H2SO4 – “Fixated”
Since reuniting making a return to form comeback, the alternative-electronic collective that blends techno, house, darkwave, industrial and rock, H2SO4 have been dropping a strings of single releases. Each one more aggressively impacting than the previous. Such is the case with “Fixated”. It’s loud and abrasive. It challenges you, throwing all sorts of aural thunder in your way. Whether it be harsh, grinding synth sounds, am insistently slamming beat, or soaring melodic vocal twists, it keeps your ears pricked up. H2SO4 often don’t simply make music, instead they create all-embracing listening experiences that tear at your senses.
Electronic music in recent years has bene championed not by the underworld of synth experimenters but by their heirs – suburban kids with pirated copies of Ableton Live and former radio DJs wearing giant cartoon mouse heads.
“Fixated” presents both the antitheses and the antidote to today’s capricious electronic music world, made up more of technological gimmickry than creative substance. Instead, H2SO4 build, put together, assemble and produce undaunted and evocative musical pieces made to thrill.
H2SO4’s forceful use of synths to create thundering atmospheres around danceable song structures awakes the monster in electronic music. Their industrial-like patchwork of throbbing beats, and growling synthesizers, wired to rock aesthetics and catchy pop melodies, sound as menacing and as inviting, as possibly the ear could imagine on “Fixated”.
With this track, H2SO4 has delivered what may be their strongest record since their comeback. It is a beat-driven powerhouse; lyrically well done and as always supported by great production work.
While originality has never been a problem, finding a way to deliver something new that’s entertaining, effecting, meaningful and appealing to a broad spectrum of listeners while speaking on a common experience, requires an extra amount of commitment and talent.
Luckily H2SO4 has always had bucket loads of those requirements tucked away in their skillset. This is important because it shows that H2SO4 have figured out how to make all of those divergent elements come together and work seamlessly.
The pounding industrial-type beat, coupled with power electronics, and rising melodic vocals, forms a powerful musical combination that seems to have pushed H2SO4 to yet another level. “Fixated” brims with an all-absorbing construct but what the band have achieved here through grinding electro structures is make their source material more readily readable to the conscious mind coming from any number of rock and pop preferences.
“Fixated” is an important addition to H2SO4’s vast discography. It does not only show the great attention given to sonic details and melodic allure, but also reveals how interesting and relevant they are to the genre. The synths are divine and the lyrics are passionate and driven.
Their beginnings established in the late 90’s, even this far into their career, H2SO4 shows no signs of slowing much more than the pacing of their songs. Each single release, is a brave, catchy and compelling addition to the band’s legacy, and this one will likely prove to be among the group’s most enduring.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SPOTIFY
