Customer Reviews

A Violent Emotion

5 star:		(3)
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Wow! Based on their EP, Close to Human, I was not expecting this. A Violent Emotion is nothing short of a masterpiece. And it represents a much-needed reinvigoration of the EBM/Industrial genre. That is because the lyrics are wonderful-- personal, interesting, clever, direct, funny, terrifying, fearsome, and devoid of cliche'd phrases. The vocals are really impressive as well-- they are distorted, but the voices still have lots of personality and are very distinctive and unique. I know we've all gotten a little tired of the same old vocal stylings- about how you are damned to hell, or how God sucks, or some serial-killer type stuff, or maybe just some vocals that are so murky and distorted you can only make out one word in a hundred. These lyrics and vocals are nothing like that. These songs are actually about real stuff, real life, about real emotions. These songs actually express something, they aren't just symbolic or just filler in between some heavy beats.

That being said, the music itself is incredible. The beats are huge, the melodies are powerful, the songs are dynamic and inventive...the whole thing just sounds supercharged with energy and creativity. Words are just failing me as I try to express how monstrous and exciting the music on this album is.

This is a massive record. This is a must for anyone still looking for great industrial/electro. It is also a wake-up call to screw-ups like Grendel, who dropped their distorted vocals but only succeeded in highlighting their lack of meaningful subject matter and their inability to avoid hackneyed phrases: you don't have to abandon the stylistic elements of the genre to move the music in a new direction. It's all about expression and creativity.

I am a huge fan of Daniel Graves. I first saw him live when he toured the states with De/Vision in 2008 as Necessary Response (his synthpop side project). The second time was as Aesthetic Perfection on Imperative Reaction's tour with [:SITD:]. I recently saw AE again a couple of weeks ago and Daniel did not disappoint me as a live performer. Because I have been digging the harsher side of EBM lately, I have been enjoying Aesthetic Perfection's full length album A Violent Emotion. The music on the album really lives up to the title of the album. The beats are violent and aggressive yet maintains a solid pop hook. Daniel's vocals are mostly raspy and harsh but he will occasionally sing in his regular voice akin to his vocals in his Necessary Response project. The album is short and sweet which is fine with me, better than an album that is too long and boring.

At first listen I didn't know what to think of this band. After several times listening I finally decided to buy them and I am glad I did the 30 second clips do not do justice to this band. This band borders between Industial, Hard Darkwave and Darkwave. The Lyrics are Dark and Aggresive in most of there songs with soundclips from various movies thrown in which is typical of an industrial band. The production is excellent as the lyrics are clear and not the typical industrial where it sounds muffled as the vocals go into aggresive screaming. This band is ever evolving as they have done popular dance track remixes of Katy Perry - I kissed a girl (aesthetic perfection remix) and Lady Gaga - LoveGame(aesthetic Perfection remix) both of which are good the Lady Gaga - Love Game is the better of the two.

They also have another side project band that is purely Darkwave / Synthpop called "Necessary Response" which that entire CD is excellent and could be considered a great contender against VNV Nation tracks. Melodic, moving, deep lyrics and good dance beats make that CD danceable almost the complete way through.


My Favorite Songs on this CD are

***** = stars

"The Siren" **** a good overall dance track more of a darkwave flavor then industrial.
"Living the Wasted Life" ***** Foot stomping industrial tune with an aggresive tone and lyrics (my favorite)
"The Great Despression" **** Another Foot stomping in your face industrial song, with aggresive tone and lyrics not as good as the wasted life in my opinion but still really good.
"The Ones" ***** a down tempo creepy darkwave type tune but never the less a great song.

Check the bands myspace page as they have a couple of songs available for download
They did remixes of
Katy Perry - I kissed a girl (aesthetic perfection remix)
Lady Gaga - LoveGame(aesthetic Perfection remix)