Supenik
When you listen to an album, what do you want to hear? What do you enjoy listening to? What do you expect? Upon my first listen to a new record, I want something that is going to keep me interested from the first track to the last. I want to be able to experience each song as an individual and not have the same atmosphere, impressions or experiences placed over me three or four times and I want something that I can go “huh” at and be surprised.
When I tucked into to the new release from Dartmoor four-piece Supenik, I was quite surprised by the material, or more so my reaction to what I was listening to. For one thing, there is no individual song, not one that stands out as superior or more appealing than the rest, and remember this is an eighteen-track album. The majority of songs follow a similar pattern that ‘Econ’ opens with on ‘No Work All Play’, consisting of one basic repeated riff, which is gradually built upon in some way. Some have beeps causing havoc with the attention span of a listener, others are electric with the odd solo musical arrangement, ‘Death Stare’ has a small intermediate quiet section and the bulk have vocal contributions consists of an aggressive edge. A few other songs have the electric hums running through them like blood running through veins. ‘Zombie’ follows this musical method but has absolutely no vocal, which actually stands out as a benefit and not a draw back. Likewise there are two tracks, ‘Adjudicator’ and ‘Hold On’ that stand out for their short snippets of music and ‘Race’ for its contradicting title and slower rhythm.
This is an album of catchy material, even though much of it sounds repeated and recycled. Recycling may be good for the environment but recycled musical melodies is a different matter. Having said that, I did seem to enjoy listening to the same sounding songs and rhythms on this record than others I have had to put up with that follow a similar suit. There is something hidden beneath the layers of this album that keeps you occupied.