First time I heard this, I called it amazing. Now that I've sobered up a bit (so to speak), I would say it's pretty good. So, probably somewhere between pretty good and amazing. I do notice the repetition more and maybe they rely a little too much on being loud in order to get noticed. The latter has been a general trend for several decades now, though, so not particular to this. It is louder than a lot of other recent stuff I've listened to, though, so just be aware of that. Something to scare your parents/neighbours/pets with‽
Track #10, "to fade away", starting midway, made me think of some of LFO's wilder work, especially "Whistle While You Jerk" (from 2003). It has that same great drive and… uhm… bombasticity, while taking everything a couple of steps higher and further (into the future :). Same with "HRK-zazh". While the album might start a little tame—which some might thank it for—this is the point where it really takes off into another dimension (and also where my review started to take off). A bit like a DJ-set getting wilder and wilder as the evening progresses. A problem with many sets, as I see it, is that they stop whence they should have started. This release doesn't suffer from that; it just keeps going.
Other favourite tracks, from the second half, include "magic mirror" or "Mane source internete", both nicely summarizing the whole album (in a synecdoche kind of way). The first half isn't all tame, though, nor without favourites (among which I could mention "KIJ-masrmaszkya YX" or "An analogue"). There's enough drive here to push you over the threshold (however floaty or fuzzy that threshold may be; maybe a quarter in or something like that). Then, the second half starts and keeps going up and up and beyond until the end. To be quite honest, It's almost as if every track were a bit of a favourite; some a little tamer, some a little wilder. Even my least favourite, "Afterlife", isn't too shabby, albeit a little too stable, a little too tame for my tastes.
If you're into jungle, braindance, dubstep, *core, or any of the forerunners, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy this one too. I certainly did. Is it a "story of awe, terror, and catharsis"? Sure, I could go with that. Mostly awe, though. I reserve the terror for my neighbours—and their cathexis. :) Don't overthink it, just experience it; feel it in your bones.
★★★
Footnotes:
- When I say "LFO", I mean the British electronic act releasing between 1990 and 2003, with hits like "Freak", "Butterslut", or the aforementioned whistle song.
- Some of my favourite vsnares releases were "brickwalled", so eh. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Oxford comma, yay!
- Halfway through writing this review, I started reading about Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim—in German (a language I don't really know all that well).