Echoes in Eternity - Notaker

There's no better style to be found in a transcendental album than Notaker's uplifting, melodic one. And he does not disappoint.

"Echoes In Eternity" is a rich soundscape through and through, with no shortage of atmosphere or production quality. Notaker's style—as usual—sits in a grey area just outside of genre classification, presenting a 'melodic progressive' (I'm fairly certain I just made that term up) synth-heavy style that seems to borrow elements from synthwave and midtempo, and yet sounds different to both of them, opting for a more sparkly, atmospheric route. Layered, complex sound design complements elaborate rhythms and shimmering ambience, setting the backdrop for an innovative and thoughtful journey through spacetime. And Notaker doesn't even need a narrative for "Echoes In Eternity" to be cohesive, because the sheer uplifting nature of his renowned style is enough to express the transcendence the album goes for, with its fitting premise of a person leaving everything behind to explore this new dimension, this beautiful new dimension powered by bright synths and euphoric supersaws and mindbogglingly vast production. But a record wouldn't be any good without some good ideas embedded in it—fear not! Notaker's got that covered, too. Aside from the clear stylistic switchups like the DnB of "Unreal" or the prominent bassline in "Bathed in Neon" or even the darker "Delete Myself", the overall progression of the record is incredible. "Echoes In Eternity" commences as a more clear-cut sound, certain of its grandeur and consistent in its melodies, but it begins to 'dissolve' (so to speak) over time, as the sound design gets crazier and the switchups become more frequent right up until the final two tracks, that do seem to regain their sense of composure. Whether intentional or not, I do find the album's metamorphosis over its runtime extremely clever, and, lest we forget, each track progresses very nicely within itself, continually building on the concept with lost-in-space storytelling, telephone call samples and smooth transitioning between tracks.

Concept and production style in mind, there wasn't much doubt that "Echoes In Eternity" would be a fantastic project. And it certainly lives up to that point, and all of Notaker's expertise and experience is able to shine through, with this project being a remarkable debut album demonstrating that Notaker's still got it in him. However, I will admit that at times the record can feel a little repetitive, and some of the cuts feel like Notaker has exhausted his style a little too much.