Antigen Shift, a project initiated by Nick Thériault from Canada, made a good impression on me in the past. The cd Implicit Structures and the mcd This Moment Of Cold Remembering (both from 2003) demonstrated a convincing industrial soundscape style. The way of the north appears to me as quite a departure from his previous work.
The album is not very noisy at all, but sounds quite clear and melodic, focusing mostly on the rhythmic framework. The prominent use of samples is also minimized and pushed to the background. The way of the north sounds as atmospheric, quite accessible IDM. A comparison that springs to mind is Gridlock. Though the cd has an arctic theme (and asks our attention for the threats of the arctic biosphere), it does not leave an ice-cold feeling, it’s rather cool or chilly.
In general I quite like this ‘new style’ of Antigen Shift, though I must say that not all tracks can keep my attention, sometimes the prominent beats bore me a little. But there are certainly quite a few compositions that I enjoy, like the dynamic ‘As Flies To Careless Boys We Are To Gods’, the moody ‘Verglas’ as well as ‘Tundra’, where noisy beats and ethereal synths nicely clash.
