The energetic percussion, gurgling bass, and cinematic pads immediately hooked me into the first track of The Rubicon Saga, an electronic IDM concept album depicting a long fought battle between human and machine.
Note: The album description suggests there is a written story to go along with the music. I find multimedia experiences like this exciting, but the story was not provided anywhere immediately accessible from the Bandcamp page, so unfortunately I was not able to have the full experience for this review.
Between the mid-tempo breakbeat of track 2, Death Trap, the dub-trance bass of track 5, ERRORS, and the uptempo darkwave foundation of track 8, Rubicon (my personal favorite track on the album), the album explores a wide variety of styles within electronic music. There's a touch of acid house here, a sprinkle of DnB over there, the occasional Boards of Canada style rhythmically chopped vocal sample, and I could go on but I hope the point is clear. The artist, Voidscan, quite clearly has done their homework and the net result is a constantly morphing album that could be used as a showcase of electronic music variety all while maintaining a distinct industrial scifi aesthetic.
However, perhaps as a result of this variety, the album occasionally had difficulty keeping my attention. The structure at times feels formulaic and the production repetitive. At its best, the album is absolutely captivating, but during its lower points, I find myself wondering if it would have benefited from a more focused compositional approach. Those doubts are always short lived in my mind however, since I'm inevitably pulled back in a few moments later.
I should emphasize that I'm really nitpicking here. When the album hits, which is most of the time, it really hits. I always listen to the album I'm reviewing multiple times and upon each listen to this album, I find myself more engaged in those lower points mentioned above.
I have no doubt that I'll return to this album in the future. For this album, I recommend getting comfortable, putting on a decent pair of headphones, and closing your eyes.