R.A.M. - Efficient Chips

Rampant Angry Men or RAM is a collaborative project of Scorb and Neural Rectifier Syndrome, both of whom have debut albums out now. NRS is Paul Wright, formerly a part of Deviant Species which continues as a solo project. The fusion of styles heard on this album results in hard and heavy banging tunes with a kooky atmosphere. The cover art is nice work from Scorb himself, with a circuit board theme with raucously amusing madness spiraling around the CD tray. 65 minutes of music can be found on the CD itself, though much of it is rather similar.

Hash Brown opens the album in signature style with a stomping hollow beat that transitions to one of greater strength and depth. No distinct melodies emerge at any time but plenty of small sounds swirl to create an atmosphere of depravity and disorder. A bent voice asks in a short lull “is there an afterparty?” really showing just what this is about – going hard all night and then dancing through the day in a total zombie state. The focus here is just pounding beats with edgy hooks – hard music for the mechanical maniac.

Coming Back bangs away with precision-oriented percussion and a rolling bass line, expressing anger and discontent. Strange distorted vocal samples flood in to heighten the bizarre atmosphere, giving way to a set of somewhat more distinct melodies that scurry across the high-end with frenetic abandon. A breakdown introduces some harsh industrial sounds and a casual breakbeat, which returns the song to the flow with another pounding run with flanged percussion, never developing all that much in the end. It’s a bit too sparse to really appeal.

Retard continues the pattern with hard and heavy beats laced with disturbed acid hooks that frantically attack the senses. Messed up vocals are manipulated into bizarre forms as sweeping siren sounds go flying past. Something about this arrangement reminds me of Penta, which is a good thing. The energetic pulsations persist, adeptly creating a sensation that borders on mental illness. This third track benefits from a higher level of activity across the spectrum, making the pounding rhythms much more engaging.

Onion Rings cracks open with some choral samples that inspire a dark mood. The beat that enters is a sharp and staggered rhythm ideal for a stomp. In the midst of an early break, caustic sounds ponderously meander before the beat kicks back in, this time with a spooky layer of atmosphere on top. More pounding leads into another messed up breakdown, scattering a melody into a digitalized haze of distorted sound particles. On the return it’s more of the same with electrical effects and thumping rhythms. It still feels like they’re holding back, but this is good enough to play out.

Beer Nuts is no surprise with hard pumping beats and edgy percussion. A few distinct atmospheres are heard for short seconds in some breakdowns before the song jumps back into the psychotic high-energy rhythms. The repetitive effects inspire a relation to a few of the acid techno influenced pieces on the recent Lemurians album. Anytime a really engaging lead comes in it will soon be smashed to bits so that the beat can kick it in standard style. Effective on the big rigs, and it fits well in context, but it lacks the depth and distinction to really impress.

Deadly Nightshade is a sick creature frantically pulsing at a rapid pace with rough repetitive rhythms. Jittery effects clash with ripping synthetic stabs throughout the duration of the song. An angry distorted voice provides atmosphere at a few key transitions as the beats pile up to go rushing into the next sequence. Spooky sounds flare up from time to time as the throbbing underbelly pumps away. This is pretty much as hard as it gets; no mercy for the dance floors.

Dreamcatcher finally provides what I had been seeking from this album all along: hard beats combined with thoroughly engaging dark melodies. The song opens with a music box melody and a set of very lush cinematic strings that decompose into the requisite hard beats after nearly two minutes of introduction. With the mood set the song starts to churn through a series of industrial and digital contortions on the percussive levels, and in time the atmosphere undergoes a deliciously sinister development. Slow and ponderous orchestral sequences are nicely contrasted by the energetic kicks and tightly wound bass lines. Unfortunately the last sequence in the song abandons all the fine tension that has been developed to frantically spew out jumpy electric lines straight through to the end, but despite that the song is the gem of the album.

Sausage & Mashup is a study in contrasts, with a drifting sci-fi atmosphere serving as the distinct lead. The pounding rhythms roll instead of blister, integrating with mechanical rhythms that cycle and clank in a precise arrangement. Previewed in the introduction, a cinematic atmosphere rises up from the depths after the half-way point. With spiraling background noises and a few crispy digital sounds stabbing in for emphasis, the result is a cosmic mood stimulator that nicely brings the album’s energy down a notch while providing a good feeling after all the relentless pounding throughout the body of the album.

Ram Dub closes is off with a predictable sound, one that is so unsurprising in fact that I don’t see any sense in writing much about it.

Efficient Chips had the potential to be a bit more than a set of pounding dance floor monsters. I had picked this up after enjoying the debut album from Scorb so much, but there are barely any dark melodies shining through on this album. The theme is hard beats that go boom, fused with some admittedly diabolical work with techno rhythms, all spiced with a deranged atmosphere. As it turns out, most of the material here isn’t really engaging beyond the dance floor – and even then, I don’t see why one would want to hear all that much of this. With the focus on floor burners with few attempts at depth or originality the duo have failed to create an album that will hold appeal beyond the DJ crowd, and it doesn’t seem likely that Efficient Chips will be a lasting classic. However, considered in the moment, it is clearly one of the hardest and most relentless albums on the market in 2004, and will surely appeal to some fans of that end of the spectrum. In any case, there are at least a few decent tunes to be heard here, with Dreamcatcher being the most notable. Among the first six on the album it’s a case of pick your favourite – they aren’t all that different and it is probable that only one or two will end up standing out for any listener. In conclusion – it isn’t a bad album, but has very limited uses, and there are better releases to check out if you’re interested in the hard and dark side of psytrance.

Release Data

Artist: R.A.M.
Title: Efficient Chips
Label: Nexus Media
Format: CD album
Released: 2004

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