Ordo Ab Chao
(self-financed)
21:25min
I am an American. In school, we tend to learn about other Americans like Thomas Edison, the real "go-getter" types who forge their way into history and success with their unfettered industriousness. Americans love a good success story, which is probably why most Americans despite it being a forgotten landmark of New York state, couldn’t tell you what the hell WARDENCLYFFE is. WARDENCLYFFE is both the lofty dream and imminent failure of visionary inventor Nikola Tesla. It was a tower meant to emit frequencies that theoretically were to transmit power and information, get this, "without wires". Does this sound like a different version of something you might have heard of…? While his methods were untested on the large scale and his research thwarted by lack of funding, it safe to say that Tesla was one of those people who saw the goddam future and wanted us all to fearlessly take the journey there together. These stories, too are important because they remind us that fame and success tend to be one thing, while those who dare to conceptualize that the world Historical rants aside, there is a lot about this album that seems to channel (pun not intended) the spirit of WARDENCLYFFE. The opening of ‘Orcadian Dream’ is ominous, crunchy and distorted before climaxing into a steady current (…again with the puns) of pinch harmonic "squealies" à la PANTERA. I can’t help but think of the vibrations of WARDENCLYFFE causing fearful journalists to cry out that it may "vibrate the earth’s crust and split it in two" or something to that effect. It’s characteristics like these that make WARDENCLYFFE an interesting listen, yet what I feel needs some "settling" is the vocals. ‘Behind The Shadow Of The Goat’ sounds more like a conventional Doom Metal song less interested in bending genres, which in some ways makes it the most cohesive of the album, while ‘Macroshift’ is searching to become the album’s "most epic" and for the most part succeeds; I think there are a lot of good directions in this album but perhaps more than one has caused the overall goal to be lost. Unlike Tesla, however, I am not entirely worried about WARDENCLYFFE. They appear interested in experimenting with different styles rather than pigeonholing themselves out of the gate. www.facebook.com/pages/wardenclyffe/465190890185907, http://wardenclyffe.bandcamp.com
Angelica Jannone