Prometheus - Corridor of Mirrors

[advance]

Notice that I didn't call it boring but said it bored me.

My favourite albums if I heard them again & again & again I would end up being bored by.

I'll give this more listens though to see if I can find anything fresh!!!

Did you give it another chance?

 

This is a seriously good album. It just makes my body move on its own..

[abasio]

Prometheus

Corridor of Mirrors

Twisted Records

2007

 

Tracklist

 

1 Arcadia Magik (8:51)

2 One Cell Short Of A Brain (6:50)

3 Drug Sock (7:37)

4 The Logic Of The Polyphonic (8:19)

5 9th (The Man Who Swam Through A Speaker) (8:08)

6 Soma (7:38)

7 Oz (7:35)

8 Cherry Pie (8:46)

 

Well, there was a lot of hype surrounding this album. I heard just how amazing it was from many different sources & how crap it was from just one. So after many months of trying to get into it & see the magic, who was right, the enthusiasts or the naysayers?

Let's take a lookl

 

1. Arcadia Magik

Starts with a nice twisting bass melody before nice trippy beats come in. The stabs of acid are nice as are the little synth rushes in the background. The melody changes just as the beat really drops & elevates this track to really trancey. It's actually a really good psychedelic track with lots of layers that unfold after time. I didn't get it when I first heard it but it grew on me over time & while not a groundbreaking masterpiece it's a nice track.

 

2. One Cell Short of a Brain

A fast start with lots of percussion coming from a high pitch source. Weird sounds drop into the beat which is exactly the same beat as the last track. The chime like percussion stays fro a while but eventually leaves & now we are left with quite a pedestrian track. The beat is the same as Arcadia Magik which is disappointing. There are some interesting sounds in the background & it sounds trancey but it's too similar to the opening track that I can't help but feel disappointed. Maybe Prometheus should have separated these tracks a little more. It's good but too similar.

 

3. Drug Shock

Annoying sample at the start. There really is no need for this in my opinion. It puts me off the rest of the track which to be fair is pretty good. It has the same beat again but the rest of the track is very nice indeed. Good sounds, interesting noises, fair bass & on occasion an extra dimension to the kick drum with a following snare which manages to roll later on. Even later on the melody is really trippy & cool. But under all of it is that same kick drum. Boring Boring Kick drum I am begging for something different.

This would be a great track if it dropped the crap sample & used something other than the predictable drum.

 

4. The Logic of the Polyphonic

A vocal sample twisted enough to be bearable but not brilliant enough to be memorable. When it leaves though we have a really nice track. The beat while familiar is a little different from the previous tracks. It's lighter & lets the music breathe a lot more that previously. The other sounds are more prominent & you can hear the changes in the melody & the synths as the play about up & down & build. The beats try to become as boring as before but when they do they cut out & then it gets really trancey. A huge trance melody comes in & it feels like Gatecrasher on new years eve when they actually have some good music playing! Half way between trance & psy. Best on the album.

5. 9th-(The Man Who Swam Through A Speaker)

This starts with what could be from some 70's epic & then guess what kicks in! That's right children the most predictable of kick drums. Yawn! This beat is really tiresome & it's a shame because the rest of the music is really good. The creaks, the bass, the acid & bits of melody are all really cool as is the orchestral feel and it's these that save this track from mediocrity. It could have been great but the predictable kick makes it only good

 

6. Soma

I'm getting tired of repeating myself. In short. Bad sample, bad kick drum.

The drone in the background is nice & adds a lot of atmosphere if you focus on it but it's pretty much hard to with that kick. Pretty boring track.

 

7. Oz

Oh my god! I didn't think they would take the most boring characteristic on this album & then just highlight it but Prometheus did on this track. The beat, exactly the same as on all the other tracks but with less surrounding it at the start to really make it stand out. The sounds introduced later are okay but nothing special & I find this a very boring track overall.

 

8. Cherry Pie

By this point I've given up listening. This might be the best track ever but I can't hear it because of that FUCKING LAME BEAT!!!! Can't you think of anything different? It's the same shit through the whole album & after the first track I was bored of it.

At least there's no cheesy sample...Oh wait!

 

 

So in the end I feel like this is a pretty bad album. It could have been really good but it seems that Prometheus has no idea when it comes to beats. The same predictable beat in every single bloody track. The only track that is bearable is the first track (because the beat is in their for the 1st time) & The Logic of the Polyphonic (because the beat is slightly more subdued). This track is my case in point of the whole album because this track is really good. The beat is quieter & this gives the music room to breathe.

