82/100
Man… look at those names together. Doesn’t that title look beautiful?
That’s the right word for this monster collaboration (even if a little overused), beautiful.
Last fall was an incredible time for electronic dance music as definitely way too many things were going on in our community. But a no-brainer highlight was The Horizon North American Tour brought by the combined forces of the two dubstep titans Seven Lions and Kill The Noise joined by melodic multi-genre duo Tritonal.
The tour spanned a little bit more than a month while touching the major cities in North America, and the during the time they were together Jeff (Seven Lions), Jake (Kill The Noise), Chad and David (Tritonal) united their creative minds to give birth to a melodic collab to honor the tour called ‘Horizon’ featuring the sweet vocals from Kelly (Haliene).
I must mention that Seven Lions has already collaborated with Kill The Noise on ‘Cold Hearted‘, and with Haliene on ‘Rush Over Me‘ (a future bass/melodic dubstep masterpiece with Said The Sky & Illenium), and the latter was already another 3-way production, so Jeff is definitely no stranger to super collabs.
The first two minutes (and 15 seconds) of the song are classic Montalvo magic. As always, his trance-inspired atmospheric synths do their job at introducing the main vocal and Haliene starts to enchant the listeners while the tempo goes up to melodic dubstep realms. Here Tritonal throw some nice-placed vocal chops in the mixing pot to give the drop a clever poppy flavor.
And am I hearing chiptune and harps?
But all of a sudden the tempo goes down. A lot of momentum is lost here with this Kill The Noise-designed transition. This midtempo twist definitely helps the second part of the glitch-infused melodic dubstep climax to get charged up, but it could sound chaotic at first and discordant with the harmony of the song.
The second part of the song brings up the tempo as the American trifecta surprises us with a pleasant Kill The Noise old-school drum and bass burst. Add some more of his characteristic gritty growls, an ultimate combination of every element of the composition and here we are at the worst part of it: when it ends.
I want to be extremely objective here, especially because some of my favorite names are in the title.
‘Horizon’ is a fantastic vocal collab that benefits of a cleverly-thought scheme of tempo changes and an immaculate balance between Seven Lions style and some of the most hidden Kill The Noise little touches like the welcome addition of a drum and bass climax, but it falls short of innovation with a formulaic and overly poetic vocal performance and Tritonal’s actual contribution to it.
All in all, though, ‘Horizon’ takes the spot as one of the best (and most beautifully designed) songs of this amazing month of 2018, but from names like these, my expectations were higher.
The three producers are coming from all impressive release streaks.
Seven Lions is step by step cementing the foundation of an amazing Ophelia Records catalogue, which includes his & Jason Ross ‘Ocean / The Sirens’ double release and the melodic dubstep pearl ‘Calling You Home’. Kill The Noise has released one of the best songs of the whole year so far in ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’, an impressive Drum & Bass jam with Bad Company UK and Mat Zo called ‘Ice Station Zero’, and he’s gearing up for a Killumination Spring Tour with his impressive KILLUMINATION Mixtape as a satisfying appetizer for the tour.
The chemistry between the two is so strong that Kill The Noise was one of Jeff’s support acts at his first concept concert, The Chronicles Chapter I in Seattle. Lastly, Tritonal have released charting singles and fresh remixes for the likes of DJ Snake, Wiz Khalifa, and Charlie Puth, but they’re rarely steering from their poppy sound. Plus, they’ve recently celebrated the 10 years of their co-owned label Enhanced Records in their hometown, Austin, TX! Congratulations!
Be sure to catch Seven Lions and Kill The Noise’ sets at this past weekend EDC in Las Vegas!
What do you think?
Show comments / Leave a comment