I have to warn you – this is not a success story like in those inspirational posts. Quite the contrary, it is a history of failure and futile sacrifice.
I learned a thing or two, even thought learning them was not worth all the hassle.
I have always had strong views regarding privacy. I am not a great fan of corporations like Facebook, Google etc.
I don’t think that this permanent surveillance model they promote will turn out to be good for us.
I understand that if you are 20 years old now, you probably cannot really get what my problem is. You grew up with these things, you know no different.
I simply cannot imagine a scenario, where vast knowledge about our every word, every choice and every step coupled with AI could mean something good for us.
Knowing our past inside out means enormous power to predict and influence our future choices. Knowing our secrets, health problems, fears – this means even more power.
I cannot imagine how this power could be used for my good. And I can easily imagine, how this power will be abused.
So I was willing to go an extra mile and inconvenience myself in order to reduce my exposure to what I believed is wrong.
I paid the price and achieved nothing
Over five years ago, on the day when GDPR – European privacy law – came into effect I closed my Facebook account.
I thought that times of my public activity as a music promoter are gone. Some personal issues also played a role.
I deleted my Facebook account, and guess what happened: I ceased to exist socially.
What did I achieve? Nothing. I have nothing to show for all these years of me going Amish.
I just sacrificed my social life and suffered loneliness – in vein. I distanced myself from people I cared about. I got nothing in return but a sense of standing on the moral high ground.
I say that with a lot of sarcasm, of course. I did hurt myself, not “them”.
So now I am back, tail between my legs, trying to be a good boy so Facebook does not ban my newly created account.
I gave them one of my real phone numbers (had to give them a number some real people have in their phones), a real photo of myself. I have a separate computer that is not connected to a VPN when I use Facebook.
I voluntarily let this data vampire to bite me.
These companies who effectively monopolised certain important parts of our lives always say we have a choice. We can click no during installation, we are not forced to use their products.
Can you click no on your social life, on your friends? Is Facebook a choice then?
Nowadays you cannot conduct normal life without it. Certainly you cannot conduct any kind of musical or artistic activity.
The younger you are, the more indispensable this stuff becomes.
But why in order to keep in touch with friends do I need to surrender my privacy to some company?
Does this convenience have to come at such an enormous cost? Is it the best this world and technology has to offer? An always-watching Big Brother over my shoulder?
Do I need to – in order to see what my friends are up to – wade through tons of some idiotic content and ads created by some marketers trying to sell me something or make me do something, think something?
Do I have to suffer the sight of politicians spending my own money to get in front of my eyeballs, peddling their poison, trying to play my emotions?
Those fighting the system are in fact it’s slaves
Do I really have to support corporations when I want to support an underground and independent band?
The ironic thing is, that independent musicians – those seemingly opposing “the system” – are completely dependent on all this stuff.
The “system” owns them more than anybody else. Those singing about corporations being evil cannot exist without them.
Big pop stars will survive no problem if Facebook, Bandcamp or Spotify cuts them off. Independent musicians will simply disappear.
Independent musicians are completely at the mercy of Facebook. I realised this years ago and started building a mailing list – an old post about it here, even more relevant today than back then.
If Facebook takes away your band’s page, you are gone. This is how much you depend on them as an “independent” artist. This is how much they own you, your band and your fans.
In this post Side-Line Music exposes some weird Facebook’s attempts to monetize their fan page. They can do this, and more. Remember: they own your fanpage.
It is them or oblivion – so you will have to put up with whatever scheme they come up with. There is no escaping these tentacles, not for those at the bottom.
And if we cannot escape, then we should learn to live with it.
This is what I did not understand when I was deleting my own account. But I had to do it, suffer the consequences, learn it the hard way.
Well now at least you can read this and spare yourself the hassle.
The fallacy of choice
I had to prove to myself that there is no choice, that the “no” button is not a real option. That it is there not as a real choice, but to create an illusion of choice.
Today I know that this “no” button is just the first of many lies. It exists so you think that you have made a choice. In fact, there was no choice.
They ask for your consent, so it is you who bears the burden of responsibility. What kind of meaningful negotiations can you have with a multi-billion enterprise? There is no negotiations. You do what they want or you have no social life.
This is the deal they are offering you. You agreed – so everything is fine. Now you have only yourself to blame for what they will do with your privacy, data and life.
Depriving someone of social interactions is used as a punishment in prison. To punish more those already being punished. This is how hard they can and do push you to press this “I agree” button.
I did press the “no” button, suffered the consequences and learned a lesson.
And the lesson is that we have no choice but to live with all these corporations who grabbed and effectively own our social relationships.
This is the reality.
No surrender
We have to live with them, but we do not have to surrender to them.
Just treat all these Facebooks and Googles like some kind of occupying force.
Because in reality this is exactly what they are: a force occupying and feeding off our private lives, our friendships, our relations and connections.
They are data and privacy vampires. They gather more information that the worst totalitarian countries ever did or currently do – China included.
They make Orwellian Big Brother look more like Good Uncle.
They took our privacy without asking, set the rules and appointed themselves as owners of our data. As those with unlimited permission to look into every detail of our lives and use this knowledge for profit.
And if we say no to them, then we pay with our entire social life.
If you try to fight them directly you will only just hurt yourself. But you can always resist.
You not only can, you should.
How to resist?
Here is what will hurt them most with no negative impact on your experience: do use an ad blocker. Here you have a whole post about why ad blocking is so important.
Also use Firefox browser with Facebook containter extension.
Firefox allows adblock types that Chrome does not, as they block google ads too. This is why you should use Firefox, not Chrome.
You have to remember that Chrome is owned by Google and will never allow anything that goes against Google’s goals.
And Google’s possible goals is not to protect your privacy, but to have exclusive access to it.
So: switch to Firefox and use an adblock.
These things are extremely disruptive for the surveillance model with almost no cost to you.
Ad blocking hurts the surveillance business the most, because their vast knowledge about you is worth nothing if they cannot display you ads, if they cannot put their message in front of you.
And this is exactly what an adblock does. Makes them unable to influence you, despite all their power and knowledge about you. It makes them unable to exercise their power.
This is why they do whatever they can to make you use their app. With the app, they not only gain access to everything you have on the phone and your location but most of all – they are in full control of what you see.
They can serve you ads in a way that is impossible to block. This is exactly the reason you should not use Facebook app on your phone – if you can.
Nowadays so many people use an adblocker (some sources say over 40% of users), that going hard after them is a risky option. Facebook needs you on their platform, because you and everybody else being there makes it so indispensable.
