Knife Party | Abandon Ship

Background

Knife Party was originally a side project of two members of the drum and bass band Pendulum, but eventually the Australian duo, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, made the project their main act.  Knife Party gained popularity through a few choice remixes and their EP's: "100% No Modern Talking," "Rage Valley," and Haunted House," the former of which contained their famous single "Internet Friends."  Early in 2014, Knife Party announced their debut album was almost complete.  That album was "Abandon Ship," which released later the same year on November 24th.

Review

Listen to "Abandon Ship"

Time and time again Knife Party bring their signature blend of creativity and bass music and prove to the world that not everything has to be a gnarling bass drop to be interesting.  Interestingly, "Abandon Ship" is even a step further from what's expected of Knife Party."100% No Modern Talking" was pure electro dubstep goodness, and now with "Abandon Ship" spans tech house to pop progressive house back to their electro house and dubstep origins and out again to nu disco/funk, trap, and more.  "Reconnect" begins the album as a sort of intro.  It has a misty dawn atmosphere kind of feel and, combined with the documentary vocals, make the intro into a cheesy attempt at giving the album an overarching theme, although I think without it the record would suffer.  It's after "Reconnect" that "Abandon Ship" sets full sail.  "Resistance," one of the first revealed tracks off the album, is a hard moombahton beat with gritty lasers and a fitting sample.  "Boss Mode" blends strange vocals with a heavy trap beat.  "EDM Trend Machine" is anything but, and features a trick drop.  The first measure sounds like a stereotypical big room house drop, but it switches into a tasty, grooving tech house beat with floating vibraphone fifths and open synth chords.  "404" is an original Knife Party electro house classic with the main focus of the track being various computer bleeps and bloops complimenting the battering bass.  "Begin Again" is one of my personal favorites and is tied with "Superstar" for the most unlike Knife Party's traditional style.  It sounds like progressive house turned pop and is very reminiscent of Swedish House Mafia, a trio that Knife Party has worked with in the past.  Silky-smooth chord sweeps that transition into a bright lead synth and catchy vocals from none other than Rob Swire himself (he is, first and foremost, the lead singer for Pendulum) make "Begin Again" an upbeat festival track to remember.  While featuring the big wobble basses and reggae feel that makes Knife Party's dubstep so, well, them, "Give It Up" has weak, top heavy bass growls and sounds very similar to "Bonfire" off of Rage Valley EP.  It's nowhere near the quality they established with "Fire Hive" on "100% No Modern Talking," and feels rather lacking, making it, in my opinion, the weakest track on the album, and definitely the most out of place as far as continuity goes.  "D.I.M.H." is a strange house track that has a lot of energy but fails to stand out and make its mark amongst all the other fantastic tracks on "Abandon Ship."  On any other record this track would be fine, but from such a progressive duo "D.I.M.H." feels slightly bland.  That doesn't stop me from grooving to it, though.  The crudely named "Micropenis" is admittedly a very catchy blend of various house styles similar to "EDM Trend Machine" and "D.I.M.H.," but the gimmick behind the song is rather crude and detracts from the beat.  The intro doesn't help, either.  The 8-bit breakdown is really catchy, however.  The real odd child of the album, though, is "Superstar," but not in a bad way.  In a throwback to the glamorous 80's, Knife Party treats us to a disco/funk beat with synth brass and a driving guitar.  It takes a turn in the middle and switches up to electro, although I think it would have been better without.  And, in typical Knife Party fashion, they make fun of the absurdity of the disco groove "Superstar" on an EDM album ("Oh my god, what the fuck is this disco shit.  What happened to the dubstep").  The Australian duo brings it back to their roots with "Red Dawn," a classic electro track in the original Knife Party style.  There's not much to say about it; it's just good bass music with a huge chord breakdown worthy of the biggest festivals.  And finally, "Kaleidoscope" closes out the album with a soft, progressive beat driven by tight percussion.

With "Abandon Ship," Knife Party proves that they're nothing to be messed with, but the fact of the matter is that the second half of the album just doesn't deliver the mix of creativity and heavy bass that the first half of the record is so happy to deliver.  However, for what it does do, it does really well, and with a supposed EP releasing soon, Knife Party show no signs of letting up, and even though they release a few lackluster tracks every once in a while, I'm glad they won't be.  7/10

Notable Remixes

404 (Grabbitz Remix)

Grabbitz, the renowned artist with multiple releases on Monstercat, reimagines "404" with 808's.  The trap beat is slightly muddy, but the production is fantastic and the snare is to die for.  Grabbitz did a great job leaving his imprint on Knife Party's track.

Red Dawn (Deficio Remix)

Deficio is a popular Swedish DJ who brings a fresh, Melbourne bounce feel to contrast the heavy electro original.  Tight production and bouncy drums with accented upbeats make for a beat perfect for a club.

Sources

Wikipedia | Knife Party