John 3:16

FluiD / John 3:16 – The Pursuit of Salvation

The Pursuit of Salvation is a split record of two very notable electronic musicians, currently surprisingly much under the underground. FluiD is a veteran presence, having released albums since the early 1990s. John 3:16 is a Drone/Industrial/Dark-Wave/Guitar-driven project from Switzerland, active since 2007. FluiD and John 3:16 produce a great split pair, both having similar haunting and enigmatic atmospheres which at times even become soothing. Artwork is also stunning, having only the webrelease I can only imagine how good it would look in my hands as the physical release 12″ Vinyl.

The intro Angels Pt II is particularly impressive – melodic ambient with lots of hooks. A very definition of a catchy intro escalating the atmosphere sky-high. The next two songs develop a more industrial sound but retain the hooks almost as well. Plague could be explained as a bastard-child of melodic dark ambient and industrial, when Forewarning rolls with a massive beat and vague soundclips, which provide more music than voice.

John 3:16 relies mostly on ambient touch similar to Angels pt II. Inside the two tracks there is a lot of variation and surprises. Compared to his earlier release Sinner’s Prayer which I described as “psychedelic gospel ambient” the two songs in The Pursuit of Salvation are even more ambient, melodics being less straighforward. God of Light fills up the continuum by progressing from rich soundscaping ambient to a very FluiD like industrial beat in the end. Toward The Red Sea evokes beautifully corrupted images of a deserted town with wind blowing through and deteriorated objects rattling in the wind to the sound of a distant gloomy church choir.

I can easily imagine both artists progressing to reach more vast audiences if they keep up the quality of their releases this high. The vast industrial and ambient soundscapes are truly thrilling to listen and most of all flow greatly together to form a compact release.

I do not know if Toward The Red Sea is an Isis reference, but having the Isis lyrics in memory I couldn’t help but noting how the last line of Isis’s – Red Sea quite suit the overall atmosphere of The Pursuit of Salvation.

The ocean spreads beneath the skin

Fluid fills blackened lungs

Tar seeps across the eyes

Away in the sea of red

– Isis – Red Sea (1999)




Overall Score: 8+

John 3:16 – Sinner’s Prayer // NMMREM VIII

Narrow-minded Metalhead reviews experimental music – VIII

[Siro247] John 3:16 – Sinner’s Prayer

Hu Creix vs John 3:16 – Ambient Double Header

Introduction

I am starting to believe that the hardest music to make successfully is ambient. Just think about it, music that is minimalistic and repetetive, and you have to craft it to be interesting.

In this double header I am taking a look on two Ambient releases. In this review: John 3:16 – Sinner’s Prayer and in the first part Hu Creix – The Present Forward. Both artists quite succeed in this trade, both with a fine release, but in the end fall in the same loophole. What is it? LENGTH.

John 3:16 – Sinner’s Prayer

The release is best described as Psychedelic gospel ambient and hell, is this quite a mixture! Very original sound with surprising heaviness, chilly yet chilling soundwaves and odd vocal samples.

John 3:16 release is only 22 minute long, but has the same problem as Hu Creix’s The Present Forward – in a minor scale. The first track, Eternal Sin Offering, lasts 16 minutes and is a bliss for the first 7 or so minutes, but for the last 8-9 minutes it closes in and for the listener, becomes more minimalistic. At the same time the track has a long  speech sample going on, but it is only vaguely hearable and thus doesn’t really grow to its full potential; lacking a clear message or something to grasp in the speech. It is everything but bad. But it just doesn’t have the same effect than wave-like transforming first half. Again, this track could really have been split up into two parts…

Did anyone mention Twin Peaks? Fortunately, the second track has an awestrucking Lynch-esque start. Nearly dropped me out of my chair. It is a remix and I don’t know how much it borrows from the original Fluid song, but the melody is something i would love to hear in a great movie.

Conclusion

Both artists definitely know how to spice up slowly transforming songs by adding new interesting sounds. But when it comes to full songs, they only have a couple songs that are spot on and without a significant weak spot. Albums that have a lot of merit but in the end work best cropped.

Overall score: 8-/10

The album is free to download at: http://archive.org/details/siro247John316-SinnersPrayer