Review: Spiky – Carnival Symposium

“Imagine the soul of a machine…”

Artist Name: Spiky
Album Name: Carnival Symposium
Year: 2011
Genre: Orchestral/Rock/Steampunk
Label: Independent

Imagine the soul of a machine. Better yet, imagine if this mechanical soul had a soundtrack. Got it? Now, throw in some mighty influences from the like of Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Marilyn Manson (the dark and industrial version of Manson, not the latest reincarnation), and don’t forget the larger-than-life orchestral sections and sh*t-hot percussion. Cool? Cool. You should be screaming magnifique right about now, but, more importantly, you’re one step closer to understanding this dramatic masterpiece titled Carnival Symposium, which was created by French sound wizard Spiky.

Divided over 8 epic tracks, Carnival Symposium is described best by Spiky as “an orchestra in a factory”. Menacing, heart-wrenching, narrative, classical, epic…these are just some of the adjectives that can be used to describe this album that coasts more like the soundtrack to a Tim Burton film. Painting splendid dark colours and emphasising cold, hard textures, whilst formulating diverse moods, Spiky creates a mechanical-themed musical world for you to get lost in. Over 52 minutes, Carnival Symposium twists, turns, dives and rises, as every musical section is a crucial – dare I say it – cog in this production. Not meaning to repeat myself, but I will – you get lost in Spiky’s world.

From the recording (tube and ribbon technologies were used during recording sessions to recreate the warm sound characterised by music in the early 1900s) to the artwork (the stunning visuals were created by illustrator Aurélien Police), an immense amount of thought, creativity and art went into the making of Carnival Symposium. Take a bow, Spiky; this is a phenomenal piece of art that deserves all the acclaim in the world.

www.spiky.fr

Best Tracks: All of them

92/100

- Sergio Pereira