Wombatmusic - Shameful Silence

MattMan, May 01, 2007

Shameful Silence is easily one of the best albums Ive heard in 2007, and the way this album has grown on me these last few days, I suspect itll stay that way for a long time. Wombatmusic aka Elysium has now released a rock solid 12-track album through Chill Tribe Records. The album varies over a number of genres, with excellent continuity throughout its playtime. What struck me the most interesting about Shameful Silence, is the way some of the tracks are built up in a rather nontraditional way towards their end/climax.. Were all familiar with layer after layer being pumped over each other, some more blatant than others, but these tracks introduce buildups much more seamlessly and interesting. This is evident in the tracks "World Travelling Eclipse Chasers", "Artificial Earth Satellite", and "Shameful Silence I". This is also undoubtedly one of the key aspects of why I can recommend this album to any fan of chill out, ambient and electronic music. The struggle for an original sound is getting progressively harder within the genre of chilled out electronic music these days, but I feel this album still has something different to offer.
There are some real gems in here, impressive tracks to say the least. I will argue that Shameful Silence is more experimental than most of Elysiums previous work, and I appreciate it for its originality and creativity. Its filled with electronic soundscapes really blending in and out of each other, changing, and making you really stop and listen. Taking every advantage of the possibilities within two-channel stereo sound, the effects and holography this album is riddled with is truly a musical journey in itself. Well chosen vocal samples blending into the beats and melodies makes this an album standing very much on its own feet. I would describe almost none of the tracks as pure chill, there is certainly some fire under the kettle as an overall feel. There are even some mid-track tempo-changes! All inn all you find yourself getting increasingly interested in this album throughout its progress.

Shameful Silence is the first album released from Chill Tribe Records, where the quality of production, engineering and mastering is still consistent in every way. After a few listens you realize this is musically very much alike the tracks in the three previous compilations, all the more reason to check this album out.. Two thumbs up!

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