because they're allowing themselves to break from the war/hunt/kill mold of FV. Upon buying this album I was delighted that the other songs carried that same depth dealing mostly with social injustice (Ex: Religion) to personal anger/strife (Ex: My Name, Heart of Stone) but decided to vary the tempo's, so don't expect every song to be a bass-driven club hit - and that's GOOD, it shows more desire to be artistic and creative rather than just wanting to sell records. Also the vocals do so much to support the lyrics. Tim Fockenbrock's voice really emphasizes the disgust, pain, and sorrow found in the songs and matched Gerrit Thomas' synth compositions flow almost naturally (yes even though it is electronica!) with Tim's vocals. It really is a shame that this was their last full album released, I really was looking forward to Frozen Tears) it seemed as though they finally had the right amount of polish on their music and have come a long way from No Retreat and No Surrender (Out of Print). Overall this album isn't given as much credit as it is due, thanks to unfair comparisons to the mother project Funker Vogt.

Ravenous is a side-project of the popular industrial band Funker Vogt. You'll note from the first few moments that the music is that gritty yet bouncy mix of electronics that is Funker Vogt's trademark. (I believe the name of the programming master in question is Gherrit Thomas.) Ravenous, however, has a lyrical style similar to many synthpop bands. No distortions or yelling here. The result is an excellent blend of music that won't have people yelling at you because it sounds to harsh.

If you're a fan of Funker Vogt or bands like VNV Nation, you should give Ravenous a good, long listen.

A synth-pop side project of Funker Vogt. That's all right, I like synth-pop, but for some reason this just doesn't grab me like other synth/EBM bands (VNV Nation). It's just too repeatative. Aside from a couple slower tracks, most of the songs have the same beat. The vocals express no emotion as if the vocalist didn't really care what he was singing about. Other bands in this genre get past such problems through crescendos, decrescendos, rhythm changes, ect. but there's so few changes in any individual Ravenous song that this album pretty much bores me. Excuse me while I reach for my VNV albums.

As you might read in other reviews of this CD, Ravenous is often compared to both Fictional and Funker Vogt, because Ravenous is composed of some of the people from those two bands.
While I do like the sound of Fictional, I think that this Ravenous album is actually better overall as an album than FICTICIOUS, one of Fictional's best-known albums.
PHOENIX lacks the more enthusiastic sounds you will find on Funker Vogt and Fictional albums, but I think the vocals and the catchiness of Ravenous' songs make up for the lack of instrumental directness.
Also, I THINK that the singer for the two most liked songs on Fictional's album FICTICIOUS ("Dream of God", "Blue Lights") is the same person who covers vocals on the entire Ravenous album, but I could be wrong.
The vocals convey more emotion, and although the songs are slower, if you listen to the entire album a fews times all the way through you will find more favorites than just "Between the Worlds," such as "Drowning Land," "Soulless" and "My Name." Crank it up.