for DTRASH31 - "The Tension And The Darknesst"
Reviewed by Wednesday Elektra @ aidforbands

"Overall, I like this album much better than their self-titled release (EXIST - DTRASH25). Its still strange and quirky music, but it has an extra element to it that lures me in and keeps me interested. It's a great disc to play in the background as you're doing things, especially playing silent video games! It doesn't particularily generate any specific emotions, at least none that I've noticed so far. The disc is still relatively new to me, and most digital based albums need awhile to sink in, before I can really get into them and enjoy them. I don't have a favorite track so far, and I don't normally pay attention to track titles. Which makes this album even more special for all the songs flow together in a twisted sort of harmony. Its almost like I'm listening to one really long song, when in reality there's 9 songs listed on the disc. 

I was reading a review on All Things Are Connected (DTECH-01) by SCHIZOID (one half of the members of EXIST) awhile ago and the reviewer commented on the album cover. I've never really noticed album covers before I read that review. Sitting here looking at the EXIST cover brings about many thoughts. They always seem to have some sort of warped and/or altered album covers with blurred out pictures of the members (J.Schizoid and .miQ). Either way the album design for this particular disc seemed to really suit the music contained inside its jewel case. To some extent it reminded me of Metallica's Load cover except in black/grey & white.

The newly redesigned website http://warp9.to/exist also seems to tie in with the album. I haven't really seen too many underground bands redesign their websites to go along with their latest release. Actually, I think this is pretty much the first band I've seen do that! I know a lot of mainstream bands change their websites with new releases. So, hopefully this technique will work for them. I know I feel more comfortable going to a website that has a similar theme to the actual album.

Back to the music. There's only so many ways to describe EXIST's music. You simply either like it or you don't. Their first album I didn't much care for, it was too "corny" sounding with too many glitchy sounds like really old school video games. Very high pitched annoying noises that I didn't care for. But this new album is more gloomy with lots of deep sounds and less video game noises, the ones it does contain are more toned down. Some of the songs almost make you feel like you're walking down the halls of a haunted mansion. Also, the samples on this album seem to fit in and flow better with its surrounding music. There are no vocal tracks, just samples. Some of the samples are quite humorous, while others are your typical EXIST sounding samples, the stranger the better. Perhaps that should be their motto. 

EXIST is definitely good at coming up with strange and different things for us to listen to. I almost wish this album was a few songs longer! I really can't wait to see what they come up with next."

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