AFX - "Chosen Lords"

Chosen Lords presents itself as an artist-collected précis of the entire 10-volume Analord series. Everyone who's heard all 40 tracks (and apparently there's over 10,000, according to the press release) would undoubtedly pick different tracks to include, but there are some that everyone should be able to agree on. To wit, "Boxing Day" is a highlight, sounding very much like it would have been a b-side to On, with its subtle percussion and cyclic melody. Opener "Fenix Funk 5" recalls the splattered beats of Drukqs' opener, "Jynweythek."

With over forty tracks in the original series to choose from, one would assume that there would be absolutely no filler on this record. Alas, there is. "Crying In Your Face" sounds like classic AFX, chilled beats, vocodered vocals, gentle synth washes. But it is just so un-compelling. Silence is just as memorable as this track. Same with "Klopjob," with its warped synth line and squiggling 303. Elements of classic AFX, right? On paper, yes. It has worked for him in the past (see Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1 for evidence), but fails to impress here.

This is both the problem with this record, and with the material that RDJ has released in this century. As bloated as Drukqs was, with almost half of the double-album being filler material, there was some decent material, if one looked for it hard enough. Same thing with Lords. The trouble though, is that some of the best tracks remain trapped on vinyl and are not included here. An example would be "I'm Self Employed," from Analord 6. Certainly there are others. Volumes 1, 2, and 9 are not represented.

Ultimately, Chosen Lords is hard to recommend because it feels incomplete. All the elements of greatness are present, but come together only sparingly, unlike RDJ's previous work. No new ground is broken here, and perhaps that was not the intent. But for an artist who so consistently raised the bar in the 1990s, to hear him merely resting on his laurels is simultaneously disheartening and maddening. Chosen Lords is neither the complete version of the series, nor is it a best-of collection. It is neither great nor awful, genius or asinine.