What is Cryptocracy?

A.) Really involved and harsh witch house?

B.) Really, really, disgustingly dirty house music?

C.) Incredibly tasteful dubstep?

D.) A giant robot punching Adele and David Guetta in the face?

Hmmm…. Let’s just go with E.) All of the above. Huoratron (Finland native, Aku Raski) has been remixing and making dance music for 9 years. With his second full-length album, Cryptocracy, Huoratron brings us one of the most aggressively entrancing and unsettling electronic albums to date. Each song merges so many different genres that he should probably be expecting a letter from Guinness Book of World Records. He keeps the dark and horror filled tones of witch house mixed in with the aggressive percussive pounding of dubstep. This mixture creates a very unique phenomenon. The songs are always changing, leading you on a frantic and fear stricken journey through an electronic world, and just when you are getting lost it drops you back into familiar ground. These stark changes give a real unique and entrancing feeling to this album. It’s like being stuck in a nightmare, but you want to stay for the adrenaline rush.

If you’re looking for nice harmonies that stick in your head and you can sing along to, you are not going to find them. Huoratron’s melodies are mostly made with percussive noise with some stereotypical electronic “bleeps” and “bloops” mixed in. The only song with any form of harmony is “New Wave of Mutilation” which loops a creepy, high pitched synth run that sends you helplessly into a frantic trance. The unique thing that he does with his percussive aggression, which some will say is very indicative of dubstep, is that he uses the thought of “less is more.” Even the most dubstep sounding song, “Sea of Meat,” really treats all of the layers with some form of delicacy, giving the impression that he worked diligently on each one.

Unlike big dubstep producers like Skrillex, Huoratron doesn’t simply pile a bunch of samples and “WUBS” on top of each other, he treats each one in a smart way. For instance, in the song “A699F” he pays attention to each layer (like when he quickly fades out one layer and brings it back a few seconds later) , adds samples sparingly, but more importantly, puts the samples in clever places. This attention to detail adds depth to the album, which you don’t see in most other producers’ work. Even the way he structured the album was smart, putting the more house-inspired things at the beginning, which become more dubstep inspired until they reach a climax in “Sea of Meat,” afterward slowly making its way back to house. I’ve got to be honest, not many albums have impressed me as much as this one has. Huoratron put a lot of heart and ingenuity in this album. Sure, it’s aggressive and really unsettling (I mean, in the first song a distorted voice chants the word “choke”) but honestly, that’s what makes the album the jarring piece of beauty that it is. Listen to this album, there’s nothing quite like it.

Rating: 8.7/10
RiYL: MSTRKRFT, Gatekeeper, being scared and in awe at the same time
Recommended Tracks: “Cryptocracy”, “New Wave of Mutilation”, “A699F”, “Top 1%”