Please please could someone send me a copy of this album remixed with better beats. Then it would be superb but as it stands I think it is crap. Sorry but I do. Why do I still buy Twisted's releases? I can't remember the last album I liked. I will stick to their downbeat releases in the future I think, which reminds me....Prometheus' chilled stuff was so good as is his music other than that kick drum so I will still anticipate an chill album from this guy eagerly. But not a trance album again.

 

 

Wish I had listened to this before buying

One word - B O R I N G

Ok, so I didn't dig the first one but this is just horrible.

Pale, nothing-happens-music. Stay away if you want something more than only a kick and bass. He is the king of bass I've heard

 

My 2 cents. Which is the amount of money I would give for this album.

[StraydoG]

So are you guys dissapointed as in its just a boring album, or borings because its basically the same as the first? I havent heard the first so I cant say, but this release is alright to me.

[frozen dream]

it's pretty boring yes, tracks are very alike. still only one track i really dislike (drug sock), all the rest are good dark groovey tracks. arcadia magik, 9th, soma, oz!! :posford:

 

just some absence of real variation within his own style

[Guest antic]

@ Abasio - you really think this is boring?! I mean you are able to find intricacies in Sync24 or other pretty noodly Ultimae releases (which I like very much, too), but can't find delicacy, gentle progressions and smoothness in this? And what's the deal with predictable kicks? You do realise it is dancefloor music, right? I can't see how they're supposedly badly timed or predictable?!? I found kicks in latest Asura album to be much more offensive, but there you only said (about Life²) you "preffered the track with a softer beat"... Sorry for the rant, but you seemed to completely miss the point of this album... I mean, rarely we can hear such masterly crafted music in our genre, with such attention to the detail, such nice atmospheres and ideas. True, I liked Robot.O.Chan more, because it was more energetic, with lots of experimentation and climaxes I miss in the new one. But still, the Corridor of Mirrors is definitely somewhere in my TOP10 of 2007.

 

Summarizing, I completely do not agree with you calling it "pretty bad album". It is far from being revolutionary or ground breaking, but then it is also far from full-on, dark-psy and prog-psy fodder that's mass produced nowadays. I can see you're disappointed with Twisted and this album in particular hasn't met your expectations arising from the hype surrounding its release, but by calling it "bad album" you simply deny it any artistic values and qualities and throw it to the same group that contains Chemical Crew, Hom-Mega & Com-Pact...

 

@ Strydr & StraydoG - as for the similarities between the 2 albums - yes, there are SOME (certain sounds, the way some tracks are built & evolve) but what's wrong with that? There is no other artist sounding that way, whereas there are hundreds of artists sounding like any other in each particular subgenre - I don't see people complaining about that! You can't expect an artist to revolutionise the genre each time he decides to release an album...

[abasio]

@ Abasio - you really think this is boring?! I mean you are able to find intricacies in Sync24 or other pretty noodly Ultimae releases (which I like very much, too), but can't find delicacy, gentle progressions and smoothness in this? And what's the deal with predictable kicks? You do realise it is dancefloor music, right? I can't see how they're supposedly badly timed or predictable?!? I found kicks in latest Asura album to be much more offensive, but there you only said (about Life²) you "preffered the track with a softer beat"... Sorry for the rant, but you seemed to completely miss the point of this album... I mean, rarely we can hear such masterly crafted music in our genre, with such attention to the detail, such nice atmospheres and ideas. True, I liked Robot.O.Chan more, because it was more energetic, with lots of experimentation and climaxes I miss in the new one. But still, the Corridor of Mirrors is definitely somewhere in my TOP10 of 2007.

That is wholly my point! The music otherwise is pretty sweet but, for me, it is ruined by using the same predictable beat in every track. In the Asura album the kick was not in every single track so in my ears it did not grate as much as in this album. As I said in my review, the 1st track is really good with this beat but after hearing it again & again & again throughout the whole album I got bored culminating in my frustration by the last track.

 

I wish Prometheus would take this album, remove the beats, go back to the studio, work on more varied & intricate beats and the re-release this when it's ready.

[Guest antic]

That is wholly my point! The music otherwise is pretty sweet but, for me, it is ruined by using the same predictable beat in every track. In the Asura album the kick was not in every single track so in my ears it did not grate as much as in this album. As I said in my review, the 1st track is really good with this beat but after hearing it again & again & again throughout the whole album I got bored culminating in my frustration by the last track.

