Review: Cryogenic Echelon - 'Pandora & Persephone'

CRYOGENIC ECHELON
'Pandora & Persephone'
VERA RECORDS

Cryogenic Echelon's last full-length release 'Antipode' put Gerry Hawkins on the international map as an innovative and original electronic artist. The follow-on EP unsurprisingly picks up where 'Antipode' left off for another round of dance floor anthems that blend dark electro, trip hop, ebm and dubstep into a unique and effective formula.

The album kicks off with 'The Myth', which is a subtle introduction that revolves around heavily vocoded spoken lyrics. The intro track provides a nice counterbalance to the big beat orientated title track which features soaring melodies and a great vocal performance from Eugene Nesci. 'Feels Like A Dream' featuring Ascension EX has a classic and somewhat disjointed dark electro feel underpinned by some strong grooving synth bass and jaunty beats which are deployed to great effect. 'Persephone' featuring Vprojekt breaks out the bass in a big way with a slower and sexier feel with it's bump and grind pace. 'You Will Love Him (More Than You Love Me)' on the other hand is a great dance instrumental that ups the bpm and really lets Hawkins play around and have fun. Finally the four remixes of 'Pandora' see Modulate, XP8, Uberbyte and Vicious Alliance each giving the song a dramatic reworking that only adds to the dance floor appeal of this EP.

Once again Gerry Hawkins proves that Cryogenic Echelon is a name synonymous with technical excellence. Each song is a potential dance floor hit and wonderfully crafted from conception to completion. As with 'Antipode', this EP will quite rightly appeal to electronic fans right across the spectrum.

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