HEADSCAN - "Dead Silver Sky"

Headscan came to my attention in 2001 with their debut "Shaper and Mechanist". At the time they caught my attention, and they’ve been on my DJ radar ever since. They are accomplished musicians, the music was dark trance, the vocals most certainly EBM influenced. The result? A wonderful cross genre hybrid. An album full of exciting, new sounds and the vocals were haunting and unique. But the album, although aimed at the dance floor, had no obvious Club hits. The dark trance never really went anywhere compositionally and the uniquely styled vocals were too low in the mix to really make them a feature. Having said that it was a great debut that was frequently on my decks at home, but I felt that the album could’ve been so much more and that the songwriting partnership of Claude Charnier and Christian Pomerleau has so much more to give… So when I received the latest single – “Dead Silver Sky” through the door, I was eager to find out where Headscan had evolved to…after all, it had been nearly three years since I’d heard from these guys!

The instant I put in on my car stereo I was hooked. The pounding bass line with subsonic frequencies was very reminiscent of the marvellous “Pop” by Delta from A Different Drum label. The track had been a minor club hit when released on the excellent "Septic III compilation" series from Dependent records. It had the same urgency, the same drive, the same addictive qualities…
There are three mixes of the title track, the “biometric mix“ being the best by a short head. The “protocol mix” will be the hit for the trance-heads out there but for me it doesn’t really go anywhere musically and I always get annoyed at remixes and remixers that make vocals so low in the mix and so over-processed you can’t make them out! That, to me, turns off club-goers who like a melody to sing a long to or a hook line to get their teeth into. The “component mix” just has that annoying remixer habit of taking one vocal sound bite and beating you to death with it, still the rhythm is good.
For me the “biometric mix” stands ahead of the bunch. It’s driving bass-line, it’s subsonic rumblings, its audible and make-out able vocal-line make it a discernible hit. I’m not sure that Headscan have got the right material to make it on the dance floors of Europe, but I’m sure that this will be a palpable hit on the USA/Canadian EBM/Industrial scene where dance music is much more readily accepted on the darker dance floor.
Extra track “Sentinel <kinetic>” is much more EBM in it’s bass lines and rhythms but the vocals are a little lost in the mix again, it’s very reminiscent and recognisable as Headscan, and I really like it.
So, all in all, a competent release by Headscan. I think it will be more of a hit on the American side of the Atlantic, it’s too much “dance” to be a hit here in the UK/Europe. I really strongly urge Christian, the vocalist, to fight to get his excellent vocals (and they are really top notch) higher in the mix. Excellent lyrics can force them towards a success on this side of the pond too!
This single is worth spending your hard earned cash on, although if you’ve got a tight budget I’d probably wait for the album.. Which I for one am really looking forward to! It has been delayed over and over again..let’s hope it arrives on our doorsteps soon!