Tomi Kankainen returns with the third album in his Confusion Field project, namely Resilience Remains. It remains a decent mix of harder rock/metal, prog, and commercially leaning music, but with distinctly more synth work here.
There is a theme to the album, these being disillusionment, alienation, and the darker mechanisms behind human behaviour in a world shaped by conformity and hidden power structures. The album seeks to explore how we can break free from the patterns that hold us back, and I identify with this very strongly – ultimately, moving forward on our own terms must come from within, and not relying on the chancers who promise us the earth, knowing that they are, in fact, selling us lies.
The opening track, and the single released in advance of the album, is Maintain the Uncertainty. Lyrically, this reminds me of the supreme character created by Frank Herbert, Emperor Leto II, stating that compromise only works for so long, and chaos must be the key for survival, he, of course, unleashing a galactic scattering by means of his “death”. I love the heavy, powerful synths which drive the opening passage, certainly one for fans of Numan’s darker stuff, and the drums you know are in safe hands, and the whole set of riffs from keys to guitars to bass to drums are brought together in a theatre of noise. The official video is embedded below for you. Very catchy, and a powerful start to proceedings, thunderously heavy as it moves to its denouement.
Conjuring Conflict is such a knowing song, the sweet lies I alluded to in my introduction to the review, and this conjuring of conflict is all we know, the shared dishonesty. The dark mood flows from the opening notes, dense synths, the rhythm pulsing, the vocals telling the story perfectly, and the harmonies which come out of the production mix are nice, and we get our first free-flowing guitar solo. There are some nice commercial traits to this song, and it should attract quite a bit of attention via radio and streaming playlists.
Sea of Irrelevance I interpret as a take on the established order which has taken over the modern social media landscape; the internet once promised to be a sea of radical free expression, whereas, in reality, it has been taken over by huge corporates making a fortune out of advertising and somewhat dull mainstream concerns. It is a strong commercial electronic rock track, which has the finest Scandinavian rich dark commentary, vocally and musically and by this stage, you strongly appreciate the solid foundations offered by Malacrida, who fairly belts out his contributions. The soundscapes created are rich in their darkness, and I really like this track, especially when the guitar solo breaks free and takes the track to a soaring height. I played this, incidentally, on my radio show of 12th September.
Blame Gravity bemoans the lack of effort on our part to break the societal gravitational restrictions placed upon us, and we end up blaming everything excluding ourselves, including that invisible force, when we know that there is a way to escape. The guitars opening the track are rich, but as we move into the main song, there is a decent mix of the sparse and, in contrast, the dense throbbing funk groove underpinning it, and always returning to the pop rock that this artist does so well, the guitar and synth interplay in the mid-section competing with the best tradition of American FM stars, the higher synths reminding me of Downes in his pomp. It has hit single written all over it.
Is That All follows, and laments where he and we are, asking is this it, is this what we signed up for? I think that all the lyrical and musical themes come together perfectly on this track, which is moving in parts, a lot of emotion coming out of the playing, especially the guitar solo yearning for something more, with good vocal harmonies embedded in the mix. It is embedded at the foot of the review for you, a track which I think should be reaching a wide, discerning audience. Superb, and to be played on my radio show this coming Saturday.
A New Code has us identifying a new set of rules, a different way of living and thinking, recognising that there will be extreme challenges along the way. It is a skilful piece of music, electronica introducing us, the bass synth used to strong impact, the vocals teaching, urging, the drum riffs solid, the room filling with sound as we progress, the guitars joining in the fray creating a lush noise, and it segues into a darker, dystopian, heavy set of chords and effects outlining the crashes experienced on the way to the new.
The Echo Collector follows, echoes of the past haunting, but used for preservation, restoration, and healing to strengthen the resilience in the album title. It opens with more dense synth notes, disturbing effects in the mix, the echo of memories not pleasant ones, something like those unwelcome thoughts which greet you in the deep of night, and this track has a big volume attached to it, the rhythm guitar sneaking up on you in the left speaker almost unnoticed beneath the massive keyboards filling your senses, and as we move to the final minute, Kankainen simply lets rip with a fine, albeit short, guitar solo before those dark synths and understated vocals leave you gasping for air.
The penultimate track is Restricted Area, and the protagonist has now seen the place he should not, and there will be no return once he enters, and it is a mightily difficult thing to do. The promise of this, though, does give us a distinctly lighter timbre in the synths underpinning this song, and when we enter its middle section heart, the whole sound is lifted to a happier dimension, the fight having been worth it, the guitar notes bright, the vocals full of expectation. A contender for track of 2026, this is simply brilliant, and worth the entrance price alone.
We close, then, with Graceful Deceit, a commentary on the way the chosen elite grow their power constantly, but we can drown the trivial and make decisions in whispers which change all this. At a little over seven minutes, it is the longest track on the album, and the hopeful musical theme is continued, because we can now see what they are doing, and have an ability to counter it, the riffs are now soaring as opposed to threatening. We have broken free, and the guitar solo perfectly describes this.
Resilience Remains is a very good album and is a distinct progression on its already impressive predecessor, and I do recommend that you give this some listens and support a multi-instrumentalist who is reaching the top tier of intelligent progressive music.
Review of Future Impact of Past Diversions https://lazland.org/album-reviews-2023-part-the-second/confusion-field-future-impact-of-past-diversions
Personnel:
Everything aside from drums Tomi Kankainen
Drums Martino Malacrida
Contact & Outlets:
FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/ConfusionField
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/confusionfield/
SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/artist/4NdmtkExtPV8biYabZ7vPd
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTtb3XcRs8H703WB75UEfCA