After ”The Unified Field”, Chris Corner in IAMX broke down. Severe insomnia and depression tore him down to the point of almost giving up music. After a relocation from Berlin to sunny Los Angeles and a long break he slowly realized that he couldn’t live without making music, so he slowly started working on a follow up. The result is the crowdfunded album titled ”Metanoia”, a word meaning ”the process of fundamental change in the human personality”, and deftly shows what the album is all about; this and atheism, desire and love.
During the recording process Chris steered back to a minimal, electronic sound which is more in line with his earlier work. This suits me fine, as this was the style that made me fall in love with IAMX in the first place. To top it off, the songs themselves are stronger than they’ve been in a long time and Chris’ voice is as sharp and beautiful as always, infused with even more emotion than usual. Like in the brilliant, electrofunky second single ”Oh Cruel Darkness Embrace Me” where his voice quivers and breaks due to emotional overload.
I’m so glad Chris made it out on the other side of his illness, and it seems like he wrestled all his feelings, anxiety and angst down onto this piece of plastic, and shocked it with electronics. The result is his strongest and most beautiful album in many years.
