Review: Cynical Existence – 'Through My Eyes'

CYNICAL EXISTENCE
'Through My Eyes'
SELF-RELEASED

Cynical Existence started out as the solo project of Menschdefekt and Project Rotten's Fredrik Croona and has slowly grown into a full band. Keeping one foot in the harsh ebm and aggrotech of the project's birth, their new release 'Through My Eyes' sees Cynical Existence continue to grow and tweak it's sound with elements of edm, dark electro and metal coming to the fore.

The three-track single builds nicely on from the band's last EP 'Echoes' complimenting the slower, darker pace while injecting the kind of big club-filler feel that a single should have. The title track is a nice mixture of hard beats, catchy synth leads, hard guitars framing Croona's tortured vocals nicely for a heavy but still dance-friendly assault. 'Static' from the afore mentioned EP gets a nice new club edit that sees the originals full dance potential teased out a little more. Finally a remix contribution from Benajmin's Plague again for 'Static' gives the song a completely new twist with darker intro, throbbing bass, hard kicks and still maintaining the metallic guitars for a great mix that will surely find favour on dance floors.

In therms of production the single is nice and solid with an emphasis on the dance-friendly elements of the band's sound. It hasn't moved on too much from 'Echoes' and still doesn't quite have that spit and polish you'll find on a lot of releases these days, but it is gritty and nasty where it needs to be and that attitude is what counts for a lot.

This is a great single with some very nice remixes that builds on the recent EP and shows a band continuing to grow and diversify while still keeping the core appeal of their sound intact. Any fans of harsh ebm or aggrotech will enjoy this.  

Posted in: cynical existence,music,through my eyes