Soulfire: Insight - Auvic

As part of his "Soulfire" series of albums, Auvic presents "Soulfire: Insight", a hybrid complextro album that tells fantastical tales about a hero's journey.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the old-school hard-hitting complextro of the early 2010s, but Auvic's liquidy, withdrawn take on the genre — a take that perpetuates the entirety of this album — is a take I can get behind. As the third album in the "Soulfire" trilogy, "Soulfire: Insight" is, as the name suggests, a musical insight into the 'tragedy of heroes' (as Auvic himself puts it), and it continues to hold up Auvic's standard of creativity throughout its runtime. Yes, this project is almost as conceptually unique as it seems on paper, a blending of fantastical, magical narratives and atmospheres, with lyrical storytelling motifs of fire, ice, and the human soul. Whilst "Soulfire: Insight" seems, in its tracklist, narratively disappointing at a mere glance, look a little closer and you'll find that Auvic has weaved in some very clever concepts. Atmospherically "Soulfire: Insight" excels, too, helped along by the largely liquidy production, and despite the very electronic synth runs and the growling complextro basses, the record manages to construct a certain impressive immersiveness, whether it's the frantic cinematics of "Relentless Pursuit" or the sweeping "Anomaly" — and both styles (and most other styles Auvic works with) mesh uncannily well together, something any atmosphere-driven record needs. And yet, I can't help but feel like the production itself feels a tad boring. Though I thoroughly appreciate the structural and conceptual innovation "Soulfire: Insight" posits, I can't bring myself to say that its tracklist was engaging all throughout, because it simply wasn't. Many of the tracks can drag out — often to their own detriment, as many of those that do drag out (the biggest example being "Inspire") lose most of their charm — and many others can just feel unnecessary — in particular, I just couldn't get behind any of the three piano tracks, and the fact that they contribute to the album being sonically uncertain doesn't help their case either.

So yes, to reiterate, "Soulfire: Insight" excels conceptually, even earning the 'unorthodox' tag (although that might be a product of it being part of the overarching trilogy), but it struggles on the production aspect. It's pretty all over the place in how it wants to sound, uncertain as to whether to pursue vocal-leaning tracks or instrumentals, and, within the latter, to pursue growly and hard-hitting or atmosphere-focused tunes. Unfortunately, the concept isn't reinforced strongly enough by the tracklist, landing "Soulfire: Insight" a little lower than I had hoped.