The Anix’s Hologram Review: Believable Illusion

Less than a year after his debut album on the FiXT label, The Anix has a new one on the way. It’s hard to talk about Hologram at length without saying that it feels very familiar. Not that it’s like his previous album, Shadow_Movement, but rather it feels very inspired by other artists. Some of these being more obvious than others, and some perhaps unintentional and just something I happened to notice based on my own tastes. Having not read my previous review until after writing up some thoughts on this album, I likened the opening song Renegade to InnerPartySystem, which it appears I also did the last time around – so that’s certainly something he is continuing on with. This is mostly due to the voice layering and purity of the tones, which have a very relaxed yet prominent sound, along with spacey, shoegaze vibes at times.

I faulted the last album for several of the songs sounding the same, so it’s nice to see this outing cut down to a solid ten from fifteen with a lot more variation between the tracks. The fact that it has a familiar sound to it is hardly a bad thing, as it lets you immediately grasp onto hooks and melodies. Having not listened to any of the singles prior to my first album listen, I knew immediately that Everlasting Love would be one of the stand out songs as soon as it started, as it gave me vibes of my favorite song from the last album: Interchanger. Many listens later, it’s still the song I gravitate to, and will occasionally just throw it on as it gets stuck in my head. Sadly, it’s lead into by my least favorite song: Enemy in the Mirror. Something about it makes me antsy and uncomfortable, and the fact that the surrounding tracks are so strong, not hitting skip is difficult.

One of the slower songs (or at least more relaxed) on the album is Interference. It starts off sounding like it’d be from Boards of Canada, as it doesn’t really deviate in sound, and is about as straight of a line as you can get with voice work. Notes vary a bit, but if you were to be singing karaoke and had never heard the song before, it’d be an easy one to sound good on by just reading the words in a single note. By the time I am a minute into Techhunter 2.0 I feel like I am watching a new Tron film, with the sounds being reminiscent of those found in Daft Punk’s score, which I think is a statement to the quality of Brandon’s composition and design of this album.

Chrome has a seeming movie quality to it, with a buildup that almost seems like it’d be prepping you for a battle in Star Wars. That switches quickly though, as this song probably has the most overall variety from the track list, both in voice work and instrumentation. It’s one of those songs you may not appreciate the first time you hear it because there’s so much there that you need to dig into, but after several listens you begin to understand more of what it has to offer.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises while listening my first time through was a cover of Deftones’ Digital Bath. At first I didn’t realize that’s what it was since I haven’t listened to White Pony in a very long time, but I couldn’t help but realize how much he sounded like Chino. It wasn’t long from that point that I realized what this was, and it honestly made me want to hear him do more covers, as this is such a stellar take on the song and fits his overall sound so well. Who wouldn’t want to hear him cover one of Depeche Mode’s more electronic tracks, Nine Inch Nails’ older songs, or something to make you dance from The Cure?

Live Forever is another slow song, although this one is basically the equivalent of a ballad from any sort of rock album that decides to slow things down. It’s a nice breather song, and leads into Talking in my Sleep (sorry, that’s not a typo, he didn’t cover The Romantics’ song) very well. That’s not to say that it has any actual connection sonicly, but this amps up the energy a bit before the finale.

Disappear is the final song on the album and makes use of the dreamlike sounds and vocals that I’m so fond of, while keeping the overall song upbeat utilizing a fast underlying tempo. It starts off sounding like an intro section to a Jet Set Radio level, but soon has the requisite breakdowns and buildups with intense crescendos and is a great way to end. Hologram is a big jump from his Shadow_Movement, and one I’m happy to see – if the next follows suit, it’ll be something truly special.

8 out of 10

Pros

  • Eclectic Sound
  • Deftones Cover
  • Succinct and Satisfying Experience

Cons

  • Enemy in the Mirror

Hologram was created by The Anix under the FiXT label. It went on presale September 18th, 2019, and will be available on October 11th, 2019. The album was provided to us for review. If you’d like to see more of The Anix, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth your time, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great album that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate music, please let us know.

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