Review: Tyler Milchmann - Strange Days'

TYLER MILCHMANN 

'Strange Days'
BUGSCRAWLING OUT OF PEOPLE 

Ukrainian native Tyler Milchmann's début album, 'Strange Days', on Bugs Crawling Out Of People has slipped under the radar for a few months now. Which is a shame as his strongly Germanic influenced style takes its cues from the likes of Blutengel, Das Ich, Oomph! And even a little folksy nod to In Extremo that will no doubt find a ready-made audience across European clubs. Now with a digital single in the form of 'An Eye For An Eye' just around the corner, it seems like we will be hearing a lot more from him in the near future. But for now we'll go back to the début.

The Eastern Europeans have been throwing out some interesting and very promising new acts, of which it seems Tyler Milchmann looks set to find himself at the head of. His predominantly German lyrics will appeal to the Germanophiles out there, but his penchant for a strong dance beat and slightly outside-of-the-box arrangements will pique plenty of people's interests.

It's not particularly innovative by any stretch of the imagination as Milchmann has unequivocally has his eyes set on becoming a name to be reckoned with. But, although this is a relatively familiar style of darkwave infused electro-industrial it is nonetheless very well executed, to the point that it is hard to believe this is his first offering.

Songs like 'Veitstanz', 'Where The Iron Crosses Never Grow', 'Solange Es Noch Warm', 'Alle Kinder' and 'Die Promenade' all have to potential for some serious international club exposure. While the likes of 'Devil Is An Old Man From Radio' and 'Rauch Über Der Elbe' in particular would sound very strong in a live setting.

The only things that let the album down really boil down to the mix, which sometimes sounds cluttered and swamps the vocals, as well as some awkwardly executed and slightly out of time vocals in a couple of spots. They're not particularly big issues, but they do detract from an otherwise solid release.

It will be interesting to see how Milchmann follows this up, as there are several distinct elements all vying for attention here that he balances well on 'Strange Days', but could take him in very interesting directions if he were to play on them a little more.

Posted in: music,Strange Days,Tyler Milchmann