Teknovore – The Theseus Paradox
We’ve been getting teasers from George Klontzas, a former member of PreEmptive Strike 0.1, Croona, and Cynical Existence, regarding his upcoming full-length album for a while. Under the name Teknovore he’s been both a remixer for various artists as well as a collaborator with J:dead (whose relationship is still going strong). His latest teaser was the EP “Anachronist”, which contained a single off his debut album as well as a couple of remixes and a cover. I was more than pleased with what was shown off but – as always – I hold my optimism in until the final product is received. And, well, now that I’ve had the album in my hands for a bit I can say that it has been worth the wait. Teknovore’s debut album “The Theseus Paradox” is a love letter to dark electronic music which combines the likes of EBM, EBSM, psytrance, and more into a tight package.
The album kicks off strong with the collaborative track ‘Take Me Away’, in which J:dead takes on the vocal duties. What we get is a pulsing, crisp, mid-tempo beat that thrashes between well balanced screams and cleaner vocals. While there’s not much in the way of variety on the track, Teknovore understands his strengths and sticks with them. Rather than being just another club hit, ‘Take Me Away’ is a track that can be used when sitting in the dark as well. ‘Apotheosis’ sees Teknovore embrace some of his dark electro roots from his time in projects such as Preemptive Strike 0.1. This is a down and dirty dance track meant to be played as loud as possible (without rupturing the eardrum, obviously) on the dancefloor to make your local cybergoth shake their legwarmers off. While it doesn’t reinvent the genre, it has high production value and sounds excellent.
‘The Seal Becomes the Gate’ starts off with a sampled phrase in a foreign language, so don’t play it around your local Christian council lest they label it Satanic and try to light you on fire for witchcraft. Taking a nod from EBSM and cyberpunk beats alike, this wonderfully paced dance track has heavy percussion and enough breaks in between to keep it refreshing and moving. Teknovore lets his synths off the leash for ‘Vox Machina’ as the beat ramps up in tension. Playing around with acid techno influences, ‘Vox Machina’ hits at the speed of light and continues its nonstop electronic mayhem until the last note. ‘Relinquish Your Flesh’ is the second collaboration on the album and is a glorious one at that. It features Neon Decay, a project from Fredrik Croona. His growling vocals are set right in the middle of the mix, thus sounding less like vocals and more like another instrument in the midst of all the electronics. A mixture of harsh electro and heavy EBM basslines combine to make a wicked combination.
It is surprising, in a sense, to see some brighter influences come to play on the album with ‘Make Us Whole’. However, Teknovore does sneak in some light psytrance into the mix on the track. While brighter it may be, it’s still a phenomenal song complete with squeaky clean production values. ‘Anachronist’ comes up next. When it released as an EP teasing the album, I wrote this for the song. And my opinion still remains the same: [The song] features guitars, programming, and vocals from RNZR. The industrial-techno beats Teknovore has become known for do not take long to show their face. After a short twenty-some second intro, the slamming and earthquake-worthy bassline hits hard. Cybernetic samples of a glitchy voice play throughout the song as dark electro lines run their course. The vocals are a combination of robotic sounding chords and classic harsh EBM whisper screams. Though I rarely hear them anymore, when they’re done well my inner cybergoth comes out. Both Teknovore and RNZR should be proud of what they’ve accomplished on this single; it’s fantastic.
Rather than being a pulsing and punching track like many of the others on the album, ‘Split the Sky’ finds itself as a welcoming cinematic piece. Whenever I hear beats like these, I always imagine futuristic cities and devastated wastelands. But, the end image is up to the listener. J:dead returns for another collaboration on ‘Every Beaten Bone’. Both Teknovore and J:dead do not hold back on the track. It’s harsh to the end featuring non-stop screaming and a danceable dark electo beat. Teknovore manages to crank out one final dark dance track with ‘Olethros’ before ending the album off with the cinematic and sample-riddled ‘Continuity’.
Teknovore’s “The Theseus Paradox” never grew old for me, and never weighed me down in the slightest. It’s an album that I actively looked forward to spinning every time I finished it; like a chocoholic attacking a Hershey’s bar, my ears devoured “The Theseus Paradox” time and time again. I’ve said it probably two or three times in the review, but the production is grand, the collaborations solid, and the influences superb. It is everything I would want in a dark electro album that I could ask for. Eight-and-a-half out of ten.
This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
