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Artist: DOPE STARS
INC.
Album: Gigahearts
Year: 2006
One of the more workaholic bands in the industrial metal
scene is definitely Italy’s Dope Stars Inc. These very
talented and popular guys released their debut album
‘Neuromance’ last year, followed by the ‘Make A Star EP’
this year, and even the second full lenght seemed
finished in time to have it released in 2006. The fans
were happy but also a bit sceptic: Isn’t this too fast
after ‘Neuromance’? Couldn’t it be better for them if
they took more time to write new songs? Will this album
be a bummer because of that? Well, we had the time to
find the answers to these questions for you. In exchange,
you’ll have to read this review all to the bottom though.
The first track is called ‘Multiplatform Paradise’. This
is an excellent cyber punk track, which features some
powerful guitarwork and a catchy chorus. Maybe not as
extreme as Punish Yourself’s works, but I am quite sure
their fans will dig this one too. ‘Beatcrusher’ is one
of the different kind. Lots of EBM/electro works in this
one, but somehow it seems that the song never really
gets released out of its cage. ‘Braindamage’ is probably
the most catchy track of the record, with a pounding
bassriff and the caracteristic vocal lines of Victor
Love. ‘Lost’ is a song referring to the preverious
albums. On ‘Neuromance’ we had a more sensitive track
too, and ‘Lost’ is it’s little brother featured on ‘Gigahearts’.
Easy listening, a little catchy and very decent. ‘Can
You Imagine’ surprisingly follows the path of the
preverious song, with easy EBM beats and sampling and
vocal works with a lot of sorrow in it. ‘Play’n’Kill’,
the next track, brings you back to the basics of Dope
Stars Inc. Fast and danceable beats mixed with powerful
guitars and recogniseable vocal lines make this song a
potential dancefloor killer. ‘Bang Your Head’ is
powerful too, but less powerful than ‘Play’n’Kill’. It
features a marching beat, drilling electronics and a
sing-a-long chorus. ‘Just The Same For You’ is an easy
listening synth/EBM track, which kind of sounds a little
weird in the beginning, but the more the song continues
the more I started to appreciate it. ‘Technologic Age’
is a more rhytmic and danceable track again. It features
a very catchy chorus, an excellent synth line and some
easy but cool programming. ‘Citizen Xt99’ features the
most wicked sampling of the record. The chorus features
experimental low vocals and Rammstein likely guitarwork.
‘Critical World’ is another typical Dope Stars Inc. song
featuring the catchy chorus and the high electronic
influences.
In the end, the album turned out to have more variation
than the ‘Neuromance’ record and the ‘Make A Star’ EP.
Lots of this variation is caused due to some
experimental sample works. This is of course a good
point, but it also has a shade side. Dope Stars Inc. was
one of those bands that created an own and unique style
already on the debut album, and I sure hope that they
are on their guard to keep that own style. ‘Gigahearts’
clearly has more influences from other bands (Zeromancer
and Deadstar Assembly for example) which gave them a
more mature sound, but I think it would be a pity if
they’d lose their punky attitude and style completely.
Another point of discussion is the number of ‘bashing’
tracks on this album. For if you have no idea what it
means, let me explain. ‘Neuromance’ featured some very
powerful and fast tracks like ’Infection 13’, ‘Self
Destructive Corp’ and ’10.000 Watts’. If you search for
these kind of tracks on ‘Gigahearts’, you’ll only find
one (namely ‘Play’n’Kill’). I myself think that those
‘faster’ tracks are the best Dope Stars Inc. tracks (by
which I also explained to you what my favourite track of
this album is), so in my eyes (and ears!) this is a
lesser point of this album. But, considering all the
good points of it too (since the songs are quality, and
this album will probably apply a lot of people), the
album will recieve an excellent rating anyway.
Vote: 90 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. Multiplatform
Paradise
02. Beatcrusher
03. Braindamage
04. Lost
05. Can You Imagine
06. Play 'N' Kill
07. Bang Your Head
08. Just The Same For
You
09. Technologic Age
10. Citizen Xt99
11. Critical World
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