So even if they cannot show you ads, you are still valuable. You create an incentive for others to being on Facebook – by interacting, providing content, discussing, liking etc.
The landscape is shifting, changes are possible
We are living in times when hegemony of Facebook and Google can be challenged, when better deal for the users can be achieved.
Twitter (aka X) is changing. They start recognising content creators and want to pay them a share of ad revenue. So there will be competition for those creator-users between platforms – a good thing.
Free version of ChatGPT – still in its infancy – already beats Google in many ways. For example in solving programming related problems. It is such a relief not to have to dig through Stack Overflow to find answers.
So the times are good for resistance.
What to do with adblock beggars
What if some website ask you to disable adblock, like they often do?
Just show them your middle finger and go somewhere else. This way you teach them a lesson, not the other way around.
This is them who has to switch to a privacy oriented model or be gone. Don’t worry, real creators will find a way, they always do. It is not on you to support legacy models by sacrificing your privacy.
Don’t give in, go somewhere else.
You may not be able to live without Facebook, but you can easily live without some random websites trying to force you to do what they want.
They do not have Facebook’s power, tell them to go f themselves.
Quick mobile phone privacy tips
Have a disposable phone number on a device that does not contain your contacts or any other private information. Use it for particularily bad apps, signups, verification etc. Keep your real contacts and photos out of reach of the corpos on another device.
I call this solution a “dirty phone”.
Don’t use Facebook app on your phone. Use Signal instead of Whatsapp. Replace Gmail with more private solution.
If you are tech savvy use LineageOS without Google Apps if you cannot afford an Iphone (I can’t but I believe iPhone is slightly better for privacy – Apple obviously gathers your data, but Google knows too much already. So you diversify.)
For those who want to use popular apps MicroG coupled with LineageOS may be a solution. Motorola phones are a particularily good choice if you want functional privacy on a tight budget.
And last, but not least – if you are really ready to jump into it, give Ubuntu Touch a chance. I used this system on my main phone for a good while. It was usable a couple of years ago, I believe it could get only better now.
If you care about privacy, please donate to the foundation behind Ubuntu Touch. One day this system may change our corporation-ridden mobile phone landscape too. We have no better hope than those guys when it comes to privacy on the phone.
Parting thoughts
Whatever you do, please do not volunteer private information. Don’t fill profiles, workplaces, previous employers, addresses.
Do not discuss private or important matters on non-secure corporation-owned communication channels.
Try to be with people in person, not online.
Do just one or a couple of the above, and you’ll be much better off when the shit hits the fan.
And hit the fan it will my friend, you can bet on that.
In this post I am not saying you should stop buying downloads. I just share my opinion on why – in it’s current state – it is not the best thing you can do if you care about independent music.
I want to help you to become a smart, aware and responsible supporter. Because sometimes the fan has to be smarter that the band.
In the title I say “paid downloads” but nowadays – at least in our dark independent scene – it became synonymous with “Bandcamp downloads”. Bandcamp is simply the most widely used platform.
If so, there is an important question that is begging to be asked:
Who owns Bandcamp?
I bet you never asked yourself this question when you happily paid their fees. So let me tell you.
Bancamp is owned by Epic Games, a game industry behemoth from the USA.
But who owns Epic Games? It is owned by Tim Sweeney who holds more than 50% of the company. The remainder is owned by Chinese video game company TenCent, which holds 40% of Epic Games.
Who owns TenCent you may ask. Well check wikipedia, some rich people who are on good enough terms with the Communist Party of China to be able to do business in their human rights and democracy loving country.
What is my point? That unfortunately your good-hearted donation (music purchase is in fact a donation) to an underground band also feeds billionaires and corpos.
It is even worse, as some of them are coming from not overly freedom-oriented places, to put i mildly.
We are talking about 23% or almost every fourth donation going to the nice guys in suits.
That is, if the label does not take their cut as well. I have numbers for this estimate, I show my calculations further down.
All this happens not because there is no other way, but out of convenience, habit and because bands themselves foolishly promote this model. Thus my a little provocative tittle.
You begin to see the point now, don’t you? Or is it just me who feels like a punk rocker working at McDonalds?
Why do people buy music?
Another important question to ask.
I have experience with people who were crazy enough to buy physical CDs I manufacture in my basement, while having “free download” link next to the “buy” button.
I kind of know why they do this as I spoke to great many of them in person.
Some of them collect CDs, but this is not their main motivation.
They do this to support the artist, to show gratitude and appreciation. They hope their money will further artists’ development and career.
Buying music to be able to listen to it is completely pointless these days. Everybody can listen online to anything, as much as they want and for free.
There is crazy abundance and overflow of music. Just listening to a particular song is a favour and an act of good will, given how much choice exists.
Why would I listen to some halfwit teens’ garage production if I can listen to the latest VNV Nation album completely free? Well maybe something tells me that this gibberish may one day turn into the next VNV.
Let us be clear: paid download has almost no real monetary value. It is a donation disguised as a transaction.
Paid downloads are donations where corpos grab 23% or more
Apparently everybody is using Bandcamp for their digital sales these days. This is why I found it important to know who is behind this company.
Sometimes the bands have their own account. Sometimes the music is sold through label’s account – example: Alfa Matrix huge Bandcamp profile.
I guess third option is that the label has control and manages band’s Bandcamp.
I understand Bandcamp is extremely convenient, but it does cost money.
Bandcamp says 7 dollars for digital album download is the sweetspot, best performing price. This means that according to them (remember: they have the data) 7 dollars price brings in most revenue.
You price it at 8 – less people will buy. You price it at 6 – more people will buy but not enough to make up for 1 dollar loss compared to 7 dollars price.
So I assume 7 dollars as an average price paid for a download in my calculations.
Bandcamp takes 15% cut up to 5000 US dollars in sales, then 10% if you go above in a given year. It is easy to assume 99.9% of bands in our scene never get out of 15% commission tier.
An artist has to make 720 single sales 7 dollars each just to go above 5000 dollars threshold that lowers the Bandcamp comission to 10%.
When they reach 5000, they give 750 dollars to Bandcamp. Paypal will take 400 or 8% on top of that (2.9% + 0.35c comission, 0,35c is almost 5% of 7 dollars).
Just a few examples so it can sink in:
Band sells $100 worth of music, they get $77, BC&PP get $23.
Band sells $500 worth of music, they get $382, BC&PP get $118.
Band sells $2000 worth of music, they get $1460, BC&PP get $540.
Band sells $5000 worth of music, they get $3850, BC&PP get $1150.
