Conny Ochs - Future Fables
Exile on Mainstream Records
Melancholic Acoustic Rock
12 songs ()
Release year: 2016
Exile on Mainstream Records
Reviewed by Alex

I will be frank and say that me checking out Conny Ochs latest album Future Fables was a long shot, mainly peaked by one curiosity question: "What does it even mean when you are a singer-songwriter producing on an otherwise metal label?" If this wasn't on Exile on Mainstream, honestly, I doubt I will be seeking Future Fables out, just like I didn't go out of my way to sample Black Happy. But the promise of warm analog production and melancholic melodies looked very alluring ...

Two spins through Future Fables and I can be certain with a pair of observations. Not that I need everything in my musical universe to be hard and heavy, far from it, but Future Fables has not entirely stricken the cord, or, should I say, the album struck the right cord but not forcefully enough. On another point, here is one album where I can safely go to my country music listening friends, those more into bluesy type, and say that we may have just plugged into similar music. Yes, I can definitely recommend Future Fables to my Ohio brethren who have never heard a note of metal and thought my listening interests were bizarre. Conny Ochs' latest album may be the way to bridge just that gap.

Many of album's short sketch-like songs are electroacoustic guitar strummed compositions, some of them with audible bass and percussion being basically barebones and definitely not overbearing (Hole, Empire, Golden Future, Slide). Songs like Wake Up are even more minimalistic. Conny Ochs has a very pleasant voice, not sugary though, and he allows himself to miss a note on occasion (Golden Future), if the mood dictates so. Some tracks are more pulsating (Piece of Heaven) or with forceful chords (Spin), the album strives to capture a range of emotions right there on the surface, without resorting to tricks. Darker and moody (Slide) or more upbeat (No Easy Way), this is how the album flows song to song. Yet for me, while the earnestness and authenticity of the approach is obvious, and I give high marks for honesty and straightforwardness, I was not entirely smitten by Future Fables, because I think the melodies on the album, something promised outright, do not grip completely enough. So if something has an unusual element in it, like harmonica in Empire, or finger snapping in Piece of Heaven, you tend to notice it. Album's best melody in Empire or lounge/gangsta feeling of Killer made standouts of these compositions for me as well.

Zero reasons for turnoffs, Future Fables just was not dynamic or melodic enough for me to place it on the repeat, to learn further and delve in head over heels.

Killing Songs :
Empire, Killer
Alex quoted 68 / 100
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