Audiocentesis - Zughenruhe

Artist: Audiocentesis

Album: Zughenruhe

Label: Self-released

Genre: Industrial/Harsh Electro/Aggrotech

Release Date: 30th June, 2014

As many groups with similar merits do, Audiocentesis bears the Sisyphean burden of undue anonymity that the internet music revolution promised to correct.  The invention of widespread availability of 24/7 free streaming music on demand, and the eventual adoption of this model by the vast majority of musical acts, brought a significant noise-to-signal ratio that ends up drowning out the rare musical gems.

Audiocentesis gets the bad end of the deal in that exchange.

Their second full-length album, Zughenruhe, presents a complex and layered soundscape in seven tracks (plus eight free remixes) that evoke comparisons to Hocico, particularly with the track "High Anxiety".  Great timing on vocal rhythms match well-crafted tonal balance and chord progression here, and the lyrics are well-written. 

Some of the better tracks on the album include the title track "Zughenruhe", a great club stomper with picturesque and poetic lyrics, and "Beyond Hatred", where catchy organ riffs open into a bombing rhythm that dominates the song through to the end.  "Monotheist"'s more direct and aggressive themes seemed a bit dissonant against the more poetic "Zughenruhe" and the stunningly artistic "Fragments", but the song is catchy enough and the chord progression in the chorus is particularly effective.

"Fragments", the highlight of the album, opens with a waltzy pattern that melts into a gentle and jagged hymn underscoring the most artful lyrics of the album, and a captivating bassline adds to the song's musical breadth.  It's a welcome diversion from more straightforward tracks like "Complex Delusions" and "Through Walls", which aren't unpleasant but are more generally representative of the aggrotech style.

All in all, Zughenruhe is a fanastic album with splendid production and composition.  Jormungandr and Zeta have put together something quite special here.*  While I'd have liked to hear a bit more differentiation with the vocal stylings, I don't think it's a major knock against a solid and listenable album with plenty of replay value.  Zughenruhe is a far better album than a band with 294 Facebook likes ought to have.  You can help them fix that at https://www.facebook.com/Audiocentesisofficial.

* - I'm not completely sold on Blackwolf the Dragonmaster being an official part of the band, but perhaps they can clarify this for us.

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