So nearly every fourth person who bought actually supported not the band, but Bandcamp and Paypal.
I understand that community on Bandcamp can drive some sales through recommendations. Bandcamp itself claims that 30% of monthly sales come from Bandcamp’s ecosystem itself.
Of course it is not automatic or guaranteed, but according to them – doable. How?
All you need to do is to “tell your Facebook friends and Twitter followers they can follow you on Bandcamp”. Or “add a follow button to your website”. Simple, huh?
In layman’s terms: you need to advertise your Bandcamp releases using your own channels in order to get sales. Was it not supposed to generate sales itself?
What will happen if you don’t do the above, if you do not advertise?
Thankfully, it is very easy to check. Create a Bandcamp account, upload your music, fill all the tags and wait.
My guess is you’ll wait for a good while, but you don’t have to take my word for it.
But what if you are managing multiple artists making sales in excess of 5000 dollars? Bandcamp fees can go into tens of thousands. This is fans’ money literally down the drain.
So far we are talking about the best case scenario, when the band itself controls the Bandcamp sales. But oftentimes their labels do.
What does it mean? That most likely the label takes their cut and band is left with even less.
Everyone is happy, so why do I care?
Because as a fan I care about bands, music and the scene. I do not care about labels, PayPal, Bandcamp and their respective billionaire and corporate owners.
Fans who buy downloads effectively make a donation, leave you a tip. They can listen as much as they want online. There is Bandcamp, Youtube, Spotify and whatnot.
They do buy, because they want their money go to the band. It is a voluntary act of support and gratitude, not a purchase.
Giving 23% of that donation to Bandcamp and Paypal, and then another cut to the label is not a particularly good deal. Neither for fans, nor for the bands.
I think it is simply immoral in this small and underground scene of ours. I am fine with you thinking otherwise.
Sales fixation, a common problem
Bands themselves promote this current system and the sickness starts very early on in their career.
I met upcoming musicians who were fixated on these small time Bandcamp sales.
It was the Holy Grail to them.
They were making just a couple of hundreds of euros tops (200-300) off a fresh release, but still it was immensely important to them. They were not living in poor countries where such money could matter.
They were ready to sacrifice opportunities to be heard and known in order to make more sales that changed nothing in their career.
They were doing foolish things to get those damn sales, things that jeopardised their development.
These guys were full of shit with ideas that giving people a free download means that they are not big enough, that they are not stars. Well they were not and still aren’t.
If the bands themselves send this message, that buying these downloads is the most important thing, the fans do follow.
They like the band, they want to please them. If this is all you need – here you go, here is my tenner. Good luck!
By giving the man this tenner for the download you stroke his ego a bit, but you do not further his career. You give him a fish, not a fishing rod. He feels good for a while, but he is not moving forward.
As a responsible fan you should save the bands from their own stupidity. No, your ten euro Bandcamp purchase is not the best thing you can do, even if the band says so.
How to be a smart supporter of a band
I believe that direct donation is the best way to support a band financially. In the current system buying digital downloads is an ineffective and wasteful way.
Transactional costs are too high because of Bandcamp fees and because PayPal’s fees are particularly punishing on small (like a couple of euro) transaction, as 0.35c fee is a large percentage of small amounts.
So if you want to support the band financially, ask for their PayPal account email and donate directly without bothering with the symbolic act of download purchase.
Donate larger amounts less frequently as this means larger percentage of your donation will reach the band.
You see all these downloads or merch that bands sell are ways to make your exchange into a transaction, not a donation. Well what else than a donation is “name your price” next to the album?
The same album you can listen to in good quality without taking any extra steps?
It makes sense for both parties – bands and fans – to stop pretending.
Both parties will be better off if they do. Bands will get more money, fans will know their support goes to the band, not to some corporate middlemen.
I think bands are ashamed of asking their fans for financial support, try to make it into an exchange and loose a lot in the process.
Merch is probably even worse than paid downloads as it costs money to manufacture. Small quantities add to the price too. So the merch has to be very expensive to let the band get it’s cut.
Just think if you really need that crappy chinese hoodie costing 50 euro. Maybe just give that cash to the band instead.
Your fans will be happier as there will be a personal contact. You will be happier knowing that you fed as few corporate sharks as possible.
This is how you forge your fan base, by being up close and personal, not through some faceless formal transactions facilitated by corporations.
The best thing you can do to support the bands
As a self-appointed music promoter I can tell you exactly how you can make a real impact. By giving your time and your social media.
You see, if a band is ever to make living or real money out of music, it will be by playing gigs.
They will never get to the level of being paid for gigs if they do not have enough fans.
This is how you can make real and long lasting difference: by helping the band to be heard. There is no better thing you can do.
If you ask me if I want a tenner every year or a couple of posts with my music on your social media – I take the posts hands down. Every sane musician would do the same.
In the good days of Halotan Records we had a bunch of hardcore supporters that would help us to spread the word.
They were priceless. They were making things possible. They amplified our message and let the snowball roll.
Such people is what upcoming bands need, not money.
Being such a person for a band of your choice is something they will always remember. A personal relation will be forged with those early supporters. You will always be in the inner circle.
So by actively supporting the bands of your choice on your social media and other places you control you give them the most, and you give them exactly what they need.
Download purchase can be just icing on the cake, but real value is in amplification of their message.
Don’t be shy, give them some love instead of some money. If not convinced – give them both and see what worked better.
Show your love for music and I guarantee – you will get the love back.
As of 20th of July 2023 we can announce that some work is being done on Halotan Records’ revival. Scroll down past small announcement below or click here to skip to the main text.
We will publish small updates in this post as the work progresses, so you know what we are up to. There is no point creating a new post for every little step.
11/09/2023
Some of our releases are now available to buy as physical CD again. We will add more physical CDs shortly, it is just a matter of bands giving us the green light. There may be some issues with order notifications but we decided not to postpone physical CD sales any further. We’ll fix these things as we go.
06/09/2023
We have recovered our Youtube channel, https://youtube.com/@halotanrecords
05/09/2023
Schema.org markup for releases is done – an important technical update for both existing and future releases.
30/08/2023
Work in progress on schema.org markup for our release pages. At the moment we do not rank in searches regarding our own releases, even though we are the original source of them and our descriptions are quoted everywhere else. We hope to change this by providing proper markup.
27/08/2023
Latest of the few new blog posts has been added. These posts show the direction we will be going in. This “ideological” work is neccessary to explain our way of doing things, expect more posts like these.
18/08/2023
Important but invisible conceptual work has been accomplished. At this point we have more or less figured out how we will release music going forward. Technicalities are being solved.
