Search - Juno Reactor :: Shango

Great, great, great...then not so great

KTK | 01/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This being my first Juno Reactor album (not counting the "Matrix" soundtracks), it holds some nostalgic value for me, even though I'm pretty sure I first got it less than a year ago. Let's break this down, shall we?

Oh, and for the record, I don't use a 0/5 rating.



1) Pistolero - 5/5. Coupled with "Mona Lisa Overdrive" in "The Matrix Reloaded", this is the one that got me started on Juno. I believe I first heard it in the promos for "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", and I was SOLD! It's like a Mexican flamenco...but it's trancy. It's trance Mexican. Extremely entertaining introductory riffs are followed by the best friggin' choir you have ever heard in your life, in the history of the world!!! ...I might be exaggerating. I got the album mainly for this one, but was willing to see what else there was. However...this is the best Juno Reactor song I've heard thus far. If we're pretending "God is God" doesn't exist, that is.



2) Hule Lam - 4/5. I presume that a lot of people, especially techno/trance freaks, would be put off by this. Juno has tackled the African theme before, with "Razorback" and "Conga Fury", but those songs still retained some of the techno flare used in the early days of Juno. Here, they pretty much lose that. That, and the subtlety. This is LOUD, dude. Some guys chanting "HOO-LEH LAHM!!!" accompanied by some instruments that I won't even attempt to take a guess at, and you've got something that initially sounded ridiculous to me, I admit, but which also grew on me. And if it never grows on you...then quit whining and be happy that it's, like, the shortest Juno song ever!



3) Insects - 5/5. Okay...a bunch of insects slowly invade and overtake a house, eventually ganging up on the residents and eating them slowly. At least, those are the images going through my mind whenever I listen to this. Quieter than the first two, it's rather dark and tuneless for a while, almost giving one a feeling of paranoia. You know something bad's about to happen, but what? And when? Well...the answer to that second one is three minutes, fifty-two seconds. At this mark, the song shifts from ominous to just plain "AW, WE IN DEEP CACA NOW!" And it makes me feel very warm inside. Would've liked to see it go out with more of a bang, though.



4) Badimo - 4/5. Gee, I wonder why they named this song "Badimo"? Seriously, the first minute-and-a-half or so is rather repetitive. A cool-sounding guy with a throaty voice repeats the word "Badimo" (followed by something else that sounds like "Baranma", but I dunno) for several verses, which are underlaid with an increasing amount of instruments. Once it's repeated enough times, the song is free to do whatever it wants. And it goes all-out. To me, it's trying to sound dark and sinister, but it really reminds me of some moron who's only trying to be sinister. That's not to say it's not dark. It's very dark. Dark and loud. This and "Insects" go together like bread and...something that goes with bread.



5) Masters of the Universe - 5/5. Whoa! Wasn't expecting that. For a long time, I thought this song was trying to be as great as "Pistolero", and not quite reaching those heights. A few months ago, I finally quit being a jerk and learned to enjoy it. Still not as good as "Pistolero", but it's pretty close. It has the Mexican-style flow, but instead of guitars, it's got piano, and (primarily) some synth. It's also got a female voice vocalizing parallel to the main tune. Took me a while to realize I'd heard this in "The Animatrix". You could look at this as an alternate version of "Pistolero", but at this point, I'm not sure. I don't even know if it's supposed to be Mexican.



6) Nitrogen, Part 1 - 3/5. The slip starts here. While the first five stayed within their own established "moods", this one's all over the map. It starts off with a slow, scifi-ish feel, then transcends into...oh, where to begin? It takes us to this pulsating musical effect that really freaked me out the first time I heard it, then quickly cuts to a festive, not-too-serious tune that you might hear in a lounge. On Mars. I really can't describe it without making myself look stupid. Oh, wait. Anyway, after THAT, we shift to THIS. A solemn-sounding, yet scifi-ish melody that reminds me of a space requiem. It is trippy. Extremely weird song. Not bad, but not that good either.



7) Nitrogen, Part 2 - 3/5. I have yet to figure out why Juno Reactor coupled this and the last one together by giving them the same name. Is it just because this maintains the scifi feeling? Okay, that's what I'll stick with. But other than that, this is completely different from "Part 1". This one actually uses the word "Nitrogen" in its lyrics (or lack thereof). Out of the nine songs on the album, this sounds the most like it would belong in a techno club. But don't let that put you off; it's still got plenty of the Juno spirit. And it's a lot darker than the previous piece. I'd rate it higher, but it tends to get way too repetitive.



8) Solaris - 1/5. Um, what? Something you gotta know about me is that I usually can't stand the slow, calm Juno Reactor sound. And lo, here it is! How boring can you get? This has the feeling of a dark, quiet night in a Middle Eastern village. On Mars. Some woodwinds play slowly and quietly, and the background's got a weird, spacy thing going on. It continues like that for who-knows-how-long. After a while, we get something new, but just barely. It sounds as if the song's about to get exciting, but it turns out to be nothing, and I continue snoring. How very boring. As a whole, this might make you daydream about depressed snake charmers slowly drifting through space. Or you'll just flat-out be dreaming, since it's so very boring.



9) Song for Ancestors - 1/5. Um, double what? I'll be as quick as I can with this: Indian chanting. That's all I remember from the few times I've forced myself to listen to this for the sake of writing a balanced review. In my humble opinion, this little number, along with "Solaris", is a horrible way to conclude what is otherwise a great album. A sad, sad state of affairs that this ends what began with "Pistolero". Those two really are on opposite ends of the spectrum. If you've listened to "God is God", this is like that, only it's not good. It's basically noise. Screeching, incomprehensible, cacophonic, full-of-itself noise. If one of my descendants played this song for me, I'd come back from the dead and tell him to cut it out. I hate this with a passion. A bad taste in my mouth is all that this gave me. What a worthless piece of putrid garbage. Have a nice day.



PS: Butter!"

Stuck in the Middle

M. Novak | Cape Coral, Fl | 10/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Juno Reactor is a bridge between Industrial Music and GOA/Trance. I put it on when I have both ravers and goths in the house. :)"