Summary:The second full-length studio release for the French DJ features guest appearances from Electric Youth, Haim, The Hacker, The Weeknd, and Pharrell Williams.
These tracks [with pop collaborations] amount to unremarkable radio fare and dilute the artistic voices of all involved. ... The instrumentals have more bite.
If it seems unfair to judge Hyperion’s weaknesses against the work of Lévy’s supposed peers, it’s equally frustrating that he hasn’t yet given us a real idea of who he is as an artist.
Despite some positives, Gesaffelstein isn’t able to recreate past glories, nor advance on them--or even successfully reinvent himself. By the end of it, you’re mostly left feeling confused and underwhelmed.
Quite the contrary to their first studio album, for me, this album is much more introspective than the last. Maybe not all fans liked theQuite the contrary to their first studio album, for me, this album is much more introspective than the last. Maybe not all fans liked the style of Hyperion, but this album is certainly a psychological journey to hell, its overwhelming darkness and hopeless vibes make it unique and memorable. I see that those who have given him a regular score have not understood what Mike wanted to convey on this album.
Best songs: Memora, Forever, Lost in the Fire and Humanity Gone.…Expand
To be a mostly musical album, I liked it a lot. This type of music is always hard for me because it bores me and it makes me despair but withTo be a mostly musical album, I liked it a lot. This type of music is always hard for me because it bores me and it makes me despair but with the collaborations of The Weeknd, Pharrell and HAIM it became a bit more pleasant to hear 40 minutes of electronic music. It was what I expected after hearing it for the first time with The Weeknd on their last EP, it was, something digestible, easy to hear and fun to listen to at times, sincerely I'm left with "Lost in the Fire", "Blast Off" and "Reset".…Expand
An infuriating failure to stick the landing that reminds me of the equally underwhelming/divisive (depending on who you ask) Human After AllAn infuriating failure to stick the landing that reminds me of the equally underwhelming/divisive (depending on who you ask) Human After All by fellow French dance duo Daft Punk; it too is on the cusp of greatness through conceptual integrity, but the music fails it. There's more to this failure however, and that's the key difference between the two cases here - the sound design can't save it. Human After All made mostly compelling use of vocal formant FM basses and vocoder modulation to create the irony in the title, being their most robotic but sonically engaging departure from style, even if it came with the sacrifice of structure and musical quality in the name of robotic repetition. Repetition is crucial in almost all music, especially techno and other electronic sub-genres, but here on Hyperion there's literally no substance. Outside of a few key features and a few engaging sound choices, there's very little to enjoy here.
Sure, nothing particularly objectionable, but that goes for the highs too - Blast Off, for example, makes an interesting junction of style with Pharrell, who aesthetically melds well with the track. The Weeknd would be the same on Lost In The Fire were it not for the laughably tone-deaf lyricism (it is funny how ill-planned that was). Some of the more 'traditional' Gesaffelstein ventures such as Reset or Memora (+ the outro to Forever but that drags too hard for it to be worth it) also provide some decent listens, but nothing outstanding. To come from such a high as on Aleph or the Conspiracy EPs to something this drab and mediocre is really unfortunate, especially when what is supposed to feel monolithic and enlightening, such as Humanity Gone, it just mundane and unending.
Favourite songs: Blast Off (feat. Pharrell Williams) [ALBUM VERSION, the single bridge/mix is shorter and muddier], Reset
Worst songs: Humanity Gone, Forever (feat. The Hacker & Electric Youth)…Expand