08/08/2023
Our Facebook page has been re-activated. A good friend took care of it during our absence. You can meet fine people in this scene, that’s for sure.
08/08/2023
Mobile and smaller screen display improvements in the store area.
07/08/2023
Major milestone reached: our store can now be displayed in three languages – English, Polish and German. Interface elements and release descriptions are translated. German translation will have to be looked at by someone with native German as it was autotranslated, but the technicalities are sorted.
06/08/2023
Our releases now can have descriptions in English, Polish and German. Tabs are introduced to make it easy to switch between languages.
05/08/2023
Further technical fixes. Our song sharing system got a bit of overhaul. It seems to be working fine on FB and Twitter. Mobile display issues remain to be fixed. Facebook like buttons and song share/like counters are back.
We had Polish versions of every release, this proved to be hard to maintain. Aslo, a single address fore each release makes way better impact. We got rid of the Polish versions and redirected them to their English counterparts.
There will be an option to switch the language, but on a single address.
28/07/2023
Lots of small technical fixes. We added FLAC download option to our compilations and those releases we know the authors are ok with this.
Nice URL-s like this:
https://halotan.net/music/va-halotan-records-sampler-09-compilation
…have been introduced for our releases instead of old ones that contained variables:
https://halotan.net/shop.php?view=full&id=116&lang=en
These addresses were one of the most visible shortcomings of our system, now fixed. Proper redirects are done so all the old links on blogs, websites and social media will still work.
26/07/2023
We have recovered our Twitter account.
Digging ourselves out of the grave…
20/07/2023
After years of inactivity we are doing some maintenance on our website and trying to make things work again.
Our main concern at the moment is our existing releases.
Releases hosted on this website constitute collective work of great many people. Fans, bands, people who wrote, those interviewed, graphic designers, sound engineers, models, photographers, technical/IT people and more.
Countless hours of work, memories and friendships. It would be pity to let all this go to waste.
This is the main reason behind this revival – to make this content available and future-proof, given how much effort it took to create.
During the years of inactivity our website incurred serious technical debt and around 2019 it went down as a result of no maintenance. Lack of time, other commitments – the usual story.
At the moment we are trying to get our site up to date software-wise so we have a blank slate for future improvements.
We are modifying out self-built store and music sharing system solution, as it turned out it gives us great flexibility to introduce new ideas.
We will also contact the bands to see if they are still around and want to work with us.
We are not selling anything at the moment. We need to be sure the bands are still on board with that.
We are not making any great plans now, just solving one problem at at time hoping something will come out of all this.
Our first move will be to invite bands to take part in Sampler 11 compilation. Style as usual – dark electro, harsh electro etc. Dancefloor oriented dark music.
From now on compilations will be our main effort. They tend to have the biggest impact in the scene and are most fun to make.
The scene has been dying since I remember, but somehow it is still alive and kicking.
So are we, even though it may make little sense if any at all. We will try to see what we can do.
Wygląda na to że Halotan Records powoli wraca do świata żywych – oraz tych nie całkiem. Jako że nie ma sensu mnożyć postów, tutaj będą zamieszczane krótkie uaktualnienia z datami.
14/09/2023:
Ogłosiliśmy nabór na nasze pierwsze wydwanictwo po “przerwie”. Jest to składanka Halotan Sounds 3.
11/09/2023:
Część z naszych wydawnictw jest znów dostępna do kupienia jako fizyczne CD. Więcej dojdzie w miarę jak spłyną odpowiedzi od zespołów w sprawie sprzedaży ich płyt. Zostały do rozwiązanie drobne problemy techniczne z powiadomieniami o zamówieniu dla kupujących. Uznaliśmy że nie ma już co opóźniać tego powrotu fizycznych płyt, usuniemy te problemy w następnej kolejności.
06/09/2023:
Odzyskaliśmy nasz kanał na Youtube
05/09/2023:
Zakończyliśmy pracę nad dodaniem znaczników schema.org do naszych wydawnictw. Ma to poprawić ich widoczność w wyszukiwarkach.
18/08/2023:
Zakończyliśmy niewidzialną acz konieczną pracę koncepcyjną: na tym etapie wiemy już, jak będziemy wydawać muzykę. Trwają prace nad technikaliami.
08/08/2023:
Usprawnienia wyświetlania sklepu na telefonach i mniejszych ekranach.
07/08/2023:
Poważny krok za nami, nasz sklep zyskał możliwość zmiany języka. Jest angielski, polski i niemiecki. W wybranym języku wyświetlają się zarówno elementy interfejsu, jak i opisy wydawnictw.
05/08/2023:
Dalszy ciąg prac technicznych. Zniknęła polskojęzyczna część sklepu – utrzymywanie tego w dwóch językach i posiadanie dwóch adresów dla każdej płyty było kłopotliwe. Docelowo będzie można ustawić język na polski, ale adres wydawnictwa będzie jeden.
Porobione są przekierowania, więc wszystkie istniejące linki do płyt (na blogach, socjalach, na YT itp) będą działały.
Odzyskaliśmy wskazania liczników fejsbukowych lajków przy utworach w sklepie.
Nasz własny system udostępniania utworów przeszedł lekki remont i działa na Twitterze oraz na FB. Są niedostatki w wyświetlaniu na telefonach, będzie to w najbliższym czasie poprawione.
04/08/2023:
Odzyskaliśmy chyba najważniejszą rzecz – naszą listę mailingową. Działają też formularze subskrypcji na stronach płyt w sklepie.
28/07/2023:
Sporo rzeczy zostało przywróconych i ponaprawianych. Działają wszystkie downloady w sklepie. Dodane są downloady FLAC składanek oraz tych płyt o których wiemy że autorzy nie mają nic przeciwko.
Nasze wydawnictwa zyskały ładne adresy jak ten:
https://halotan.net/music/va-halotan-records-sampler-10-compilation
zamiast adresów zawierających zmienne które mieliśmy wcześniej:
https://halotan.net/shop.php?view=full&id=24&lang=en
Oczywiście są porobione przekierowania, zdajemy sobie sprawę że jest dużo linków na blogach, w socjalach itp – wszystkie te linki będą dalej działać.
26/07/2023:
Odzyskaliśmy konto na Twitterze, jest ono aktywne, będzie działało – zapraszamy do subskrypcji.
20/07/2023:
Aktualnie trwa przebudowa – czy raczej odbudowa – strony Halotan Records. Strona zniknęła na wiele lat powalona brakiem uaktualnień oprogramowania oraz brakiem czasu, chęci, obowiązkami.
