deadmau5 - For Lack of a Better Name - Album Review - 2009

[by NeilWest]

To show my appreciation of Deadmau5 to all of you, I thought I'd give a review of the album, track by track. Deadmau5 is the mastermind who produced such hits as I Rememberand Ghosts N Stuff. So, I thought I'd review my favourite album of his: For Lack of A Better Name.

For Lack of A Better Name is Deadmau5's second studio album, with Random Album Titlebeing the first and 4x4=12 being his third. It explores more atmospheric and ambient sounds, from the haunting, but beautiful melody of Strobe and the realistic crash of sounds in FML. One thing is certain, it's one of the best.

It contains such hits as Ghosts N Stuff, Deadmau5's successful collaboration with Rob Swire (the lead vocalist of Pendulum) and Strobe, Deadmau5's best song (in my opinion) to date. Then there is also Hi Friend!, a song with the vocals of the vibrant MC Flipside and Moar Ghosts N Stuff an extended mix of the critically acclaimed original.

FML
Deadmau5

This song begins the album with a hectic drum beat, with a slowly progressing electronic beat interlacing. And soon, we get to the club beat that is so prominent to Deadmau5's album, which is catchy and - most of all, has a great vibe to it. When people say that a great song kickstarts an album, Deadmau5 shows the proof like he did before.

9/10
Great start to the album, showing a club beat vibe that's prominent throughout the album.

Moar Ghosts N Stuff
Deadmau5

And extended mix of the hit Ghosts N Stuff, and features no vocals and an interesting sample at the beginning. Which really adds to the atmosphere in this song, as a funeral (from the organ at the start) gone happy. Many of you classic heads will recognize that the melody is based off the instantly recognizable 'Funeral March' by Chopin.

9/10
A great extended mix of Ghosts N Stuff, and makes great use of a famous piece of classical music.

Ghosts N Stuff
Deadmau5 ft. Rob Swire

This is what made this album famous. A heavy, catchy beat (based on Chopin's Funeral March as said in the Moar Ghosts N Stuff review) playing alongside the vocals of Rob Swire. He adds extra depth, as if the song were his own. The only problem is, that Rob Swire touches on the over-used theme of going to the club and having a good time.

7/10
The original, vocals version, but the lyrics touch on a subject which has been used too much.

Hi Friend!
Deadmau5 ft. MC Flipside

Where to begin? This has everything that progressive house, a controlled electronic drum beat keeping the pace, a slowly progressing tune - what else? Well, this has MC Flipside's catchy lyrics to boot as well! However, then tune only catches it pitch, making it quite repetitive for 5 minutes.

8/10
A catchy tune and catchy lyrics, but too repetitive, even with the increasing pitch.

Bot
Deadmau5

Bot is part of the three songs which interlock perfectly, as if they were one. This begins with a simple tune, which could be easily recognized as one from the For Lack of a Better Name album. It also has bot repeated occasionally, just add that extra atmosphere and ambiance that makes the songs from this album so great.

10/10
Perfect in every way, and changes into Word Problems perfectly as well.

Word Problems
Deadmau5

Word Problems begins off sounding like Bot for a minute, but instead of bot being repeated occasionally, it's 'word problems'. But soon, the song changes into something new, but still keeping the ambiance and atmosphere that Bot had. And once the song ends, it becomes the last of the three middle songs: Soma.

8/10
As long as you can put up with it sounding like Bot for the first section, this song really does have potential.

Soma
Deadmau5

This song is beautiful in every way, as unlike Word Problems, it doesn't take a while to switch melodies. What it does offer, is a beautiful and clearly atmospheric tune that makes you feel like you're in paradise. The ambiance of this song is similar to Bot and Word Problems, but adds to the beauty of this song.

9/10
A beautiful song that isn't a shame in the For Lack of a Better Name album.

Lack of a Better Name
Deadmau5

Like Soma, thia song has a heaven-like ambiance, but unlike keeping it, it goes to the bouncing club beat that was reminiscent in the first few tracks of this album. And does so well, incorporating some sounds from the beginning, but mainly focussing on the song itself. The name is the album's, but this is the album in a nutshell.

8/10
Nothing new, but uses highlights of the album's mix of songs.

The 16th Hour
Deadmau5

This is true progressive house in the album, but however, is very repetitive. The same sort of beat for nearly 10 minutes? Not even Cthulu Sleeps (from 4x4=12) could do that well. Becuase of it's extreme repetitive sounds, it doesn't do well in this excellent album by Deadmau5.

5/10
A good beat... stretched to 10 minutes.

Strobe

Here we are, the end of this album, and Deadmau5 knows how to end an album. And he proves it by giving us the masterpiece of the album: Strobe. It starts with a hauntingly beautiful piano melody which slowly transforms into a thriving club beat, but still keeping the magic melody. This, this is Deadmau5 at it's best.

10/10
The best song out of the album, either you love this or you hate the whole album.

View the BBC's review of the album here


Hope you enjoyed my review of the album, and support Deadmau5 (if you like his work)!