AP2 - Suspension of Disbelief (2000)Release ID: 50585
Argyle Park was an industrial rock/metal project Klayton was in between his own two projects Circle of Dust and the more famous Celldweller. The other founder of this project goes by the name Buka. Despite being signed to Christian labels, their dark lyrics and contributions from secular artists caused some controversy in the Christian music scene. Their record label R.E.X. tried to censor a track in the band's album Misguided. Because of all this, the band split up after two years of activity.
Fast forward a few years, the band reformed under a different name AP2, and released a second album titled Suspension of Disbelief. While the poor sales and criticism caused the band to end again, this is one of the most innovative industrial rock/metal albums I've heard. The darkness is what I love!
The album starts with 4 strokes of a piano note to begin "The End", a song meant to signify the end of their earlier Argyle Park era. Then you hear a scream of "I AM THE DAMAGED!!!!" with "DAMAGED" echoed a few times. It then moves into soft slow electronica with samples of two songs from Misguided, "Leave Me Alone" (actually the only metal song in that album from what I hear) and "A Burden's Folly". Then "Heroin Hate" begins the industrial metal momentum. "My Sympathies" is an awesome highlight. Adding some nice touches in the vocal department is Mark Salomon of Stavesacre and The Crucified who sounds almost like Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. There are a little more techno/trance/drum n bass influences here, but I still enjoy it! Nothing's terrible about "A Thousand Terrible Things", a pleasant NIN-esque interlude.
"Silhouette of Rage" has some more industrial rage with vocals by Daren "Klank" Diolosa. I enjoy "A New Wound" having a similar sound to Fear Factory in both the heavier songs, softer ballads, and Remanufacture remixes. "The Red Shirt Conspiracy" actually sounds like an industrial take on the earlier thrash of Voivod and Sabbat with guest vocals by Joel Timothy Bell. My favorite song here is "The Pact". It's a softer industrial rock/metal track with no lyrics, only Indian-style chanting by vocalist Sage. That and the catchy pop-ish tone might remind some of The Prayer Chain, and the song shows actions can sing louder than words.
"Resurrection of the Ravens" is another totally underrated work of art! This is pretty much what Klayton's other projects Circle of Dust and Celldweller sound like, and it goes down as another long-lasting favorite. The techno-dance-rave-like industrial rock/metal sound is killer! Klayton is the writer and singer of that beautiful piece. "Goodbye" is unrelated to a similarly-titled song Klayton recorded as a Circle of Dust demo and later re-recorded as a Celldweller track. The AP2 song is still pretty great though. "The Only Man I Know" actually takes a break from the Psyclon Nine-like industrial sound for more of an alt-rock/metal sound that would actually foreshadow 36 Crazyfists' style at that time, and maybe even Bring Me the Horizon's sound in the late 2010s. "Cold Breath of Sorrow" is an ambient outro of dark pain to end it all. The whispers sound almost like just repeatedly saying "It's all over...", which sadly is after a few more piano strokes like in the album's intro.
Not one other project could attempt to make dark experimental industrial rock/metal in the Christian music scene. It's a risk that caused them to be shunned by the scene, but at least industrial metal fans like myself would have something to listen to a lot every now and then!
Favorites: "My Sympathies", "A New Wound", "The Red Shirt Conspiracy", "The Pact", "Resurrection of the Ravens", "The Only Man I Know"