Głównym celem obecnych działań jest zabezpieczenie naszych wydawnictw i zapewnienie ich dostępności online na kolejne lata.
Wydawnictwa te to gigantyczna praca muzyków, grafików, fanów, fotografów, ludzi od dźwięku – i nasza własna.
To także po prostu dobra muzyka i dużo wspomnień. Szkoda byłoby, żeby to wszystko wyparowało w cyfrowe zaświaty.
Kiedy już uda się doprowadzić stronę do jakiegoś rozsądnego technicznego stanu zero, to dalsze działania nie są wykluczone.
Mamy trochę nowych pomysłów na to jak moglibyśmy działać. Wieloletni scenowy odwyk sprawia że możemy popatrzeć obiektywnie.
Scena umiera od lat, lecz kto był na przykład na tegorocznym Castle Party ten wie, że pogłoski o jej śmieci są na razie mocno przesadzone.
Kto wie, może jest jak kot i ma więcej niż jedno życie?
Tymczasem włoskie media ze zgrozą donoszą, że pewien zupełnie nieskruszony boss jednej z mafijnych rodzin znany jako Don Halotano w dziwnych okolicznościach opuścił właśnie areszt.
Świadkowie odwołali zeznania, komuś zaszkodziła zupa, ktoś spadł ze schodów – i koniec sprawy.
Co ciekawe, media spekulują że Don Halotano przebywa obecnie gdzieś na terenie… Polski.
Przypadek? Nie sądzę…
If the first project was a little hit and miss for me, Cold Therapy on its second effort “Masquarade Infinite” impressed me with mature sound, skillful songwriting and rather “goth” than “cyber” approach. One year after this release we got third effort from Cold Therapy – “Figures and faces”, published by Advoxya Records.
If I would compare this album to some more famous project it would be early Suicide Commando and :wumpscut: merged Kirlian Camera and In Slaughter Natives, or even such classic figures of industrial sound as Einstürzende Neubauten.
Well, it is definitely dark electro, but in a sense of the very beginnings of this genre in the early 90s where the task of bringing the people on a dancefloor wasn’t very important.
It’s definitely somber and depressed atmosphere what matters here. Just give a listen to the first song on the album – “The pretender”. If you thing this very slow BPM song serves only as an atmospheric intro for the album, you’re wrong.
In fact, this thick and static structure of noises, melancholic melodies and guttural murmurs of Jacek sets the tune for the whole album. It’s really very consistent entity, so there will be no track-by-track in this review, as really wouldn’t make any sense.
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At first I was a little bit upset, because I wasn’t prepared for that. Previous album, “The masquerade infinite”, which review you can find here was also an anti-dancefloor manifesto, however it still follow kick-snare-kick-snare rhythmic pattern, and tracks like “Puppeter” were somehow catchy. Well, forget about that this time.
On “Figures and faces” gloomy landscapes are crawling slowly through you ears, and since the album didn’t change its tune this tension isn’t released which makes the listening experience rather difficult task.
It isn’t bad at all – do you imagine to listen Kirlian Camera’s “Todesengel” while you ride to work in the morning, or MZ. 412 “Domine Rex Inferum” as a cool soundtrack for reading an interesting book? Me neither.
And that’s the case of “Figures and faces” – this work needs your attention, and if you give it all of the positive energy will be soon sucked out of you.
However there’s also a variety in this consistent opus. A variety of neoclassical synth lines, industrial noises, beats and sounds which were thrown into this musical mixture was immense, and I only regret that all them (or maybe majority) are virtual samples, since even some recordings of real sounds would work here perfectly.
Anyway, if someone would insist to choose one or two tracks which are perfect to start with it’s definitely “The portrait of grotesque” – its repetitive, hypnotic chorus will easily infect your spirit with depressive stupor. Also the title track and instrumental Angesicht der Angst are worth checking out if you prefer to try some single tracks before plunge into the enterity of the album.
However the latter solution is highly reccomendend, this album should be listened carefully from the start till the end. A strong and ambitious effort that stands out as a very original attempt to rediscover the essence of dark electronic sound.
This time we interview Fako (real name: Fabián Morelos Aldana), the man behind Exemia, project from Tijuana.
Since 2003 he experimented with different types of industrial music and recently published excellent album “Cryptobiosis”, which was reviewed on our site (give this album a try – it will blow you away!). Fako gave us really extensive interview, but fortunately it’s as interesting as it’s long!
Adalbert: Firstly I want to ask you about the beginnings of the band, since not many people know its history. Why did you started to create music?
Fako: Before Exemia, I played guitars and vocals on a few metal/punk bands. At the same time I was trying to learn how to make electronic music of my own. My intention was to create music in the same way someone would take a picture hoping to be remembered by the present and future generations that may like what I do.
Adalbert: Exemia’s started in 2003, since that time you have released few album’s but “Cryptiobiosis” is the first one with regular vocals and lyrics, made by you. Why after those years of making instrumental music you’ve decided do make more typical dark electro stuff with vocals?
Fako: Actually, the band played a mixture industrial-rock and darkelectro with vocals from 2003 to 2005 when I worked with another vocalist.
I think the main reason is because of the genres I was working on the past years, required a bigger focus on synthwork and the structure than just adding vocals to the music (synthwave, psytrance, rhythmic noise, goa-industrial, aggrocore, freeform, drumstep). It depends on the genre of the repertoire, and this time I will be revisiting and producing styles that will include vocals (industrial-dance, dark electro, metal subgenres).
Adalbert: What about the name of the band, “Exemia” – does it have any meaning?
Fako: A body without blood: EX (Greek for “out of”) plus AIMA (Greek for “blood”). Exemia, as the medical term, is a condition in which a considerable portion of the blood is temporarily removed from general circulation.
Adalbert: Well, such songs as “Disgraced” or “Night terrors” are definitely dark electro clubhits, taking what’s best from the tradition of the genre, but there are also such experimental tracks like “Hateful apparatus” which mix tribal elements with rhythmic noise and… rock elements (guitar solo!). How are you able to join all these elements?
Fako: “Hateful Apparatus” is my favourite song from the album. The lyrics of the song tell several stories at once of how religion has affected evolution through all these years.
The musical elements I combined for this track follow the harshness of the style of the album “Computer Hate” with a distorted Darbuka line drawing a prehispanic feel to it, as the story progresses it becomes noise percussion, I added staccato chunky basslines in the style of “Mutación de Generos”, and a synthetizer solo run through guitar distortion in a similar style to “Robocorpse” synth solos to make the resolution of the song.
