Asides the recently released Single-CD "Love" (feat. Suzi Electric), David Almgren alias VOIDE has also produced a complete new studio album. "Humachine" picks up for the most part the line of his last album "Evolution", with which VOIDE could score intensely the ears of both, audience and reviewers.
As the title announces it, "Humachine" continues mostly to write an additional storyboard of the connection man - machine in a new and straight upbeating kind. A sheer evergreen of a theme, available in multiple variations, which especially fits well with Electronica artists. Musically David seems to lay his focus on a better balance between the styles, he especially allows more and more stylistically different drum patterns to invade the spacey EBM/Electronica music outfit. Compared with "Evolution", the EBM influence comes out a bit more reduced (exception: "Rock The Geek"), but several new and up-to-date-arranged tracks ("Humachine", "Electrolyte" or "Toxic") are increasing with the speed.
It can be generally noticed, that David has perfected several parts of his composition process, although the integration of his vocals is and remains still the part in which he could develop a bit. As for the float of the album, I must admit, that I would have changed the track listing a bit, just because the best pieces like "The Mechanical Fiddler" (brilliant "fiddling" synth drops...), the pummeling "Toxic", which features some typical-303-sounding bass synths and the beautiful layered "Retrothought" do definitely deserve a better and more striking rank in the track list.
Let’s keep out the well-done opening title track "Humachine" and the melodic synth-fanfares of "Between Sheets", I for the most part skip the tracks up to track 6, because these tunes come out to me as average and somehow I have heard them in a more diverse and refreshing kind available on "Evolution".
Track 6 then is the brilliant and nearly 7 minutes long dancefloor-massacre named "Electrolyte", which completely impresses with its staccato-like clap-and-snare-programmings. Thumbs up also for the diverse layers of "In Agony With Hope", while the sequencing work of "Sometimes I Daydream" would be able to bring VOIDE next to international renowned artists like Vangelis on every "Synthesizer Essentials" compilation.
Even if I tend to criticize one or another track of this album, it has to be said, that "Humachine" is an excellent piece of work, which may wouldn’t stand in the shadow of the almighty monument named "Evolution", if I wouldn’t have heard it before. It’s a hard cake with the try to better an own produced monument – some of the new tracks on "Humachine" offer a possible direction, while some others act like repetitions. But I’m sure that David continues to figure out the needed diversity to return even stronger with another new studio album.