This is the third release of Metatron Production. Technodrome is Shay Ben Haion & Shay Gannon, both from Israel. As far as I know they released only one track before releasing this album. The mastering was made by Sidhartha and sounds clean. The whole package has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) theme. The cover shows Donatello, the Ninja Turtle with purple clothes. The CD itself shows the cover to the TMNT hiding place, and when you remove it you can see one of them hiding. Art and Design by Nir Sucar. There are no mention to bpms or track times. What I did not understood was the TMNT track names...
We begin our journey into the Technodrome territory with some pumping bass. This makes me move... After listening this track some times, it is clear that it’s a good choice to start this album, because it seems that the others are more energetic. In fact, in my opinion Kawabanga sounds like a introduction to the CD and the Technodrome style, I was expecting TMNT samples or something like that, but for better of worse there are none. To be honest the start of this second track (T2) did not catch me, but after the classic sample "This is our restricted area... Do not move!" the track develops in the right direction, with some Rinkadink-like sounds. After a short break it gets very powerful, almost too noisy, but still very danceable and clean. Perfect bass/synth combo. Banger track! In the beginning of the next track (T3) there is some clapping and the countdown: "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." The first minutes are steady, some synths and bass. After the second countdown we're at the core of the track, piercing synths and different bass lines, yes, the bass plays an important role here. What we got in the track that gave name to this release (T4) is a fat bass. The track has a break less beginning, and every minute we got another synth layer... And when I least expect there is a break. After the break the bass comes more energetic and in a style that I like... The end is just pure madness. Nice track, specially the ending. A distorted sample that I can't understand is heard at the begin of the next track (T5). OK, at least this track starts in a more interesting way than the others. The bass is variation is very good. Well, finally it seems we got a more complete track here, all elements are on their places and the track is nice from the beginning to the end. Many different bass lines and acidic synth lines are the recipe for this dance floor twister. Ah, ah! Some more samples (T6). "What you're trying to do?" and "Don't understand what's going on here..." Funny bass line... A lot bass of variations and games, between many distorted samples. This is a more held back track, and does not end in as much madness as the previous tracks, but it does not make it bad. Turtle Power (T7) brings us another funny bass line. I don't like the sample of that woman's voice, in compensation there are some driving melodies and effects, which make this track stand out of the others. You know, I was starting to be afraid this album would sound all the same, but the last couple of tracks changed my mind. This track made me dance... Good work! Next we got some more obscure (T8). Imagine yourself in the middle of a forest. It is dark and you are alone. You start to become paranoid, you feel there's something in the dark and that something is about to happen. Now one thing is for sure: if you were listening to this track, you would need some clean pants. It's dark and scary; night music is the best definition. The samples: "Fuck this shit!" and "What the fuck is that" really describe this music. Stomper track! The last track (T9) should come with the instructions: "Load into the CD player. Aim at the dance floor. Fire." One of the most dance floor friendly tracks here, with all characteristic Technodrome elements: many bass lines (8ths up and down, sounds like a rollercoaster), synth layers and a nice melody. Good track to close the album.
A nice album, the strong points are the intense work on bass lines, the synth layers that pack this album with a lot of psychedelic elements, some ideas on how to manage the kick bass combo and the effectiveness on the dance floor. What could be improved is that the album has only 66 minutes of music, so I miss one more track to make it whole, I didn't liked the beginning of the first tracks and the whole CD could present a little more of diversity, sometimes it sounds too "bass centered", trying something out of the line could have interesting results, but as the debut album of Technodrome it really catches my attention. I’ll keep an eye on these guys. |