Adalbert: There are also some more atmospheric elements – “gothic” organs and chants in “Disgraced” or “Gris” – Exemia, as for me is about intensive brutality, but this “dark” element is also important. Would you agree with me?
Fako: Yes, there is no doubt that there must be a balance between the decoration of a song with darkness and the brutality of the bass and drums to make this kind of music.
The second one is very important on this style because it captures the listeners attention, yet the main objective behind Exemia is not only to reach the ears of the listener but to make them feel the music making them want to dance or headbang, triggering their pilomotor reflex or just to get them through their day with different genres for each mood and state of mind.
Adalbert: “Cryptobiosis” – as it was described in our review – has some big variety of ideas on it. Each song is filled with surprises and I wonder is it caused by your rich musical experience – for example Robocorpse album was full of references to synth sound of 80s while previous efforts were more hardcore-techno oriented. And “Cryptobiosis” mixes those two – brutality with decent melodies. Was it your goal?
Fako: That is correct, my goal for ‘Cryptobiosis’ was to mix the harshness of the drums of the past rhythmic noise album with the melodic style of some old Exemia industrial songs and the one I developed during the ‘Dark-Rearrangements’ trilogy, but this time going back to adding vocals and changing the structure of the songs so they would have a chorus too.
Adalbert: Well, at the first listen of “Cryptobiosis” I was really impressed, that it’s so loaded with emotions – mostly anger. Where did you found so many frustrations?
Fako: The lyrics of this album are written mostly about the political, religious lies, negligence and the social negative reactions of the ones we trusted. Except ‘Gris’ which is written in memory of a loved one.
Adalbert: On “Cryptobiosis” you’ve done some very good work with vocals, which are very diversified: from clean vocs in “Gris”, trough distorted, high tone vocals typical for dark electro (“Nighterrors”), but the whole record is dominated by deeper growls which remind me of grind core or death metal. What were your inspiration while arranging vocals?
When I was younger, I listened to punk and metal and later to gothic rock and industrial thanks to the internet. I would try to imitate those kinds of vocals, and throughout the time I played with local bands I developed my own guttural voice for Exemia.
Here Fako posted links to his inspirations while working on voice which are… Jon Nödtveidt’s performance in Dissection and Mikael Åkerfeldt’s performance in Bloodbath.
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Adalbert: Talking about inspirations – what are they? In “Disgraced” I hear a little bit of Velvet Acid Christ – like bassline, but apart from this specific band it’s difficult for me to point out any specific projects that are important for you…
Fako: Besides collaborating with industrial projects being my main inspiration, one of the biggest influences in my basslines and structure has been Psytrance and Goatrance music.
“Disgraced” was created in 2005, but never released. That may be the reason why it holds a familiar EBM sound. Ten years later, I was not sure about remaking “Disgraced”.
Have you ever sang or hummed an instrument line before you were intending to write it down so you didn’t forget it? This was the case on the background melodies on this one, but I thought it would be interesting to record them as chants instead of using a synth pad and layered them down so it would sound like a church choir, added some organ, once I heard the flow I became satisfied with the results.
I could write a huge list of some of the electronic or industrial bands that inspired me before Exemia existed, but just to name a few: Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, VAC, Dulce Líquido, Laibach, God Module, NIN, Mono no Aware, FLA, Suicide Commando, Funker Vogt, :Wumpscut:…
Adalbert: And I’m definitely convinced that you’re inspired not only by electronic music. On latest Orbicide mini-album we hear your “metal” reinterpretation of “Dichtomy Divine” – and while listening to Exemia… well, sometimes metal comes to my mind, so I would ask do you listen to metal bands.
Fako: Yes, Absolutely! Metal is one of the genres that has been a big influence in my life, and it’s mostly the music I grew up with, I think it is awesome that some friends still have their metal bands active, I still love to listen to it and attend to local gigs when possible.
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Adalbert: I saw that Exemia is not only a studio projects, and you’re also playing the concerts. Do you like to perform live?
Fako: I love to! It is one of the best feelings to be on the stage! Here Fako posted link to Exemia live at Long Beach, California video.
Adalbert: Let’s talk about lyrics. They are definitely about something, and the subject which repeats is the frustration towards society and government (like “Devolved state”). What is your attitude towards society and state?
Fako: I consider myself a man of few words, and I find it easy for me to convey feelings and opinions through my music. The lyrics content comes from the reality we live in and the news, information on the internet about hate crimes, media manipulation, religion mishandling, abuse of authority, war and injustice.
Adalbert: And what is “Cryptobiosis”? I know it’s a biological term which describes a process in which organism stops its metabolic functions because of abnormal external conditions (for example lack of oxygen or freezing). When the external conditions normalize, the organism can return to normal metabolism and living. But why this term is used in your song and serves as the title of the whole album?
Fako: It’s about the harm mankind do to themselves and to the other living beings, a reminder that humans are not eternal, and when someone evil dies someone worse usually shows up. It’s about detaching from these toxic humans rather than becoming like them. I chose this song to be the main theme of the album given the intensity of its nature.
Adalbert: The last questions are about your plans for the future. Can “Cryptobiosis” can be viewed as the indicator of the things that will happen in Exemia’s future?
Fako: “Cryptobiosis” is a repertoire that summarizes the post-industrial styles of Exemia since the project began. I have many releases that are coming out this year but they are very different in genres and style, some will have vocals and some of them will focus on the synthetizers instead. A few examples are:
- This is Synthform [freeform and synthwave]
- Aim&Execute – the union between Exemia and AudioCentesis [DarkElectro, Post-Industrial]
- The Remix Vault [Remixes by Exemia]
- El Llanto de una Máquina [Rhythmic Noise]
- Videogame Soundtracks and more!…
Read the review of Devilsight’s “Luna” here, listen to it here.
Adalbert: Devilsight exists since 2009, but “Luna” from 2015 is your first album. Can you tell me about the bands activity during those years (2009-2015)
Devilsight: We’ve started with a some singles Cds like “Atracción Parasita – 2011, (Single) La ceguera – 2013, (Single) Mezclar dos Canciones -2013 and (Single) Del cartel – 2013.
Adalbert: Can you tell us “who is who” in Devilsight?
Devilsight: Devilsight are Alberto a.k.a. Stan (Lead singer/songwriter/Music), Exila nation (programming & Music) and Mercy (Synth – Live Support)
Adalbert: Why – as an artists – you decided to follow such style as dark electro?
Devilsight: We don´t choose this style, it just was burned in us. Maybe it is the reaction on the violence that we see in our country.
