Balance Over Symmetry, the eagerly anticipated 3rd solo album by Voltage dropped today on Hospital Records & I’m pleased to say that it’s everything I’d hoped for!
This sounds like a very accomplished album. Where previous long players on Co-Lab Recordings, Low Down Deep, and the Voltage & Serum collaboration album ‘Strikes Back’ were full of dancefloor bangers, this album sounds distinctly more grown up.
So Close, the first single to be released from the album, gave us a taste that this was going to be something other than another Kings Of The Rollers spin off
With 5 non D&B cuts, I can imagine some narrow minded jump up drum & bass purists may moan that this “doesn’t have enough D&B”. I’d personally have to wholeheartedly disagree with any such claims. It takes balls for an artist to step outside their comfort zone. I’ve always been a firm believer that the album format is the perfect place to experiment, where an artist can flex their production muscles. An album of 20 tracks that all sound the same isn’t interesting to me.
The confidence Voltage conveys on stage while DJing is manifested musically across these 15 tracks. He’s shown himself to be a multi genre artist, as adept at making 120 beats per minute 80’s electro as he is at churning out the dancefloor DnB bangers he did for Logan D’s Low Down Deep imprint.
The collaboration with MC Evil B again is completely not what I was expecting when I saw these two names together. Voltage’s soundscapes & Evil’s technical wordplay make for an incredible piece of music. It deserves to be played a few times to properly embrace
My personal favourite track is Keep On Dancing. Featuring a distinctly catchy vocal loop, uplifting pianos, rolling bassline & snappy drums. This tune is firmly in the category of head nodder. I can imagine myself hearing this in Fabric & totally zoning out!
Natty Love, Pyramidz & Journey To Outer Space are pure Voltage fire… These should ideally be played at high volume, in a dark sweaty rave!
I think you can tell, I liked this album a lot. I can see it not being to the taste of some of the more die hard jump up Voltage fans, but I can only applaud any drum and bass producer that has the guts to try something as unexpected as Balance Over Symmetry.
What do you think of Balance Over Symmetry?
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