93/100
After presenting his successful album “Awake” the previous year, the American prodigy ‘Illenium’ has now collaborated with the native talent ‘Kill The Noise’! The duo, alongside with the renowned Mako, crafted an intense production titled “Don’t Give Up On Me”. With all these eminent artists coming together on this production, the expectations were naturally high.
However, without any doubt, “Don’t Give Up On Me” does display both power and emotions unfalteringly. It’s a beautiful work of art that mixes two different concepts together. You can already notice it while looking at the cover: red against blue.
Emotional future bass against aggressive dubstep.
Quality with quality, calmness against wildness.
This release had some surprises for us, as after an atmospheric breakdown follows a vicious dubstep-like drop, which swiftly injects energy and potency into the production. The initial breakdown starts with a chill and ambient setting along with the distinctive male vocals. Mako presented another out of the world performance here. Their vocal is mysterious, vibrant, melancholic and surely the perfect choice for this unique production! Then, the contrast sets in as the hulking wobble synths start to take over, intensifying with a brief riser.
Edging over the calm breakdown, the drop impacts with gusto. The dirty wobble synths dominate over the next few seconds, coupled with a punchy snare hitting powerfully. It definitely can be said that the contrasting drop was added by ‘Kill The Noise’, who specialises in them.
The following breakdown is a bit longer than the first one, but it introduces a more sentimental attribute to the track, and thanks to the lively vocal and backdrop, it does that proficiently. But the second breakdown adeptly transitions to the last drop, which rather introduces melodic future bass saw synths before switching back to the dubstep ones. This variation introduces a creative nuance in the track.
Illenium and Kill The Noise, two very different artists, produced an unexpectedly balanced release. A work of art? Well, there are the potentialities to consider “Don’t Give Up On Me” one of the best releases of 2018. Insane vocal, creativity, balance, out of world quality, goosebumps, surprise. There is basically everything that we consider “necessary” for receiving a 90+ score.
It was difficult to exceed the high expectations, but Illenium and Kill The Noise did it. What a collab!
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