Anyone who pays attention to releases in DnB knows about Crissy Criss’ forthcoming album War On Silence, as he’s been releasing singles from for almost the last six months. It’s a maddening pace for those who just want to hear the whole album already but the wait is finally almost over. The album is also meant to introduce Crissy’s newly minted War On Silence label to the world. Based on the singles that are already out and the LP as a whole, this is a very good release on which to do that.
Crissy Criss may generally be known to U.S, fans as a touring DJ but he has releases on almost every major labels going back to at least 2008. Fans may also be apt to pigeonhole Mr. Criss as jump up or liquid dancefloor vibes only but this also couldn’t be further from the truth, and War on Silence proves it. There’s a healthy balance of collabs and solo tracks on the LP but also a healthy balance of different styles and subgenres. And don’t think for one second that only the collabs have diversity of innovative production; Crissy’s solo offerings like “Launch,” “Bad Boy” and “Show Me” are all complex, , interesting and in many cases, unexpected.
One track that definitely fits into the “unexpected” category among Criss’ solo tracks is our premiere today, “The Ride” featuring Carasel. It’s a darkstep track at core, which should be the first surprise for most listeners. With an old school, snare-driven beat, bass synths and some ambient sound design work, the track gives a hearty nod to darkstep, techstep and early neurofunk.
That’s not to say “The Ride” is vintage, however, as it’s got a number of sound design and synth elements which are right in line with modern neurofunk, so there’s surprise number two. A heavy, steppy neuro track from Crissy Criss? Yep, deal with it. With all this heavy bass work and complex sound design going on, the third surprise is that the track can also not only stand up to some pretty intense vocals from Carasel but that track and vocal work together seamlessly and thus add another unexpected element to the highlight among highlights on War On Silence.
The biggest thing to expect from War on Silence is the unexpected. Even though many tracks have already been released as singles, fans shouldn’t think for one second that they know what the album’s about from those tracks. Each track is its own sound, style and even subgenre in some cases. War On Silence not only gives insight into where Crissy is going with his own style in the future but also where he plans to take the label in the future. It’s safe to say that many of the collaborators will likely show up with their own releases on the War on Silence imprint in the future. In the meantime, War On Silence is an excellent mood setter for the label and hopefully for more Crissy Criss releases as well.
War On Silence will be out in full on War on Silence this Friday, April 5. Pre-order is available on Beatport and some other singles can be streamed now on Soundcloud or Spotify.
