Pryor Stroud: French goth-electro artist Kangding Ray weaves sonic tapestries out of encrypted shadow-codes — little pockets of dead and actively dying light — that remain defiantly opaque to interpretation yet still seem to telegraph a range of lurid secrets. In “Brume”, Ray augments an industrial rock throb with synth washes that seem to wander blindly out of the track’s pitch-black corners, creating a sense of subterranean space that seems to get smaller and smaller as the seconds tick by. Some steam-engine machine grinds away in the background; stray electrical wires seems to convulse across the track’s bed, shooting sparks storms and inspiring an omnipresent sense of fear. “Brume”, in sum, sounds like it is set in a horror-movie basement lab where unnameable surgical implements, strange chemicals, and sealed-off freezers line the walls. [7/10]
Chris Ingalls: All that low end makes for a lot of empty space, giving the track an almost minimalist feel. The song has a heaviness to it, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on. With the relatively short run time, it practically seems like a between-song interlude and not a full-blown song. Not that interesting, but not really a failure, either. [6/10]
Emmanuel Elone: “Brume” is a dark and brooding track, but it also feels comforting in a sense. The eerie beat is paired up with some heavy, low-pitched synths that envelop the listener in the song, but the low bass notes and electronic effects are so full that “Brume” because less about scaring its audience into submission and more about transporting them into Kangding Ray’s world. The song could be fleshed out a bit more, but it is a great-sounding electronic song that captured my attention in the best way possible and refused to let go. [7/10]
Chad Miller: The main beat in this song is pretty cool, and it features some inventive instrumentation that assists with its creepy sound, especially when the atmospheric noises are growing in volume. As they build though, there’s usually a point where the sounds all drop out immediately, bringing you back to basics which is pretty neat. [6/10]
SCORE: 6.5