 

I wish Prometheus would take this album, remove the beats, go back to the studio, work on more varied & intricate beats and the re-release this when it's ready.

I have no idea how can you claim that. I really can't see what you mean, when you say that the beat is predictable and same in every track?! Unless of course you mean that it is constructed from kick, snares, hats & some loops here and there, but that's true for 99.9% of electronic dance music...

 

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one

[Goa Bill]

OMG, repetitive drums in a Trace tune? But how??? What was he thinking??

[abasio]

OMG, repetitive drums in a Trace tune? But how??? What was he thinking??

Yeah, it sounds like he just Traced the pattern from one track to the next.

 

Just to clarify my stance on this. Being a fan of minimal psy I am quite happy with repetitive & monotonous music.

 

What bugs me about this I think, is that there is some really good music here but it is stifled by the beats. It could have been the best of the year but that one element for me has ruined the whole album and it wont even make my top 20 albums. I don't like this! I probably should have phrased it something more opinionated instead of this is a pretty boring album but to me it is boring & frustrating.

 

I'm surprised that the same people who complain about fullon always having the same bassline aren't annoyed by the same thing with this album, only this time it's the beats.

 

I also don't find this danceable, not many times did I feel my self moving when listening to this. No foot tapping, no head nodding. I think in a club this is a go & stand at the bar & chat someone up set.

 

Sorry to all Prometheus fans if you can't accept that I don't like it but I've clearly given my reasons & if we all like the same things, this world would be very boring, wouldn't it? I obviously just can't get passed the beat

[Guest antic]

I...'m surprised that the same people who complain about fullon always having the same bassline aren't annoyed by the same thing with this album, only this time it's the beats...

Maybe because it's not true, that they're repetitive?

Please tell me which tracks exactly have the same beat, because - and believe me, I tried - I can't hear that...

[Xamanist]

amazing, amazing album, old spirit music with new sounds

[abasio]

Maybe because it's not true, that they're repetitive?

Please tell me which tracks exactly have the same beat, because - and believe me, I tried - I can't hear that...

all tracks have a heavy kicking Boom Boom Boom, the only difference is the BPM ranges from 140-145

 

Could you describe what differences you hear in the main beats? (not sub beats because I can hear these but they are stifled by the boom boom boom)

[Xamanist]

OMG, repetitive drums in a Trace tune? But how??? What was he thinking??

[Guest antic]

all tracks have a heavy kicking Boom Boom Boom, the only difference is the BPM ranges from 140-145

 

Could you describe what differences you hear in the main beats? (not sub beats because I can hear these but they are stifled by the boom boom boom)

Obviously I can't describe differences in a sound of the kickdrum, but it doesn't mean there aren't any!

I won't try to convince you to like it either, even though somehow you decided that out of hundreds of dancefloor albums this particular one is 'bad' because it has a steady 4/4 kick... It's just a pity, that due to that preconception you're missing out on some great music

[abasio]

Obviously I can't describe differences in a sound of the kickdrum, but it doesn't mean there aren't any!

I won't try to convince you to like it either, even though somehow you decided that out of hundreds of dancefloor albums this particular one is 'bad' because it has a steady 4/4 kick... It's just a pity, that due to that preconception you're missing out on some great music

believe me this is not a preconception. I put a lot more time into something I'm going to publicly criticize that praise as I know people will confront me on my opinion

All I can say is that I do not like the big kick drum even on the dancefloor & as this album has the same (IMO) boring kick drum in every track it's quite obvious that I will find this boring. There are plenty of albums I don't like but I was more disappointed with this one because the music underneath is so good but ruined by something I really don't like. I have given this a lot of time and attention & I can now file it away in the knowledge that I am not missing anything that I would like/

 

There are things people like & things people don't & when things you don't like are in music often the music is ruined. Think too prominent basslines, lyrics, cheesy samples etc. I don't like big kick drums. In Asura's album that was in some tracks which I thought detracted from it a little bit. In this album that element I don't like is in every single track & therefore I got frustrated listening to something I found very boring.

 

different strokes for different folks.

