A few months before we already had the chance to introduce you this new project of Trevor Weeks and his first tracks recorded under this new moniker. Trevor can be counted to the veterans of the US-based Electro-/Industrial scene, who has made himself a quite good name under his pseudonym XoN and his cult-music-project Boundless as well as his being as one half of Symbiont.
So here comes out an all new album of him now signed to Nilaihah Records, which is, I must admit, another surprise, since Trevor owns a label for longer than a decade (Backscatter). I guess here stands a business-related decision behind this deal, as this means a lesser financial risk for Trevor. At least this allows him more and more to concentrate on the needs of an artist only, instead of trying to unite additionally the interests of a label under that one hat. Nilaihah itself proves to have a fine nose for a mega-talented up- and coming music-project, which hopefully scores with this new album also internationally.
After checking with the tracks of this album, I am relative sure, that missing success cannot have anything to do with Trevor's talent. His compositions follow a well worked-out progression and unite to the same time melodic components with modern sounding kick-and-snare works. The tracks are for the most part beat-driven, and especially the harder tunes like 'Subversion', 'The Crucible Effect', or the fast pacing, sample-driven 'Bloodwork' should be able to satisfy the needs of every Harsh EBM-fan. Personally I can find preference with 'Just a Dream', on which Trevor varies with his vocal performance more than usual. Also the slow, ballad-like 'Liars Plea' with some beautiful string- and piano-arrangements receives a 'thumb up'-rating. Finally 4 foreign remix contributions can be heard too (Nitronoise, The Luna Sequence, Cutoff:Sky, and Dryft). With the exception of Dryft, you'll get alternative versions on 'Time to Die' and 'Subversion', all suitable for body movement on the dancefloor. Applause I spend for the Dryft-remix on 'The Crucible Effect', because the project of Mike Cadoo (ex-Gridlock) transforms this originally straight and dancefloor-compatible tune into an epic sounding instrumental experience, which will leave you speechless. What a great interpretation.
'Nexus' is a diverse arranged album, which doesn't fall into the same-sounding Harsh-EBM-redundancy, although a few of the featured tracks on here will appeal the fans of this genre. It continues musically the path, which Trevor has walked under the Boundless-moniker, while he has developed his production skills to reach a higher state-of-art ranking