Posted on: January 10, 2014 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

 

The flow is great on the first track on “Stand Up”, but the laid-back backing beat is pretty anemic. It may work well with the flow, but the retro sound is just not working for Superiority Complex. Something more intense and faster tempo would work much better for the act. The introduction for “Stand Up”: is just too much to contain; the layering is a good idea in theory but the dissonance created by the end of that segment is substantial. The classical funk or solo style of the backing beat is something that is fairly common on “Stand Up”, and while it works better or worse dependent on what the flow is like for the track, the general sense is that the act can ride it well.

Using the clap track during the title track is a good idea, and gives Superiority Complex a large sound than they had during their “Intro”. “Seasons” is a track that uses a clip from an earlier movie that sounds as if it was ripped from the Peanuts Thansgiving Special. The track grabs a few other tracks to slingshot it in popularity, but the flow is almost monotone, not really pulling itself up to the next level during the four minutes of the track.

There are quite a few tracks that do this type of slingshotting, while Superiority Complex focus their flow on the same small domain of things. The flow is constant from track to track, and by the time that “Bad” ends, individuals are already starting to feel as if they have heard that track before. The inclusion of a skit for the second half of “Bad” further slows down any momentum that Superiority Complex may have had up to that point. The act has to start from nothingness by the time that “Butter” starts, and the band stumbles again during this track. The listing off of things, plus the repetition of the chorus is something that Superiority Complex needs at this junctures. There are a number of rap acts on the market today, and while this is not the base-level of what I have heard, there are a number of problems that keep Superiority Complex from creating a successful album. I would suggest to break free from the formula that they recreate for each track. If they can do that, follow-ups to “Stand Up” would be much more strong as stand alone albums.

Top Tracks: Bats, Love

Rating: 3.9/10

Superiority Complex – Stand Up / 2006 Bru / 16 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/superioritycomplexmusic / http://www.brurecords.com / Reviewed 17 August 2006

[JMcQ]

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