Adalbert: On your bandcamp site I found an information that Devilisght was brought to life because you were “frustrated by all the unjust things happening in their country”. What kind of “unjust things do you mean”.
Devilsight: In Mexico we experience murders every day, but this does not matter to anyone, so this is a great nation with an amazing culture damaged by the drug wars and extortion
Adalbert: Track “Del Cartel” tells about the violence caused by drug cartel wars in Mexico. Can you tell me are those things really affect your daily life?
Devilsight: The Drugs Cartels does not affect our daily lives, however it is a cancer that slowly takes over your mind
Adalbert: Let’s talk about music. The track “Siente” which opened the latest Halotan Records sampler, and is as well, the opening track on “Luna” has somehow melancholic atmosphere. Thus, the whole music is somehow aggressive, but it’s melodic as well. How can you manage those two opposite elements and put them together?
Devilsight: The melancholic atmosphere take us and carry on, along with an anger, it’s like thunder, begins with an amazing light and ends with a loud sound in the sky .
Adalbert: My faouvorite tracks are the heavier ones, especially “Extraños en la Oscuridad”, “Todo esta más cerca” or “Amante del demonio” – can you tell me something more about those tracks?
Devilsight: I wrote “Extraños en la Oscuridad” after a quarell with my wife and the lyric talks about the time I was away from her, because I felt like a “strange in the dark” (Extraños en la oscuridad). “Todo esta más cerca” is an interesting song because the lyrics are about hell, literally burning in hell. “Amante del Demonio” is a song about my lover, as how we make love one after one, and again, and again, burning in a cauldron of boiling wax.
Adalbert: The title track for “Luna” is interesting as well – it merges different types of synths (from sharp hardcore techno saws, to atmospheric pads) with tempo changes (some dubstep appears for a minute) – it’s the most diversified track of the album, maybe that’s why it gave the title for the album?
Devilsight: It is a melodic song that gives the name of the album, “Luna” is the pleasure of the sensations . Look at the sky and know that the moon is always to be filled with light in the middle of the darkness
Adalbert: “Luna” was released by Advoxya Records – can you tell me how this contract was achieved? Are you happy about it?
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Devilsight: We are very happy to be part of the family Advoxya records. It is a great label that provides an opportunity to promote bands throughout Europe.
Adalbert: What are the people’s reactions on “Luna”?
Devilsight: It’s crazy, we have many comments of people from different countries who like much the album. Most comments indicate that this is a brutal and full of beats, from the start to the finish of the disk. A worthy representative of the real Mexican style.
Adalbert: A perfect dark electro track – do you know any recipe how to write it?
Devilsight: Of course. The track must be full of exploding rage and anger!
Adalbert: What are your inspirations? Only dark electro stuff, or also some other kinds of music?
Devilsight: I like different music genres, such as alternative rock and metal, especially from the 90’s.
Adalbert: And – let’s go on with the issue of artistic inspirations – what inspires you apart of music ?
Devilsight: Horror movies inspire me much as well as videos of Mexican cartels and…. travels to the forest.
Adalbret: Can you tell us more about the Mexican dark electro scene? Do you have any relations with other projects, any friends among them?
Devilsight: My friends among the bands are Amduscia and C-lekktor. The scene in Mexico is very big, more than any other country in America Latina. In Mexico there are many bands of gothic and electro genre, but they are not supported by anyone. In Mexico the people do not support local bands .
Adalbert: Do you have any plans to promote “Luna” on tour?
Devilsight: On April the 30th we start our tour called ” Violencia ” playing with Amduscia in Mexico City, and in October this year we will present our music for the first time in Spain, France and Germany.
Adalbert: Any last word for the people which will read this interview?
Thanks to you for the interview and all the Europe people for the support. “Nosotros somos los hijos de la violencia”.
Listen to the whole album at https://exemia.bandcamp.com/album/cryptobiosis
What is different between the previous efforts and “Cryptobiosis” are the vocals. Previously Exemia was doing rather industrial rave, but now you get regular (well, if we could such adjective to this kind of music) songs. I have nothing against instrumental tracks, but I must admit Fabián has done vocals in a great way – I haven’t heard so sick vocals in dark electro for many years.
The first song, “Discraced” is enough to attach the listener’s attention because of it great, fat bassline (which merges trance with EBM), some really scary pads and samples, agrresive vocals and really good songwriting. The atmosphere is very thick, and this anger which is trademark of the genre is very authentic.
And what’s pretty good, the lyrics are as strong as music, so just give them a try. I know it’s hard to do that after so many uninspired verses cried uot by so many dark electro artists. When Fabian is shouting about “demonized national schizophrenia roaming the streets with a lust for blood” it sounds really convincing.
Next song “Ruido en el cielo” returns to the patterns that were already present in the previous efforts of Exemia – the hardcore/rave/techno beats and samples are devastating your ears for almost one minute when… grindocre vocals enter and the thought about genericness of the track fades away. What’s that? Some kind of dark/rave/industrial/whatever Napalm Death or Brujeria? I don’t rally care about the moniker here, since this strange mixture (enriched with some oldschool 8-bit synths in the chorus!) works just perfectly great.
“Hateful Apparatus” continues the vibe of the previous tracks, but adds some… tribal samples. It all works pretty good together in this case as well. The slaughter continues until 3:40, when EBMish bassline and vocals intensify the dynamics, and then after this climax some melancholic melodies came in… along with fake guitar solo, so the whole song concludes in very exceptional, but natural way.
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“Nighterrors” is maybe the most typical dark electro track here, and also very memorable, so it is nothing exceptional that it promoted the whole album (for example on the Halotan sampler). Good piece of music to start if you don’t know Exemia. And even it’s the most eccassible and melodic track on the album it’s still fierce and heavy as hell.
“Abnormality” is a heavier track, yet still very danceable, and it has pretty good and melodic leads along the whole song. But when we talk about melodies the next track, “Gris” is a smasher. It’s obviously one of my fauvorites on the album – so many things are happening here. Mind the only clean vocals on the album which, along with the oldschool 80s synths are making this track hardly forgettable.
“Devolved state”, apart of typical Exemia’s brutality and beautiful synths adds the new element – influence of the trance music. As usual, all of the elements fit perfectly to each other.
“Whispers of the enemy” starts with some spooky piano and choir sounds and mid-tempo drums, but when you think that the whole track will be calmer, the storm unelashes. Then harsh electro and atmospherical moments interfere, which results in very intensive yet dark ambiance.
