MIDNIGHT CONFIGURATION
REDEMPTION OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD
ALBUM NIGHTBREED RELEASE: NOVEMBER 26, 2001 REVIEW: APRIL 9, 2002

Trevor Bamford, founder of Nightbreed Records, is the mastermind behind Midnight Configuration. And listening to this record, I think he should be quite pleased with having a record company that will put out his own albums. I'm not sure anyone else would.
Well, Midnight Configuration combines elements of the 80's and 90's goth with eerie samples taken from fetish and horror films and danceable beats. This should be a really nice combination, and have proven to be just that in the past even for the Configuration. Sadly, the departure of the female vocalist Lisa Ross leaves Bamford as the sole voice on the album. Something is missing in the songs, and Bamford's voice becomes rather tedious after a while.
That is not the my main objection to "Redemption of the Physical World", though. No, I object to the songs themselves.
The album starts out rather nicely, with an intro that creates a rather sinister, ambient atmosphere. I don't even object to the voice going on about Necronomicon - it fits right in and I start to think I will enjoy the album. Then, out of nowhere, hell breaks lose in the track "Devils Dance". The song actually sounds like something that might be performed by lousy Swedish make-pretend American hillbilly-dance act Rednex - complete with a enervating banjo - and totally destroys all sympathy for Bamford and his project. The rest of the songs on the album is almost OK, if not too similar to each other and too long, but it can't make up for this. As a whole, this is an album that best of shunned like the black plague.

KALLE MALMSTEDT