Hailing from the UK is Broken Links, a rocking trio from Southampton with a wide range of influences and eye on experimentation. Since the band’s formation in 2008, Mark Lawrence (Vocals/Guitars), Lewis Betteridge (Bass) and Phil Boulter (Drums) has been working on their sound and exploring new areas with their alternative, heavy, dark and atmospheric sound. They released 3 eps and 3 albums and gained a loyal impressive fanbase, the release of their latest record “Conflict::States” in 2021 influenced a number of remixers from around the word from Canada to Azerbaijan to remix some of the songs from the album and Broken Links decided to release them in 2022 on “Konflix::Statez” that we will be reviewing today.
The album starts on high note with “Pioneer (Nairod Remix)” which maximized the original track’s heaviness basing the whole mix on the most powerful part of the song, the beats around min 1:30 with all the pauses made me hold my breath in anticipation and how the beat kept on building while Mark Lawrence singing his heart out until the end was awesome. “Antibiotics (Ellusio Remix)” had a really cool concept with the verse beat derived from the original main riff and as a plus, I felt like it gave more space for the vocals and it had a dynamic structure and twists. The next one is “Disconnect (Vorstell Remix)” which is one of my favorites because it has a lot of dramatic changes from the original. The structure was changed starting directly with the verse and ending with the chorus, the dynamics was changed it feels like he has taken the heaviness of the last part of the original and divided it on his mix. Dropping the vocal’s tone after the chorus was a banging approach for that amazing, powerful beat that comes next, I was jumping like hell at this point. “TTO (Soma for Savages Remix)” turned the pure rock n roll original intro into a pure, classic electronic one. The vocal isolation at the 1st chorus made it more powerful although, it is super heavy in the original and felt like the mix had 2 different choruses and I loved how the beats kept on getting heavier and more dynamic till the end. “Replica (As72 Remix)” had a total makeover, the song took a completely different mood as the original was more like a heavy anthemic tune here it is more of a classic electronic 100% which fits the concept, it’s kinda light and simple with no surprises. “Disconnect (ZeusKiss Remix)” stuck to the original song structure till 2nd verse and chorus while making it more upbeat but still dark and I loved the sampling of the word (disconnect) while he’s smoothly laying his beats. The album closes with “Zealots (Fatherless Child Remix)” that stuck to the original structure too while giving the verse more “ambient” mood that made the vocals clearer, the use of the clock bell like melody at the verse and the outro was cool and catchy. He gave the song a different progression and making the song’s mid-section till the end more upbeat helped a lot with the dynamics.
“Konflix::Statez” was an enjoyable trip for me and had some really smart and interesting twists that nearly made if a total different album than the original. I also think that was a really cool move from Broken Links that will give their catalog a different perspective and flavor and shout out for all the awesome people behind those remixes who did a really good job.
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