At the end of the wole album we have the title tracks. It starts as industrial rave/powernoise tracks, but after one minute great EBM bassline comes in, it’s almost such great as in the opening track so we may say that the whole album makes a full accomplished circle. “Cryptobiosis” has also some very memorable chorus, and I’m not astonished that the song was chosen as a closing track.
What can we say more? When I’m listening to Exemia I just can’t understand why the whole dark electro became so generic. Exemia shows that the melting pot of many influenceces can be very coherent. So many things are happening at once in those songs, but all leads to one goal: create the heaviest, the fiercest, the most dynamic dark electro tune, which is the perfect soundtrack for very sad reflection on the condition of human society.
Adalbert: Why you decided to start Miranda Cartel after many years of Lilly of the Valley’s activity?
Arachna: I think that many musicians and composers had the same moment in their life – while preparing some stuff you start to think about different ideas, different sounds and composition are coming to your mind and you have to decide what should be done with this “different” stuff.
Adalbert: Is it a side project or will it somehow replace LOTV’s activity?
Arachna: A side-project. It will not replace LOTV’s activity, but for now, for this particular moment, I feel the different wind in my wings and I think I should go with it. ;)
Adalbert: Is Miranda Cartel… just the same project as Lilly of the Valley – it’s just oriented towards electronics?
Arachna: Miranda Cartel is oriented towards electronics only and not so ephemeral, not so lyrical as LOTV is.
Adalbert: What’s the band name meaning? Is there any?
Arachna: Well…. Miranda Cartel is my alter ego. There is no hidden meaning :)
Adalbert: First thing that has striken me while I listened to “Divert” is its very good sound and production. What was the role of Zowa Studio (directed by Zmorrha from Skon project) in this process?
Arachna: Zowa-Studio is responsible for mix and mastering, so the final EP’s sounds is his merit.
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Adalbert: While I think about Miranda Cartel’s inspirations not only dark independent electronics, but also more synth-electro tunes like Marsheaux, comes up to my mind. Which were your direct inspirations?
Arachna: It’s hard to tell which of the groups which I listen to had the most spectacular inspirations. Among the groups which I was listenening to during the time I was preparing this EP were Aesthetic Perfection, Ashbury Heights, Zombie Girl, Covenant, and many many more and I think that the final result is caused by this mix.
Adalbert: Any ideas to make Miranda Cartel a live act?
Arachna: I had some plans for live shows. I will put information on Miranda’s facebook as soon as it will be confirmed.
Adalbert: There are 5 regular tracks on your new “Divert” LP. It’s hard to say which is the best, my favourite are “Divert”, “Leviathan” and “Fake my fiction”. And yours?
Arachna: It’s hard to tell, every track is important in particular way, so I can’t decide which is my favourite. Maybe “Fake My Fiction” is in some way very special, because I recorded vocals at home, on my own. Other vocals were recorded at studio and with this last track I decided to experiment. While home-recording you are alone and you can put into you’re your vocals expressions different emotions and feelings. Personally, I think that final results is really good and this experiment was a good idea.
Adalbert: The final question is… what’s next? Any plans for the future? Shall we expect any full length album?
Arachna: This month (December) the video for „Going Down” will be released, I had some plans for remixes and yes, full album is my next target. And of course – plans for live shows. 2016 will be both – full of work and activity.
The difference is very clear if we compare “Ofensor” with its predecessor “El Último Minuto Antes De Que Tu Mundo Caiga”. The latter one was very sharp and fast album, while “Ofensor” is heavy and more diversified when it comes to tempo… and what is most important it’s very oldschool.
Already old-fashioned synth strings of intro “Déjà-Vu Siniestro” impress with thick atmosphere known from the first efforts of the Mexicans, but the biggest surprise is yet to come. The first regular track on the album, “Relentless” isn’t fast floorfiller like “T. O. S. of reality” fromthe previous album, or ” since it’s rythm is based on mid-tempo bassline and distorted kick drum (without snares or hi-hats) the whole composition seems to stands still, and it’s definitely not club-oriented… however in some strange way it makes you move.
“Sex sick” raise up the tempo, and tension. Fat bass, distorted kick and reverbed snare – this is the basis for this heavy stomper. Vicious vocals of Erk and wicked melodies played by Racso are the pinaccle of this song, defintely one of the most heavy ones in Hocico’s career. And it’s only afther three songs, and almost 14 minutes of album when first fast track hits the speakers. “Bienvenido A La Maldad” is ferocious and mad piece of music, which – for me – recalls the floorfillers from “Sangre hirvente” era. It’s great that a video was mad for this one.
The important feature of Hocico’s albums until “Signos de Aberracion” was a big quantity of instrumental tracks, which – since “Wrack and ruin” album were less present. On first LP’s those neoclassical mini-symphonies were very important element of the whole puzzle, and “Ofensor” ressurects this good tradition. Apart from intro there are four intrumentals, and “El Destello En El Cristal” is one of them. Really chilling and sombre mixture of haunted pads and lead synths it’s a great introduction to another stomping monster – “Heart attack”. Very significant and repetitive bassline gives this song very dehumanized tune.
Can things became even more scary? It seems impossible, but there are no boundaries for those Mexicans. “I Will Be Murdered (4 Minutes Of Horror)” is one of the thickest and gloomy pieces of music in aggrotech genre made … without any drums. Those ones start to pound heavily in “Ofensor” which in my opinion can be viewed as second part of the song “Tiempos de furia”, however the way of using the samples recalls one more time “Sangre hirvente” album (for example “Sucios Pensamientos”). The synth flutes of “Mind circus”, the next track on “Ofensor” also seem to be borrowed from the late 90s. Great to see this spirit back.
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After another interlude (“The 5th circle” – also very oldschool) we can hear “Auf der Flucht” – catchy, yet still heavy, and “In the name of violence” which was chosen for a single. This track is maybe most typical and modern track on the album, and I assume that this the reason it was taken for promotional use… however it’s not representative for the whole LP.
When the last tunes of outro fade the listener remains with an impression that Hocico’s pursuit for older times (most probaly encouraged by “Los Días Caminando En El Fuego” retrospective album from 2103) was a very good move. I dare say, that it’s the best Hocico’s album since many years (which doesen’t means that some were bad). It brings back the spirit of the old days, but with great ingeniousness and mastery which characterizes those talented and experienced musicians.
PS. “Ofensor” comes as regular cd, digipak with bonus remix cd, and 3cd deluxe version with remixes and three additional tracks. We don’t review those bonuses, but it’s necessary to say that they are worth to give them a listen – also because Halotan’s H.EXE is present on the 2nd disc with great black metal remix of “Black opium” (bonus track aviailable on 3d cd).
