Neon Cage Experiment is a French foursome that's trying to give their interpretation of Skinny Puppy with their album "Oscillations". It's common for bands from France to have a certain inaccessibility, and lots of experimenting with different sounds. The E stands for Experiment and that's exactly what's going on, as the 11 songs on this album are far from standard sounds and regular structures as we hear often nowadays. NCE goes back to the gloryful days of Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly and Haujobb, but still keeps their own face.
The album kicks off with a short intro, based on quotes from well-known war movies like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, but already shows the dark atmosphere that's there throughout the album. A very strong sound, which is worked out properly on other songs like "Puppy" and "Untitled". Furthermore, there's plenty of room reserved for guitars and different electronic sounds, but always combined with a proper amount of vocals and well-used samples. Negative points are also present though; the whole sound could have been improved a bit by different ideas. The concept that is now present works good and shows plenty of potential, but there's always this "not yet"-feeling. And unfortunately enough, the vocals don't seem to work all the time. It's not misplaced, or suffers from severe boreness, but it's just doesn't give the music that extra push over the edge. All and all, "Oscillations" is a pretty good album that shows the capabalities of this band, and proves that good music doesn't always have to come from Germany. We'll hear more from NCE!


Gothtronic