CEASE2XIST
'Zero Future'
ARMALYTE INDUSTRIES
Cease2xist's last outing 'WIYGN?' showed a significant leap forward in the band's sound channeling their live energy and honing their songwriting into a sharper and more focused attack marking them as one act to watch. Three years down the line they're back with 'Zero Future', and album that moves into a darker and heavier direction than before. The band's aggrotech core is still there, but there is a considerable boost of confidence. Dayve Yates' vocal performance is the strongest so far. The synths are scathing, bordering or metal in execution, and the beats are bludgeoning yet groovy.
It's a short, sharp attack. The album instead choosing to make a complete statement and as a result loosing the remixes suffixed to the end of the track list. The end product is a fantastically compelling dark, pissed-off middle finger in the face.
Songs such as 'Make The World A Bitter Place', 'Mechanical Medicine', and 'Bosozuku Nights' lead the charge with full-on aggression powered by hard distorted synths and Yate's punk-metal growl. While the likes of 'Augury And Innocence', 'Dirty World', and 'Take Comfort In The Void' take on a more methodical and mechanical approach for some classic dystopian atmospheric industrial. But the album's shining achievement has to be the ominous closer in the form of the title track which borders on cinematic atmospheres while retaining a compelling dance beat.
Production-wise this is the strongest album yet by Cease2xist. One past criticism has been that the vocals often sat too low in the mix which robbed them of their power. But here they are right where they need to be rallying the rest of the instruments for the attack.
'Zero Future' may only weigh in at 34 minutes in length. But in that time it packs a big punch. If Cease2Xist were a band to watch, they are now surely on their way to the top of the UK industrial pile. Despite the dark connotations of this album's title, Cease2Xist definitely has a future, and its looking pretty bright from here.
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