Awolnation – Megalithic Symphony Deluxe Edition (Red Bull) CD REVIEW

July 2, 2014

8.AWOLNATION_0067A_2000GET DOWN TO the fat, heavy packaging of this deluxe edition. Thrill to the included fabric patch, and especially the natty combo of surf wax comb and bottle opener.

Itโ€™s pretty transparent which audience theyโ€™re shooting for here, and I guess itโ€™s also contingent on swigging vast amounts of everyoneโ€™s favourite taurine-enriched, caffeinated lolly water. Which is where the music comes in, I guess.

When Aaron Bruno (who for all intents and purposes is Awolnation) was offered free time in LAโ€™s Red Bull studio, the result was this 2011 album, which somewhat inexplicably resulted in Platinum sales. Listening to it three years on, thereโ€™s a big sonic hole at the centre of this music that no amount of sub-Rage Against The Machine vocals can cover up.

Megalithic+Symphony+Deluxe+EditionRed Bull are famous for their support of electronic dance music, but this poorly fitting colour clash between angry rock, Euro trash keyboards and robot bonking rhythms just doesnโ€™t cut it.

The hybrid works somewhat better on the extra disc, on purpose-built songs like โ€˜Thiskidsnotalrightโ€™ (purpose built for a computer game, that is), and on the much more musically pleasing remixes. But really, who in this world could possibly need five extra versions of their horrid hit, โ€˜Sailโ€™?ย  GARY STEEL

RATING:

2.5/5 stars

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Steel has been penning his pungent prose for 40 years for publications too numerous to mention, most of them consigned to the annals of history. He is Witchdoctor's Editor-In-Chief/Music and Film Editor. He has strong opinions and remains unrepentant. Steel's full bio can be found here

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