Starvox

EX NIHILO - Maladie Mentale 

Demo CD 3B

Over the past few months, I have been keeping an eye on this band and we at Starvox have continuously been kept abreast with this French musician's endeavours. I was the designated observer, and I very much enjoyed following this project through the releases "Visions" and "Après Les Chaos."
Monsieur Gebel is quite the prolific musician, seemingly drawing from an endless well of creativity; he keeps on churning releases out in hopes of gaining attention from the underground and possibly acquire label interest.

Again, I have been enjoying Ex Nihilo's music and I see a great deal of potential for success in these releases, however, I have to say that this current CD-R that is being shopped about doesn't have the impact of the prior two I have heard.

Where the prior albums had their share of memorable and potentially accessible stand out tracks, "Maladie Mentale" is more of holistic sound scapes of apocalyptic electronics. In many ways, it reminds me of early Velvet Acid Christ only without the necessary rhythmic intensity. Where as there is an audience for more experimental electronic music, the key to success nowadays is to combine abrasive noise with a steady beat. Sadly, if music is not deemed club friendly, it doesn't reach as high a plain of success as other artists. The only reason I even make the comparison and mention this is that the prior two Ex Nihilo offerings seemed to be geared more so in that direction where as this one seems to be taking a step elsewhere. It is my opinion, frankly, that Ex Nihilo needs to continue much building where those CDs left off as those songs stood out more. On this release, things seem to be rather had to pick out. The latter half of the CD begins to pick up more, but again, I think to put it simply, it could be better.

If experimental electronics are the direction Ex Nihilo plans to head, stronger material needs to be composed. I found a lot of the music here to be rather bland and missing something. The songs are cool but they bleed into one another too much and there is a lot of momentum and build up that never really peaks. Some of the finer moments are "Pierres De Tonnere" and "Maladie Mentale (part 2)" which by simply boosting the volume of the drums, a harsher mix on the drumming could lead both tracks to the dance floor. This as well would have worked on the track "Philtre Of The Dead" which suffered from a weak percussive pound that could have really kicked some major ass!
Also, I think to American audiences, what would really set this band apart as I mentioned in prior reviews, was the heavily accented French vocals. However, the vocals are very sparse on this release, and when they do appear, they are lost in the mix and often processed. I would like to hear Laine's voice return at the forefront of his programming. There are hints of a mischievous darkwave feel reminiscent of the timeless act Malign from San Francisco on "Struck By Lightening" and the luscious whispers on "Psychotique" but again, I think the drums and vocals were unfortunately

lost in the mix.

The music is intense, apocalyptic, and harsh in its imagery and emotive effects. All the pieces are here, things just need to be assembled in a more solid way. Of course, this CD is labeled as DEMO CD 3B, as Laine has several cassette releases that were only demoes as well. Perhaps he is just experimenting and he has something else up his sleeve. With Ex Nihilo, I think there big break could just be around the corner?
Reviewed by Matthew