3xperimental
Symphony of Elements

3xperimental does a symphony about the elements, the earth, water, fire and air along with some additional stuff. It is essentially a one-man project by JB Vincent, there are some guests, but they do very little in terms of the grand scheme of things. This is the second independent release by Vincent, the first one arrived last year. The cover of this new release doesn’t sport the coolest of artworks, but the concept is interesting, and the project name would suggest that there is some adventurous and experimental spirit behind the songs.

It is atmospheric black metal with room for piano and some grand sounds, it is a pretty interesting concept. The black metal vocals are both typical and dull, the tempo is on the low side, but variation is good, and the sound is pretty good as well. There are some unexpected variation I styles and tempo here and there, it is unfortunate that these feel a bit forced and interrupts the flow of the songs, it kind of feels like the songs are chopped up between the parts rather than a progression of elements, not quite a symphony. A telling part is that the album is only seven tracks and still feels way too long.

It isn’t a bad album, there are some strong parts and some impressive parts, but over the duration it feels like a pretty dreary thing. The potential and concept promise way more than what is delivered, and to me it seems like an album that could have been made great with small improvements. The production could be better with cleaner sound, the songs could have a better flow, this lack of flow is my major niggle with this album as it feels like it doesn’t really want me to listen and tries to make me drop focus and think of other things instead. If Vincent can address these things there is a good chance that he will put something fairly magnificent together.

The world of music is a rough place and there is nothing that comes for free, a good idea does not make for a successful album. You also need to show something more than an interesting concept as you need to be really great to be considered above average as there are so many good musicians out there that are capable of putting together good albums that they saturate the marked and good becomes boring, exceptional becomes slightly above average and most of the stuff you don’t want to bother with – like this and countless other decent albums.

HHHHHHH