SOGAN - Reckless Abandon
SOBAN released Reckless Abandon on October 31st, 2021. The album didn’t so much borrow as it stole from the cannon of hard rock, electronic metal and drum & bass. While it did a good job at the instrumentals, its vocals ruined the experience.
The album opens simply with a deep breath and mild ambience. Things quickly escalate, with a rampart synth line, a pounding drum and fuzzy guitars. Sun rarely repeats an idea as it constantly ramps up its delirium. Sadly, SOBAN’s vocals are quite flat. The problem is the album is experimental (respectfully so), yet the vocals teether into dark metal too blandly, and the artist cannot reach low-enough octaves for it to work. Moreover, they’re mixed far too loudly, as if they were aiming for singer-songwriter territories. Resultingly, the sound ends up sounding cheesy as opposed to brooding. While I’m in support of the political protest of Political Silence, it’s apparent the lyrics came first when writing the music. Evidently, the remaining track sounds like a lame System of a Down knockoff. Its main highlights are the drum patterns; it’s a shame they aren’t acoustic. Born Into This has some of the most fascinating and absorbing instrumentals, yet they’re marred by a bland and over-sterile vocal delivery that sadly takes up most of the mix.
The second half of the album is far more notable. Endless gets the balance right, but it may deter those who don’t align with its political stance. All and Everything is a pop-punk/nu-metal rip-off which only faulters due to its lack of imagination but has a solid amount of energy. If Only has a rocking riff, but it fizzles out. Sadly, the closer Stories We Tell Ourselves is another song ruined by the vocals and unimaginative lyrics.
Vocals, apart from the solid screams and adlibs, ruin an otherwise solid record on half of Reckless Abandon. Everything else is on point, though. It’s a shame the artist didn’t explore the drum and base segments more, such as the awesome Ajedi. The synth sections are also quite rocking but are too far apart. It’s apparent the main goal on Reckless Abandon was to get a political message out, and not make a musical statement. A shame, as the artist is quite talented. Here’s hoping he releases a more introspective and focused effort after this shit-show is over.
Bad
Listen to it here:
SOGAN - Reckless Abandon
