Voicians -
Shift
Track Listing:
Back Down
To The Core
Trigger
Dead End
Nails
Blaze
Along my Mind
Goodbye feat. Martin Harp (Celldweller Cover)
Limitbreaker
Shift is the second EP by artist and remixer Daniel
Voicians. His debut release, 2007's
The Inner Frame showed
Voicians' ability to meld beautiful orchestral sections with harsh electronic beats. Shift shows the same eagerness to fuse sounds from a variety of different genres. However, Shift has a greater sense of urgency and power to the sound. Without diminishing his first release, you can quickly see how far Voicians has progressed, both in musical ability and general production values. If The Inner Frame was the first tentative steps onto a new world then Shift is a full on invasion.
The opener,
Back Down hits you like the starting pistol of some futuristic conflict, machine gun synths and distorted guitar riffs are beautifully complimented by a haunting, high pitched melody in the background.
To The Core was initially released as a demo track to show fans what the second EP would sound like (the demo itself is still available for free download along with a number of other tracks at
www.voicians.net) The final version of the track has some subtle changes from the demo but the overall heavy layered sound is still present, the track leads on very well from ]Back Down. Voicians has really spread his musical wings with Shift, there is a greater EBM influence, especially on the third track
Trigger, the intro is quite a change from the first few tracks, a fast paced EBM type sound, similar to artists like
VNV Nation and
Covenant. The progression continues throughout the track, with a fast paced beat joining in. The piano breakdown at around the half way mark is simply fantastic. Piano driven closer
Along my Mind is a notable shift in tempo and is more similar to the down-tempo sound of Voicians first release, in particular the track
I saw you run.
Since Shift was released Voicians has produced two additional tracks,
Goodbye feat. Martin Harp (Celldweller Cover) and
Limitbreaker. Goodbye is a cover of a track by the one man band
Celldweller and features vocals from fellow remixer and now solo artist
Martin Harp. The cover stands up really well to the original, Harp's lighter vocals compliment Voicians moody synths perfectly. This track is available for free download from
the FiXT store. The instrumental version of the track is also available to anyone who purchases Shift. The second track Limitbreaker is only available to those who buy 'Shift', it's an instrumental track more in fitting with the rest of the EP.
Shift is a superb release, a cohesive collection of orchestral and electronic tracks that would not sound out of place on the score to a futuristic action film or game. It's always hard working out whether it's worth spending money on an unknown artist, if you're still in doubt then download Goodbye (featuring Martin Harp) and the demos available from Voicians website at the links throughout the review, you can also stream the full tracks from his
Last.FM page. The EP itself can be purchased from the FiXT music store at
www.fixtstore.com.