Despite having heard a handful of songs over the years, Project Pitchfork aren’t a band I’ve ever really followed to any great extent. Yet they have quite a history, with Continuum Ride being their fifteenth studio album spanning a two decade career and hearing this album actually makes me want to delve further into their back catalogue and find out what exactly I’ve been missing out on. To begin with, the album came in a nice glossy digipak cover which is nice in this age where MP3s is de rigueur and also came with a chunky booklet with lyrics and photos of the band. Musically the album swoops in through the wind and rain and in with the huge stomping beat of ‘Way Of The World’ which instantly makes you want to move. The overlying synths have a certain bleakness to them and there’s a dark vibe as they waver around the strong industrial core. ‘Endless Infinity’ is infinitely catchy, the chorus is memorable the lyrics simplistic and has a beat that’s strong as steel. This is easily my favourite number on the album.
‘Stacked Visions’ sends sparks flying through both speakers creating a kind of cosmic feel, while ‘The Dividing Line’ goes for a more mellowed out approach which isn’t something there’s very much of on this album. It has a kind of spaced-out vibe to it with a touch of Gary Numan to the dark 80’s sounding synths. ‘Beholder’ steps out with the kind of bounce that’s truly infectious with its chant of “Calling My Name…” and will have you up and on the dancefloor in no time (or in my case the living room floor). The dark, snarled vocals are at times highly Germanic in style and certainly fitting with the music. ‘Dead Cities’ breaks in with a playful rhythm, that keeps coming back to haunt us and there’s a great melody that sneaks through on the chorus. ‘Supersonic Snakebite’ contains an underlying fizz and there’s the feeling of cosmic spacedust floating around the stomping electro beats, and again there’s a kind of retro vibe I’m picking up on here, while ‘Star Child’ sends a loose rhythm ricocheting around the room.
This is highly upbeat, danceable stuff with plenty of huge electro beats and dark wavy synths to get you moving and certainly recommended if you’re partial to a bit of EBM. How this fares in comparison to their previous works I can’t really comment on, but I intend to find out for myself which is at least a good sign in itself.
http://www.myspace.com/projectpitchfork
