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Compared with most of the posts on tranceaddict, the harmony, frienship and constructivism of this section amaze me. Please forgive me if I sound rude, but rest assured I’m giving you the most honest review I can possibly write. I have a very limited vocabulary but I will try to do my best.
First impression: I Heard it a couple of times. One before going to sleep, and interestingly I didn´t fall asleep.
Glaciation can be described in one word, WEAK. It lacks that element that captures the listener attention. It was painfully boring to hear, however I gave it a chance to hear it until the end. Why is this album lacking of personality? Because it is not aggressive. You are being too shy when developing melodies; and melody is everything. Although you have nice elements like details, some good transitions, and a couple of nice ideas; the main failure of this album is the lack of developed melodies.
LV241 - It is nice to start an album with an original intro like this. It seems however a copy of Armins remix of Aria - Dido. The slow beat is unnecessary and a better choice would have been a subtle melody instead.
Decapod 10 - Two horrendous melodies here. The first ones is a 4 tone melody that doesn’t work, and I emphasize again that the lack of development of melodies is the main failure of Glaciation. The second one is a more developed one but it’s also boring. Some nice elements like the mano a mano of melodies, but that only work if those were good.
Infinitude - I hate breaks, sorry. The guitar idea was nice but again a weak 4 tone melody does nothing. Suddenly the tune is saved by what I consider the only actual melody of the album. You could have developed it more however; being the main melody it is not used enough through the tune.
Hypnotoad - Finally some trance. That bass could have had a more protagonic role. The drums were a nice twist. The 4 tone melody is useless; monotony and more monotony again again again.
Voyage Into Darkness - It welcomes with a repetitive boring melody and fails completely when the slow breaks come in. Interesting details however can be heard, like the voice on the background.
Arctic Dawn - This is just a transition between two tracks. It could have been more effective if shorter.
Lost Without Trace (No Way Back) - Oh noe more breaks. However the most unpleasant aspect of this track is the shameless melody on the background. What is that? A 3 tone melody? Please. It tries to get better when the rhythm accelerates. I heard some acid elements in the last part, nice ideas but those only work on really fast tunes.
Orchestral Interlude - This would have been a great intro. No rushed beat, subtle melody. Short melodies work when there is slow or no rhythm.
No Such Thing As Two - I almost gave up at this point. Breaks and 5 tone melody. You have good elements that could work if the melody had more personality, but not on this mediocrity.
Esquilax - Interesting bass. Full of details.
Wither - This almost works because of the first piano melody. It is somehow nostalgic. The one that comes after that is monotone and out of place.
Lights Out - Very very good start, subtle melody which sound powerful because there is no rythm; the perfect end for an album. It reminded me of Jarre. Then the breaks comes in and all goes to hell. Nice effort however, as it is filled with little details.
Hidden track - It shouldn’t be hidden because it could have been used as a more proper ending.
Transitions: One bias I have when listening artists albums is that they cant be listened from the same perspective of a mix CD. Artist albums will sound much less varied, so the transitions, or whatever are called on an artist album, are a completely different thing. Some times there are no transitions between tracks, which is strange because they are actually good. You have some good elements to make transitions larger and avoid the change of tracks being so evident.
Title: Maybe it was the radio talking on this first tune, but from start to end I thought this album had nothing to do with a Glaciation. It gave me the impression of a futuristic movie like Terminator or something, but no a glaciation whatsoever.
Covers: Why are the covers so small? They are useless at that size. Anyway they were designed for the title of the album which was a wrong choice.
Overall: Never heard of Glaciaton before. I read the description where it said a journey through styles, including Psy............. Psy ???????????? I mean PSY???????? How dare you?
I like to listen music while not doing other things with my head. For example, not when working. I do it when going in a bus, when waiting for a person, etc. That allows me to appreciate very subtle details that you can’t if you have your mind somewhere else. Well this album is full of those little details, obviously you invested hard efforts on it, which is potential for future proyects; but monotony of melodies embraces Glaciation.
Suggestions: Develop your melodies, risk to be more agressive, 4 tones melodies doesn’t work. It turns the music repetitive and boring. The melody from Infinitude piano is a good start, but they can be improved by expanding them to different notes. I don't know the musical term but I know you have heard for example a melody that loops several times, and then suddenly that same melody starts looping in a higher range of notes. You can use that. You could develop rythms and bass even more, as you have some interesting ideas. Esquilax and Hypnotoad are good examples.
Thank you.
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