 

I wont feel like I'm missing out on something as I have given this a thorough inspection as I really wanted to like it. There is quality in this guys work I just hope his next release is a chilled one without the kick (I'm selfish )

[AlieNed]

really great album ! its same prometheus style developed by simon hallucinogen

[Anakoluth]

i put this album into the shelf after 2 weeks. the melodies are cheap and the percussions uninspired and predictable and in no way complex. it's a shallow, unemotional album. i hate saying things like "the scene used to be better" or "it's not as good as the first album", but in this case i can't help myself. the only tune that catches me is "9th", but even this one doesn't get anywhere near "Robot-O-Chan", "Mekong Delta" or OK Computer". this was probably the biggest disappointment ever. i'm just glad i've got "The Last Days Of Gravity" here now, as it prooves that benji hasn't lost it after all.

[pawelek]

Hehe i could say robot-o-chan doesnt get anywhere near to corridor of chaos. I think it's a matter of bass/kick taste. I'm completely in love with prometheus' last album, but his previkous one didnt realy worked for me.

[MattMan]

I listened to this today as of recent.. Goodness. Listen to the baseline in "Drug Sock". That's pretty much perfect imo. :posford:

[Jon Cocco]

PROMETHEUS - CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS [FOLLOW-UP REVIEW]

TWISTED RECORDS

2007

 

1. Arcadia Magik - B+

2. One Cell Short Of A Brain - B-

3. Drug Sock - B

4. The Logic Of The Polyphonic - B+

5. 9th-(The Man Who Swam Through A Speaker) - B+

6. Soma - B

7. Oz - B- / B

8. Cherry Pie - C

 

 

Unfortunately my review is shoved to the bottem of page 2. If I could post my conclusion here without feeling cheap I'd do so. Because I feel 100% with what I wrote and over repeat listens I modified it, my conclusion.

 

 

PROS:

 

- Unique, strong opening track.

- Strong kicks, thumping sounds, bassline (dance friendly, fun).

- Several strong songs (1, 3, 4, 6) give or take one, generally speaking.

- Some very good melodies, sounds.

 

 

CONS:

 

- Album lacks living up to its opening track with few exceptions.

- Several weak tracks take up around half the album, in my opinion. This is due to forgettable melodies, sounds, etc, etc.

- Wonderful opportunities to make the songs more psychedelic, emotional, and atmospheric go overlooked or untouched.

- The sound/style is generally empty and at times, dare I say... minimal(!), even if the concept works (track 3 for starters).

 

 

In short, this isn't a bad album. I like it because of its several thumping, more melodic songs but I expected much more in, more strong and great tracks and in that sense I'm disappointed. I know this guy can do better so for those who loved this album album, you may be blown away with the next album if seriously improvement while others may feel the opposite. Personally I think Benji explored his novel Prometheus style as opposed to bringing it to the next level. Tracks with the best melody/sound work I feel are 1, 4, 5, and 6. I don't notice or have gripes with the bassline as some people mentioned above. Lastly, I recommend that if an artist has only 7 tracks, most of them be really awesome, not great or more or less good as I feel many are here.

 

 

Best Tracks: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, in my honest opinion.

 

B

[AkumaSama]

I like this, very thumping

[qa2pir]

all tracks have a heavy kicking Boom Boom Boom, the only difference is the BPM ranges from 140-145

Haven't you noticed that almost all psytrance has that?

 

Are you DISAPPOINTED because a psytrance album has a heavy 4/4 kick drum in every track?

[buzzman]

Haven't you noticed that almost all psytrance has that?

 

Are you DISAPPOINTED because a psytrance album has a heavy 4/4 kick drum in every track?

Have you noticed there's different sounding kicks, f.e. a heavy kick that doesn't leave much space for the bassline to "kick" or highpitched, low pitched kicks?

 

Not that it bothers me here, i like the heavy kick prometheis uses, but i can hear what abasio means.. It doesn't leave much space for any rythms in the sub/low frequencies..

[abasio]

Haven't you noticed that almost all psytrance has that?

 

Are you DISAPPOINTED because a psytrance album has a heavy 4/4 kick drum in every track?

I don't mind the 4/4 kick drum, it's just that that's it! There are no intricate sub beats or rhythms or if there are then they are drowned out. Other psytrance albums may have the same beat but it doesn't overly dominate & this allows the rest of the music room to breathe. In my opinion this album lacks breathing space so all of it's potential is stifled by the kick drum.

[qa2pir]

I don't mind the 4/4 kick drum, it's just that that's it! There are no intricate sub beats or rhythms or if there are then they are drowned out. Other psytrance albums may have the same beat but it doesn't overly dominate & this allows the rest of the music room to breathe. In my opinion this album lacks breathing space so all of it's potential is stifled by the kick drum.

The bassline is pretty deep too.

 

But whatever, I see what you mean.