Course of Empire - Initiation (CD)

Look closer

By tharn2000  Feb 8, 2001

This album, continuing in Course of Empire's legacy of concept albums about man's self-destructive nature and the violence of corrupt powers in command, Delivers the goods with relentless sonic assault. In particular, the single "Infested!" is a rem...arkable achievement, showcasing the band's two drummers working together flawlessly. If Phil Spector was producing a metal anthem, it would sound like this. And once again, the album is concluded with a breath of fresh air, this one in the form of a spanish-style ditty called "Chihuauaphile." WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.... I enjoyed this album for years before I realized that I had not actually heard it all. There are two bonus tracks contained on this CD, but you won't find them after the last official track. "Running Man" is an atmospheric, haunting preface to the album that actually appears before track 1. In order to hear it, you must start track 1, and then hold down the back/scan button until the counter is somewhere past -07:00. Some CD counters will only sit at 00:00, but you will hear when the noise stops, and then you can release the back button and hear the track. Not all CD players will allow you to back up past track 1. The second hidden track is that of a completely different nature. Producer David Castell has used a sort of "silent running" effect on the "Gate" tracks. "The Gate" is the feedback and distortion noise that preceedes "Chihuauaphile" and lasts for several tracks. This feedback noise is a smokescreen, and there is another song behind it. Not after it, but under it. The feedback is actually a monaural sound that is fed through the left channel and then put 180 degrees out of phase in the right channel. If the left and right channels are combined, the feedback will cancel each other out and reveal virtual silence... and then... a quiet hymn sung acapella. It's called "Tomorrow" and guitarist Mike Graff calls it his favorite track on the record. There are a myriad of techniques to combine the left and right tracks, including facing the oposing speakers towards each other, feeding both sets of speaker wires together, half-way unplugging the headphones and so on, but the most effective way seems to be to digitize or encode the noise into a computer onto a mono track. Good luck and happy hunting! Read more Less