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| 2010 | TRANCECORE | HARDCORE | METALCORE |
Track Listing
1. Intro (Teleportation)
2. Suit & Tie ✔
3. Shades
4. Wasted ✔
5. Makes Bad ✔
6. Satellite
7. Crossed Borderline
8. Dance Macabre
9. In The Mix (Electronic Trancestep Melody)
10. Trancefornation Part. 1
11. Trancefornation Part. 2
11. Trancefornation Part. 2
✔ indicates track pick
Rating
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Review
Walk into a room and mention the term 'Trancecore'. There's almost no doubt that this will bring you a few collective groans; and they're certainly justified. If you've been living under a rock for the past five years and have no idea what I'm talking about, then I'll do my best to elaborate. Trancecore is a relatively new trend which has recently exploded into the mainstream, with acts such as 'Enter Shikari' and 'Asking Alexandria' leaping up the music charts. The basic concept is the combination of hardcore and metalcore music coupled with electronic elements, with the intention of appealing to both the metal heads and the clubbers. It's an innovative idea and while a couple of bands manage to pull it off with style, the talented acts are simply swamped by the number of repetive and dull musicians who are invading the scene and sucking the life out of the concept. High pitched auto-tuned vocals, chugging guitar rhythms and stale breakdowns; remove the electronics and you've just got yourself another post hardcore band filled with angst ridden teenagers trying to make it big. However disregard everything I've just said. 'Fail Emotions' are nothing like these bands. In fact they're like nothing you've ever heard before.
Walk into a room and mention the term 'Trancecore'. There's almost no doubt that this will bring you a few collective groans; and they're certainly justified. If you've been living under a rock for the past five years and have no idea what I'm talking about, then I'll do my best to elaborate. Trancecore is a relatively new trend which has recently exploded into the mainstream, with acts such as 'Enter Shikari' and 'Asking Alexandria' leaping up the music charts. The basic concept is the combination of hardcore and metalcore music coupled with electronic elements, with the intention of appealing to both the metal heads and the clubbers. It's an innovative idea and while a couple of bands manage to pull it off with style, the talented acts are simply swamped by the number of repetive and dull musicians who are invading the scene and sucking the life out of the concept. High pitched auto-tuned vocals, chugging guitar rhythms and stale breakdowns; remove the electronics and you've just got yourself another post hardcore band filled with angst ridden teenagers trying to make it big. However disregard everything I've just said. 'Fail Emotions' are nothing like these bands. In fact they're like nothing you've ever heard before.
'Fail Emotions' are a Russian six piece band and I honestly believe they're the first true Trancecore artist, the first artist to craft the music that the genre name suggests. Their band page description reads across in comically broken English; "the band is rapidly gaining momentum and rushing forwards to the new tops". However they're certainly wise for attempting to reach out to an English speaking audience, as their location is the largest drawback that's keeping this band from becoming widespread, alongside their American counterparts. The reason that Fail Emotions stands out from the crowd is their consideration for both sides of the style; making sure there's a balance between the trance and hardcore aspects, rather than simply being a hardcore band with some crappy trance thrown in. As well as finding the perfect levels between both, they also explore a more technical side within both sub-genres. The instrumental opener, appropriately titled 'Intro' demonstrates this perfectly; rather than just ambient noise as with many album openers, this stands on its own as a proper song. Playful trance melodies escalate the tension for the first two minutes, before the pounding guitars and drums kick in. The drummer keeps the double kickers running while the electronics always remain center stage, backed by heavy guitar chords and climaxing with a crushingly brutal breakdown. And the album has hardly begun.
'Suit & Tie' and follows, and this is where we get the first look at the band's signature sound. A pulsating synth riff plays off against the hard hitting drums and guitar chords. Instead of following the song patterns of a hardcore song, it takes on more of a feel of a trance anthem. Soon after the clean auto-tuned voice enters, followed by a breakdown just before the minute mark, where we get the first taste of the screamed vocals. Personally I feel the clean vocals are nothing above anything else in the scene; they're certainly good but once a voice is auto-tuned it looses a lot of the individual characteristics in the sound that would usually vary from singer to singer. But don't let this put you off; the screams are certainly up to standard, and I'd listen to this band simply for the music alone. 'Wasted' is another album highlight among many; it's the pop song of the album. It's simply the contrast of dynamics that makes this song so powerful; opening soft and with mellow electronic verses, so when the infectiously catchy chorus comes along, it hits even harder. This is one of the songs where the auto-tuned vocals work so well, exploring a wide dynamic range and meshing perfectly with the gentle verses and powerful chorus.
In fact I could write a section full of praise on every song in this album if I wanted to. It's a brilliant creation from start to finish. It's also got such a brilliant overall sound production wise, with everything sounding heavy and large and featuring some top notch quality synths. What's even more amazing is the fact that the band produced and mixed this album themselves, crafting a better sound than you'll hear from most of the mainstream hardcore acts today. I used to think this was a dead genre, but after listening to this band my faith is renewed. Viva la Trancecore!
Fail Emotions Is...
Pavel Mayorov - Clean Vocals
Vlad Akimov - Screamed Vocals
Ilya Fatal - Guitar, Electronics
Kiril Yurtaikin - Bass
Ilya Korneinkov - Guitar
Roman Brizgunov - Drums
Ilya Fatal - Guitar, Electronics
Kiril Yurtaikin - Bass
Ilya Korneinkov - Guitar
Roman Brizgunov - Drums
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Track 5. Makes Bad
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