Black Sun Empire – Cruel & Unusual

December 13, 2005 • Black Sun Empire Recordings

A lot of the time I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark when it comes to electronic music; despite listening to it off and on for quite a long time now I still don't always grasp different sounds or concepts and a lot of things still feel very alien to me. I suppose such things happen when coming from a very rock-oriented background like I have. Yet somehow I have managed to find a lot of comfort in drum and bass music, especially the harder and darker stuff, which is probably why I enjoy stuff like Black Sun Empire quite a bit. I barely know what the term "darkstep" means yet, but if this album is a typical of the style then I know what I can more easily get into.

Like I said, I enjoy the dark stuff, and Cruel and Unusual brings it. There is a lot of dark ambient influence going on in the background which provides a nice atmospheric layer underneath some pretty interesting and often complex beats. Surprisingly (to me) there are a lot of interesting changes throughout each track and some nice diversity throughout the album to keep it interesting—the guest producers probably help out with this—and, basically, it's pretty difficult to get bored listening to this album (it might happen if you're listening carefully, but this isn't the kind of music to do that). The drum lines, while often sticking pretty closely to typical dance/rave patterns, can sometimes get nicely frantic and fun to listen to. The synths often shine as well with some fast arpeggiating melodies and hard rhythms which complement the drum patterns really nicely.

I am a bit disappointed by the inclusion of the second track, a remix by Optiv, which isn't nearly as good as the rest of the album: it's a bit too repetitive and poorly-mixed (maybe it's my headphones, though, who knows), and breaks the flow and mood set up by the first track. On the other hand, the remixes near the end of the album are great—being done by Black Sun Empire they sound just like the rest of the album and fit in very well. The version of the album I have doesn't include the second disc of pure remixes, but I'm okay with that if the Optiv remix on the first disc is indicative of the quality of the rest of them.

But Black Sun Empire's tracks are great, and this is a really enjoyable album. I'd guess that it's probably best suited for those less well-versed in drum and bass as there isn't anything particularly unique presented here and no particular standout tracks, so aficianados will probably be unimpressed with it, which I can understand. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me, though, and it's definitely recommended for anyone less familiar with this sort of music but still want something engaging to listen to.

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