The first thing that came to mind when I started playing this album is how this could be what my computer must sound like when it starts up. I don’t mean the sounds that us humans hear when the said machinery rolls into action but how it must sound to the computer itself when it is brought to life. With a growling guitar, a Pink Floyd type vocal and a saw type noise mixed in for...no hang on a minute, that’s the workmen in my kitchen using a saw, but somehow it sounds just right. This is probably a good example of how sparse, loose and ambient this whole album is. CINDEREL is a track with two haves, a three-minute build up followed by a guitar solo of the ambient industrial kind. Predictably, the track ends as it began, a mix of noises over a lonely sounding piano. The programmed drum beat on LACUNA sounds like it came from the Matrix universe and is let down by dull vocal effects and uninteresting chords. One of the best tracks is actually the shortest track on the album. The instrumental LACONIC is just over a minute long and is the best thing I have heard on this album. ANHYDROUS continues with THE MATRIX effect and this being a song with two halves, you wonder where the group is taking you times. It is scary to think it but imagine BLADE RUNNER meets KING CRIMSON and you will have a fair idea what this album is like.
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Interesting. It was my first thought. Nice. That was my second thought. This
is new fresh music. Soft is a good description. I've got a CD with classical
music in my collection with so called night music. I think this is the electronical version of that CD.

The people behind Extropy are Jeremiah Savage and Dave Andrus from Dreamscape Unlimited. With manipulated beats, pianos and guitars, both acoustic and electrical they create a soft electro rock a la softer school with smooth songs and a little bit melancholic sound.

I like the first track "Inquisitor" best but I also like songs like "Lacuna" and the untitled track 7. I think they both are worth a further presentation. Track 7 is a song that tells something, but I think it's up to the listener to give the tale a meaning. 

"Lacuna" feels progressive; the music evolves all the time. The music is based upon the piano that plays the real melody; the other instruments are just completing the sound with color and depth. "Laconic" is the song that follows after "Lacuna" and is the second part of a piece of music. It ends the "Lacuna" song.

This is a good record but I think there are some weaknesses, like the song "Anastasis" that feels lifeless. although I don't think that matters because the rest is good. The layout is a nice 3D effect of which you can find more on the bands homepage that is a bit hard to understand. Same thing with the small amount of information you find on the CD.

But I got a positive impression of the whole and I still think that this is good night music. Nice and calm.
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Extropy is the new project of Jeremiah Savage and Dave Andrus of Dreamscape Unlimited and a bit of a departure from industrial sounds into other musical territories.
"Lethe", Extropy's debut album, can be considered as a crossing between Electro-Industrial ballads and Ambient music with a touch of Romanticism. It is a very emotional album, atmospheric and almost oniric. With a feeling of calm and intense melancholy permeating all the tracks, the reason for the album's name, "Lethe" becomes readily apparent and most adequate.
Musically, this is a very interesting album and hard to describe. A musical hybrid of programmed percussion and fractured beats which are merged with guitars, acoustic and electric, and further entwined with simple piano compositions and sample work to achieve a feeling of crystalline melancholy. The quality of the sound is very good and it seems that no effort was spared in production work.
Lyrically, "Lethe" is definitely above average as well. It's not easy to write lyrics for melancholic music without them sounding corny, pretentious or both. Extropy's lyrics, however, seem mature and well-thought out, their content being the musical melancholy of the songs being perfectly translated into verbal form. The voice work is also very good: simple and without exaggerated effects, at times whispered or spoken, at times sung but always seamlessly incorporated into the music adding even more emotional depth to it.
Individually, each track stands perfectly on its own but. Together, they flow like a river, with each track seemingly the natural evolution of the previous, even with clear separations, so that the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. Therefore, it's very difficult to pick individual tracks that stand out. However, tracks like "Radiomorphology", ">" and "Anastasis" did capture my attention.
"Lethe" has been playing a lot in my CD player ever since I got it, it's one of those albums that just won't let go, sticking to the player like glue. In a way, it's almost addictive. My only complaint regarding it is that it is too short but it's definitely one of the best albums I heard this year and I can't wait to hear what will be the evolution of Extropy.

-- T.D. [9/10]
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Fearless soundscapes of digitally-manipulated guitar, keyboard and vocal  performances shaped into forlorn harmonies and framented gothic-industrial ballads,  Extropy's Lethe leaves behind traditional song structures and forges it's own distinct voice,  a poetic vision of mournful beauty.

Fragmented and exacting industrial beat patterns surround sparse, filtered vocals crooning introspective melodies. Digital synthetics and guitar noises spin and pan across the stereo field in meticulous flight plans, building into slow, deliberate patterns and songs.


In the organic way the pieces are gradually constructed, Lethe achieves a stream-of-consciousness effect which reminds me of later Skinny Puppy albums.  But on top of that Extropy's music is infinitely more melodic and emotional; Lethe eminates a profound, somber ambience that  holds all the pieces together.


Lethe is full of moments that leave you in utter awe, at the beauty of the layered and carefully manipulated sound,  at the depth of the feeling that is infused into the music. In Lethe, Extropy has found a new, mysterious area  of our consciousness to shade with their shifting, dim, multi-faceted moods.
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