Manifold – X-Ray Attraction

Manifold’s debut is something of a surprise, sublimely blending Gothic sounds with dark and moody psychedelic trance. The style is distinctly different from most other modern offerings, harking back to the days of Cydonia and other industrial-psytrance crossovers to a certain extent. As you will read, I don’t feel X-Ray Attraction truly lives up to its inherent potential, but there are some shining moments.

Time for the Heist opens the album in a sublime fashion, delving straight into the heart of things with an understated atmospheric introduction. Pumping beats and a deep bass line form the rhythmic foundation, setting the tone for what is to come. The slow progression of the rather simple arrangement builds character; this is a track with real depth. Best of all, the heavy leads that subtly infiltrate the proceedings sound remarkably like those of Cydonia—a quality that has long been missing from psychedelic trance. Great stuff!

Tomahawk is slightly tribal, as the name would suggest. Remote chanting and a touch of tribal percussion establishes the theme, but the focus in this piece is brooding, synthetic atmospheric effects. Activity is primarily subliminal until close to four minutes in, after which a break introduces a haunting Gothic choir sound. The drive comes to a halt shortly after this, as an eerie atmospheric break takes place. Another understated return, lacking any kind of a build, and the track drives on a short distance before abruptly leaping into a new mode complete with an even moodier bass line and an appealing set of dark, grinding leads. This is rather decent, but the arrangement isn’t as adeptly orchestrated as in the first track.

Intrusion is the first of several commonplace songs that don’t really do it for me. Although Manifold’s style is largely evident here, there is something underwhelming about the overall effect. Take the guitar riffs for example—far from being razor sharp, they seem rather washed out.

Barrel Night is a brutal pounding number that drives along like a freight train. The focus rests squarely on the throbbing beat, but there are enough atmospheric feints to maintain some measure of interest. As the minutes pass the song ends up cluttered with scratchy noises, sounding reasonably good despite the lack of development after the bridge. Alas it seems to lack a hook that would otherwise make it noteworthy.

The Wolf is the crowning achievement of X-Ray Attraction: a great piece of Gothic psytrance storytelling. Throbbing bass lines, spooky choirs, more of those Cydonian leads, and a Tim Burtonesque melody make this wonderfully restrained creation the pick of the album. Pure class!

Find Your Pokemon can’t really compete, and sounds muddy and unfocused after the goodness of The Wolf. It sounds awkward and forced at key moments, which raises the suspicion that this is a much older track included here to pad out the album. Pass.

Invited Session is more substantial, opting for a thicker sound and a more full-on approach. Grinding industrial leads, choral elements, Kraftwerk-like vocoder work, and bubbling psychedelic noises light up the song with engaging artifacts. The mood seems to angle upward in the early minutes, but it is soon quashed as Manifold delivers a big signature lead in the second half. Although it doesn’t break any new ground, this track comes across as being nicely polished and ready to drop on a dance floor.

Christmas begins with some curious bell sounds somehow reminiscent of Metroid (an old video game). This connection might be ill-founded, however. The rest is much like Barrel Night, focusing on a rumbling beat that just keeps on kicking, a somewhat sparse upper layer of scratchy sounds, and small hints of melody. Even with some more prominent leads heard in the last few minutes, I didn’t find this particular engaging.

Manifold closes the album with Abstract Dimension, a return to the deeper side of their sound. Tight breakbeats and a pulsating psychedelic groove provide the rhythmic configuration, while the rest of an exercise in restraint. There are a few good moments in here but it feels as if its potential was not reached.

X-Ray Attraction shows promise but fails to follow through. Tracks like Time For The Heist and The Wolf provide solid listening, but most of the others don’t even come close. As a DJ, I am also perturbed at how difficult it is to mix some of these songs—it’s as if Manifold purposefully set out to make their work tricky to smoothly integrate into a set. I like a good challenge but the non-standard arrangements seem positively superfluous at times. X-Ray Attraction may appeal to certain niches; fans of the old Atomic Records sound or slightly Gothic psychedelic trance may wish to try it out, but it is otherwise easy enough to pass up.

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