Review - Subliminal Stimuli - First Power

If you thought you were gonna top MyDoom in 2 months, you got another thing coming. Welcome to the review for First Power.

When Rain told me he was releasing a new album in February, I was like "WHHHAAAAAAAAAAT? Already? Isn't the standard album release time for an album AT LEAST a year and a half?" Well actually, it isn't. With the ever-growing popularity of Bandcamp and Soundcloud, plus the new trend of artists releasing a new EP every few months, people have grown quite accustomed to releasing new music whenever the hell they feel like it. Nevertheless, sometimes it's good to wait, and this album is a testament to that.

I can understand that Rain had been going through a few dramatic life changes at the time and his creative juices were flowing heavily, but with everything else that was going on, and everything else he'd been trying to accomplish in his life, it's obvious his focus wasn't 100% on his music. I'm not condemning him for this at all; I think it would have been perfectly fine if he needed to take time to focus on other things. In that case, he should have been able to do his thing, and make music on the side, without releasing it. But Channel Q was in need of some new material.

Wait, who's Channel Q?

Exactly.

Basically, another friend wanted Rain to release an album specially for his personal "netlabel" (which even Google can't find unless you've memorized the URL to the letter), so Rain just decided to take all his best WIPs at the time and quickly finish them up. And being the pal that I am, I took it upon myself to listen to the album in its entirety, and critique it. Knowing what I know about the production skills of Subliminal Stimuli, I know that this isn't his best work; it shows that Rain has mastered the basics of dubstep and trap, and his still working on being able to make progressive house that incorporates a unique Subliminal trademark but still sounds like the work of a professional. Aaaaand that's pretty much it. By the lack of layers, sound effects to fill the empty spaces, and general pizzazz, it's pretty clear that he was either rushed or bored.

The best track, in my opinion, includes the vocal skills of the late Eazy-E, of whom Rain happens to be a huge fan. He adds some nuances to it with his use of synth guitars and a sort of dark trip-hop beat. But again, the simplicity of the whole thing, especially the "drop" - one note transposed upward twice, and then transposed downward twice - makes it rather boring.

There are other parts that stand out, like the vocals in "First Power" and "TimeBomb," the lackluster, note-less "Perturbation," and the melancholic melodies of "We Will Make It Through This (ft. Remi)" and "Buddy Boy." What it all comes down to, though, is that I only find this album acknowledgeable because I know the producer. To anyone else, it'll probably just sound like more amateur dubstep.

That album cover is pretty bad-ass though.

Favorite tracks: John Doe, Perturbation, TimeBomb, We Will Make It Through This, Buddy Boy