Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The upbeat world of Electronica may be a far away dream in a world that seems forever standing on the precipice of the unknown battle ahead, the abyss yawing deep below as the careful shuffle of cramped feet dislodges more concrete rocks and stones that so far have kept us from falling.
The arena in which light tries to shine some semblance of glory within, the mutual adoration between man and machine that isn’t born out of fire or war but as an extension to humanity’s ability to make music on instruments other than that considered the norm and into this arena steps once more Raelism and his follow up to Freedom Within The Prison, the exotic and fortune favoured Back To The Battlefield.
The suggestion of heading back to the battle is one that might be perplexing, after all nobody in their right mind would ever knowingly go headlong back to a war that they have managed to walk away from. Yet this isn’t a war, it’s not even a skirmish for the delicate notes of mixed joy and anguish that reside in the five track album, it is more of a journey into which the songs ask to be heard above the clamour of noise and chatter that goes on inside every head. For some very fortunate few, it becomes great artistry, something that Raelism’s Back To The Battlefield is all about; the art that can be found in us all if we dare stick our heads above the parapet long enough.
The tracks, Slightly Less Than Human, My Fight (Is Nearly Over), Escape (Between Battles), Persistence (Splatterpuss North) and the silence that exist between planes and the eerie static that accompanies the final chilling conclusion of They’re All Dead Now, all linger in the valves and values of the electronic art form and et the very nature of them all suggests the bleeding into the world of the Progressive. A rare feat of accomplishment that few artists manage without straying too far away from the main point of topic, especially without the aid of lyrics to guide them.
An enjoyable and welcome return after 15 months away, Raelism has lost none of his depth of feeling and character, Back To The Battlefield, back to business surely.
Ian D. Hall