Edgar Sopper - Pain Filled Prisms

​Edgar Sopper

Pain Filled Prisms
self-released; 2016

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk
​

Edgar Sopper began working on music in 2013. In 2017 he released Pain Filled Prisms. The album is extremely lo-fi with mounds of distortion. There are so many high piercing frequencies on this album  that there should have been a warning.

​He sounds dramatic when he sings and reminded me of an indignant goth who needs to let out his frustrations. The music itself can range from extremely dissonant and harsh to fairly palatable. He opens with “Wine For Water.” The melody is fairly catchy but there is so much distortion it’s hard to make out any of the lyrics or focus on anything else. The vocal harmonies often sound dramatic as he screams with plenty of pent up emotion into his microphone. 

Up next is “Down” where the music sounds as if it's about three rooms down. The track is again mostly distortion and Sopper giving an emotionally fueled vocal performance. He sings, “Hello, are you in there? Are you in '79 again? We wish you could go back home To be with your family.”

“XYZ God” is where it all comes to a head. He melds various vocals and just sounds like a concoction of dissonant sounds as it progresses. “The Ink“ is upbeat and poppy and thought this was one of the highlights. One of the songs that showed his talent as a songwriter, He has a couple of inspired moments on “Collapse Relapse” and “Fog of Knives” benefits from a more mellowed out approach. Overall, a solid batch of songs. 

The most important thing for Sopper to do in the future is to start to understand how to handle distortion properly in mix. I promise you there is a lot he can do to make it distorted yet not drown out the other elements. It takes a little bit of understanding in EQ department and I think it could help.

The vocals especially reminded me of a dramatic Marilyn Manson or NIN at its best. There’s a similar  hyperbolic goth element to it that felt theatrical.

Overall, Sopper has pockets of potential but has a couple of areas I think he can improve as he grows as an artist. I'm looking forward to how he evolves.

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