SO(ZNANYE)BITYA

'cо(знание)бытия' - Senmuth (3/10)

For all of his music's strengths and flaws, the works of Senmuth can be very frustrating to give a proper rating to. Many of the albums sound very similar to each other, which can make listening to each of the albums in sequence a increasingly less lenient and forgiving exercise. Also, within each album itself, there will be a great diversity of sections, or traits in the music that either 'work,' or don't work. 'cо(знание)бытия' seems to be an example of this; while I may have been tempted to give this my first single star rating for Senmuth upon the first listen of it, repeated listening has shown sections of the music that show alot of promise. As it stands however, 'cо(знание)бытия' is an uninspired, uncohesive and rather boring album that frankly gets annoying within a few minutes of listening.

The album begins up with a strange arabic-tinged dance intro, before firing up into a track that wouldn't sound out of place in a shallow Euro nightclub. Throughout the first section of the album, the music generally follows this path; at times even incorperating hip-hop influences that could have worked if they didn't sound so out of place in the music. The irritating vocal work of Senmuth is more distorted and overindulgent than ever here, and it only serves to deter from the enjoyment of the music. It feels here like no musical idea is developed here enough to make it 'memorable;' unless the listener gives the album many more listens than it seems to be worth. Throughout the heaps of mediocrity and banality here though, there are some moments that are enjoyable and show that despite releasing quite a few mediocre pieces, Senmuth is indeed a very talented composer. Towards the latter half of the album, there are songs such as 'Il Mia Incanto' which do without the obnoxious dance-electronic nature of the album and give an atmospheric repose. A few other tracks (such as 'Символика мгновений,' which while not being necessarily a memorable track, may very well be a relative highlight here) have sweeping synth arpeggios that are highly reminiscent of the band Muse.

While Senmuth is certainly a diverse artist in terms of the music he makes, many of his albums seem to fall into categories of their style. In parts, this album reminded me of an uninspired version of the project's debut, 'Cognitive Discord.' With so many other 'dance metal' albums in Senmuth's discography however, there is very little reason to check out 'cо(знание)бытия,' unless of course, you're like me and plan to listen to every album the man has produced.

The title means "Consciousness of Being". With a title like this I was expecting something with an ethnic and esotheric flavour like Swadhisthana or the excellent "Path of Sathiam". Some "indo" elements are present, but since the first track it seems to be in a disco in Moscow, with girls dancing on cubes and bosses smoking cigars.

The opener "Live" is quite trivial. Without the two short indian contaminations it would be a perfect soundtrack for a Dolph Lundgren's action movie.

With "Pre Scriptum" we are back to the industrial noise of his first albums. Not a bad track but the three previous albums are on a different level.

"Moget Bit" is electronic pop. The melodic line has some connections with the "Tatu" (I'm not an expert of Tatu's music, I have just seen a couple of videos).

The first notes of "Poluraspad" are more promising. The industrial noise is over and if it wasn't for the distorted voice it could be a pop song from the 80s. I think to David Bowie's production of that period.

"Il Mia Incanto" tries to have an italian title but it's gramatically wrong (it should be "mio"). The melodic and clean guitar and the slow tempo seem to demonstrate that Senmth was looking to the Mediterranean area. The result is quite good but this is not Senmuth. Vangelis, maybe?

"Rani Proslogo" has a pop start then falls into death metal, stops and restarts. Inconsistent.

"Symbol Mgnovenii" is unstructured. The guitar riff is good and the keyboards sound like Vitalij Kuprij bat there no internal coherence. It just comes and goes.

"Ozhidanie" is not much different but has at least the structure of a song. I have to say that I'm probably too negative because of the excellent previous albums.

"Napast" has a symphonic intro. Few promising seconds and we are suddenly back to the average Senmuth's stuff. Nothing really bad also here, but neither too good.

My feelings about "A-310-F-OGYP" are controversial. This slow piano doesn't do anything special. The violin (we are always speaking ov virtual instruments of course) adds some flavour. I enjoy this track even if it seems more newage than post-metal.

"Kletka" is probably the best track. The keyboard intro a-la Vitalij Kuprij (not so fast), a good guitar and the distorted voice not so disturbing as usual makes it enjoyable enough.

"Current Unconscious" is on the same line. Not properly newage but close.

Finally "Positiv" comes back to the disco-techno of the first track.

I have read in the only other review currently here a reference to Muse. I agree and I could add Placebo, too. It's an electro-pop album below the usual level. There's plenty of things better than this in Senmuth's discography.

For fans only.