Album Review: Modern Error - Victim Of A Modern Age
Victim Of A Modern Age is Modern Error’s second studio album.
WORDS BY JAZMIN LEMUS
Last month, UK’s very own rockers, Modern Error, released their album, Victim Of A Modern Age, via Rude Records! Modern Error is made up of brothers, Zak and Kel Pinchin. Together, they blend stadium rock and post-punk abrasiveness in their music. The 14 tracks on their new album shows just that.
The album kicks off with “[I] Modern Age”, a song that’s heavy on synthesizers (you’ll hear a lot of that). With vocals kicking in at about a minute, this song is of very few words, but it’s the perfect opener for what’s to follow with “Error Of The World”.
“Error Of The World” has a message for listeners. With lyrics such as “We’re the error of the world and we get what we deserve,” it sounds like we’re being reminded that our actions have consequences. Towards the end, we hear “Search the sky for a future sign”; if we want or don’t want certain things to happen, there are things we can do to either make them happen or prevent them from happening.
Following “Error Of The World” is “A Vital Sign”. This particular track reminds me a little bit of Thirty Seconds To Mars, specifically their song, “The Kill”. I don’t know if other fans will hear the similarity, but there’s something there. Track 4 is “Exit Obscured/Restricted To The Earth”, which starts off with drums with vocals joining in almost immediately. The song grows loud during the chorus, vocally and instrumentally. About halfway through the song, the song decrescendos and even slows down a bit. Vocals not included; just synthesizers, piano, and some programming. The music starts to pick up again at the end, transitioning into “Curtain Call”.
“Curtain Call” kicks off with drums followed by vocals and you guessed it, synthesizers. The song is not as fast as some of the previous songs, but if you were to be at one of their shows and they played this song, this would be a good time to take a break from the jumping and moshing. Following “Curtain Call” is “Something Broken, Somewhat Isolated”, a slow tune that only has piano, synthesizers, programming, and some vocals. “Lull” is the next track and it’s different from everything else. The only thing you can expect from this song are vocals and programming. The songs after “Lull” kind of change the dynamic of the album.
“[II] Human Error” is a song that has more of an industrial sound. That sound carries into “The Truest Blue” as the beginning and the lead up to the chorus sounds like Nine Inch Nails. The chorus changes a bit as it has more of an alternative sound. All around, most of the song will win over fans of Nine Inch Nails and the industrial genre.
“Feels Like Violence” is the tenth track and it continues to carry the heavy use of synthesizers. For fans of post-hardcore, alternative, and electronica, “Only One” is a song for them, as the genres blend during the chorus. Soundwise, the album goes into a different direction with “It’s Just A Feeling” as it may remind listeners of Mindless Self Indulgence, for anyone who is a fan of MSI.
“Euphoria/Visions of Ecstasy” is the longest song of the album. It starts off kind of quiet. Instrumentally and vocally, it starts to pick up/crescendo slowly. At some point in the song, there are a few seconds of silence and once the music returns, it’s not as loud as it was before, with the last few seconds of the song ending with just the piano.
The last track of the album and another song that may remind listeners of Nine Inch Nails is “New Age Vibrance”. The sound changes about a minute and 30 seconds in as the song turns heavy, vocally and instrumentally, for about a minute. In a way, “New Age Vibrance” is a summary of the album and it circles back to the beginning of the record.
It’s safe to say that Victim Of A Modern Age will end up on a lot of people’s AOTY lists. It may even end up on yours! So do yourself a favor and please give this album a spin or ten!
You can purchase/stream Victim Of A Modern Age HERE.