Style: Jazz Fusion, Progressive Metal, Djent (Instrumental)
Review by: Mathis
Country: China
Release date: 19 Novermber, 2021
NOTE: This album was originally included in the “Albums We Missed in 2021” Issue of The Progressive Subway
Although this is my first time covering this genre on the blog, I love me some instrumental jazz fusion. You can listen to it while falling asleep, working out, playing videogames, or just have it play in the background throughout the day. There is an incredible amount of variety in jazz fusion, yet most new acts these days are just Plini worship. However, Von Citizen decided to go for a more refreshing approach with Outlier and cover as many styles as possible in only seven tracks.
Don’t go getting all upset that this release doesn’t have ten to fifteen songs, or twenty minute epics. Outlier is the epitome of quality over quantity, and I am completely unbiased here in saying that I think anyone who enjoys instrumental fusion will find something they like in this album. The composition is great, the musicianship is great, and the production is great.
I am going to cover each song (briefly) in the order they appear on the album, and to kick that off is “Bliss”. What a great choice for the first track of the album, it begins with a slow synthy vaporwave vibe that suddenly fades out after a few seconds. Then the beautiful Arch Echo-esque melody kicks in, bringing my ears to audio ecstasy. It feels so freaking good, I get it, it sounds weird; it is just such a pleasurable bop of a tune. Honestly, at this point, I was happy knowing that Von Citizen were a clone of one of my favorite instrumental bands, but then two minutes in, things got techy. This is it ladies and gentlemen, now “Bliss” has become an Animals As Leaders song, and after about two minutes of djenty tech the song returns to the joyous melody from earlier in the track. I rate this track a 10/10. That’s some epic stuff.
Track two “Petrichor” sounds very Plini-like, but in the best way possible lightweight and gentle, but with the bounciness of something like Sithu Aye’s “Grand Order”. You get those glockenspiel “tings” here and there that both of the aforementioned artists are so fond of. This song has nearly no synth/keys in it which were so prominent in the first song, and around the three minute mark there is an orchestral piece too. We are only two songs into the album and can see a great deal of variety. Another banger in the bag, this song receives a 9/10 from me dawg.
“Pitchblack” is consistently heavier than the other songs in its entirety. It is quite djenty with electronic influence that sounds like a mix of Chimp Spanner, Lee McKinney, and Bulb. This song is more about the heavy riffage than the jazzy noodling, but there is an awesome clean guitar solo that sounds reminiscent of Lee McKinney or Scale The Summit. I give it an 8/10, a great song just like the first two, and I am going to jump straight into track four because I feel it goes hand in hand with “Pitchblack”. “6PM” serves as the palate cleanser following the last track that was bold and barefaced. It is a soft lo-fi track with some light drum and bass beats, kind of what you may hear at the end of some of Periphery’s older music. I usually don’t care much for interlude’s but “6PM” is certainly deserving of an 8/10.
The fifth track is “Flint” is similar to the first track “Bliss” in that it revolves around a melody more than some of the others. It sounds much less like Arch Echo than the first song, but I would still liken it to them. Not quite as bouncy, and has some chunkier riffs, but it sounds like it could fit in with Arch Echo’s first album. I rate this song as a 9/10, another lovely creation by Von Citizen.
Next up is “Lightstream”, I get big-time Victoria vibes from this song. The riff repetition is a lot like “Kepler”. It isn’t quite heavy but isn’t super feel-good catchy melodic either. It is a little calmer in nature than most of the other tracks with the exception of some heavier riffs that pop up occasionally. This one is an 8/10 for me. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’ll spell it out for you; every song on Outlier is really good!
The final track on Outlier is “Turritopsis” and throughout the song, you can hear influences that were utilized elsewhere in the album, but there is one more heavy hitting style that they picked up for this song exclusively: David Maxim Micic. I have never heard anyone replicate his material before, but Von Citizen was able to do it quite well! It doesn’t span the entire song, but there are some heavy riffs in this song with that goofy Micic flair. The rest of the song is great too, but I find myself replaying that one djenty part over and over! I rate “Turritopsis” a 9/10
Von Citizen really covered all their bases with Outlier, and it was super fun hearing little pieces of other artists’ styles throughout the album. One thing worth noting though is that although it is only parts of songs that pick up all these influences, each song feels complete and thorough. Everything is composed really well and you don’t ever catch anything that sounds out of place or unnecessary. It was unfortunate I wasn’t able to review this album earlier in the year, but this is what our missed albums post is all about!
Recommended tracks: Bliss, Flint, Turritopsis
Recommended for fans of: Arch Echo, Animals As Leaders, Plini, Instrumental Jazz Fusion
You may also like: Step In Fluid, Kinglet, PIXL, Chronologist
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Independent
Von Citizen is: Unknown
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