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Artist: HELALYN
FLOWERS
Album: A Voluntary Coincidence
Year: 2007
Helalyn Flowers isn’t a stranger anymore on our page by
far. So far, we’ve done reviews for all their releases (and
they were all very positive!) and we also did an
interview with the band. The signing to Alfa-Matrix
didn’t came as a big surprise to me, since I already
knew their talents and potential, but the short time
inbetween the signing and the debut album release did
surprise me... even scared me a little. Wasn’t it too
early, shouldn’t they have spent more time on
songwriting in stead of using their freshly inked deal
to release the debut album this quick? The answer lays
very close; for you just a 2 minutes read, but for me
another 45 minutes (or longer?!) of reviewing and
analyzing...
‘Eye for a Day’ is the first track of the release. It
contains elements of future pop, synth pop, industrial
metal and even a little bit of techno. It’s a powerful
opener, which switches from strong guitar parts to easy
going electronic parts, all stitched together by N0emi’s
beautiful vocal lines. ‘I’m Human.Defective’ is a little
more atmospheric based, with recogniseable EBM
influenced keylines and a catchy midtempo chorus.
Overall the track seems excellent to dance on, and it’s
blessed with a (future) poppy attitude. ‘Voices’ is a
familiar track, since it was also released on the E-Race
Generation single. It’s a gentle midtempo track, on
which the beautiful vocals of N0emi fit excellently. The
FX sampling is gentle, though wicked. ‘A Sweet And Deep
Bomb In My Heart’ is a modern industrial rock/metal
track. It’s easy listening and gentle all over, and the
diverse vocal lines plus the sticky chorus make this
song definitely one to remember. ‘DGTal Blood’ (also on
the Plaestik EP) is the most uptempo and crazy track on
the release. The programming works are bashing from the
kickoff until the end, and the strong guitarriffs fit
the attitude of the track excellently. Also, be prepared
for a kickass guitar solo! ‘Alice In My Chamber’ is a
nice midtempo track, with gentle electronics and vocal
lines and here and there some touches of old school EBM
and future pop. It’s one of the more accessable tracks
that could affect a bigger audience. ‘My Girlfriend
Insanity’ is the most sensitive track of the record. The
beautiful vocal lines of N0emi sends shivers down my
spine, while the more than decent musical works don’t
let the track drown in just vocal lines. ‘Unreal’ is the
next bugger, which contains beautiful synthlines and
wicked and powerful programming works. Overall the song
has a gentle attitude, but a more complex approach is
definitely needed. ‘Silent Conversation’ is again more
of the sensitive kind, with the beautiful vocal lines
exposed excellently. I like this song better than ‘My
Girlfriend Insanity’, because it shows more diverse
musical works (specially in the synths). ‘E-Race
Generation’ has always been one of my favourite Helalyn
Flowers tracks, and that hasn’t changed at all. The
gentle electronic approach of this track mixed with the
strong guitars and vocal lines is still and will always
be a golden combination. ‘Tide Line’ is the last track
of the record, which turns out to be a more experimental
one. It has future pop influenced keylines, gentle
programming works and recogniseable vocal lines, which
all give (together with the strong guitarworks) the
track a dark atmosphere.
‘A Voluntary Coincidence’ brings us everything that we
could have expected from the release, but also a few
surprises. The song structure on tracks like ‘I’m
Human.Defective’ (my favourite track of the release and
all-time of Helalyn Flowers) and ‘Unreal’ sound
extremely simple, though it takes a lot of effort and
it’s extremely effective. Not to mention the duration of
the tracks. All the tracks are short and straight to the
point (the longest tracks are four minutes and two
seconds long, just to let you know) and most of them
contain catchy, sometimes even sing-a-long chorusses
which makes every song get stuck in your head for a
while. Also a thing nobody can’t deny: N0emi is not only
a beautiful looking girl, she is also blessed with a
beautiful voice. Sometimes sensitive, sometimes more
determined and agressive... and it never gets bored.
‘A Voluntary Coincidence’ is an essential release for
every collection of industrial metal and/or gothic out
there. Oh and by the way, if you decide to spend a few
more bucks on this CD, you’ll be getting the limited
double-CD version. It comes in a cool boxset with a few
extra goods, and a full CD with cool remixes of Latexxx
Teens, Dawn of Ashes and more! Move your assholes!
Vote: 96 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. Eye For A Day
02. I'm Human.Defective
03. Voices
04. A Sweet And Deep
Bomb In My Heart
05. DGTal Blood
06. Alice In My Chamber
07. My Girlfriend
Insanity
08. Unreal
09. Silent Conversation
10. E-Race Generation
11. Tide Line |
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