[REVIEW] Dopamine Chamber
After listening to Dopamine Chamber last night, I can say I’m impressed. The album had this overarching eerie feeling, which was almost instantly cut with Grian Chatten’s almost yearning-esque vocals. The Cure, Joy Division/New Order and Depeche Mode inspiration is there, and it makes for a really well produced album with a great sound. Six Shot Morning, Mimesis, Demolition and Intimate really stood out to me, but there was some chatter in our venue - so I couldn’t really hone in on the lyrics. The instrumentation is really a step up. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot of guitars - I was wrong. There were full-fat guitars and it honestly sounded awesome. The drums, I found them to be absolutely wonderful. They were full, loud and played with awesome finesse. The synths felt natural, complimenting the darkness and giving serious synthpop vibes.
I will say, I found there to be a lot of continuity from Romance. There’s definitely some of that sauce still left in - I found some drums, vocals or rhythms to sound like that of a Romance B side - I absolutely love Romance and it isn’t a problem for me.
I’m really looking forward to taking some time with the album and really understand it.
EDIT: After seeing the band live earlier this year - Happy For You is somehow even better in studio. The guitars rock.
