Album Review | REZZ - 'Mass Manipulation'

What happens when you combine psychology with bass heavy dance music? Mass Manipulation!

Isabelle Rezazadeh, otherwise know as REZZ, is a Ukranian born 22-year-old self-taught producer hailing from Niagra Falls, Ontario. Her much-awaited studio album, Mass Manipulation, was just released on mau5trap records and combines her passion for music with her interest in human psychology.

REZZ is no stranger to the electronic dance music world, having attended numerous festivals and concerts that cemented her passion for the genre. Claiming deadmau5 as a primary influence, she began her foray into music production after watching one of his live streams.

REZZ began producing her own music and leveraged SoundCloud and social media to grab the attention of both Skrillex and deadmau5. In 2015, Skrillex brought her onto his label, OWSLA, where she released her first EP, Insurrection. Not to be outdone, deadmau5 quickly signed her to mau5trap records where she released her next two EP’s, The Silence is Deafening and Something Wrong Here in 2016.

Stream REZZ – Mass Manipulation on SoundCloud:

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Purchase Mass Manipulation here!

Mass Manipulation immediately impresses REZZ’s signature sound upon the audience.

It is filled with sounds that you’d expect to hear from a shop of horrors located inside a production studio. The album flows together well, although many of the tracks have the same general feel to them. While they are all very good on their own, when played top to bottom, I didn’t feel like many of the tracks stood out from one another.

That being said, the eerie synths paired with the heavy beats and ever present tension make for an album that quite literally gets into your head and keeps you on the edge of your seat. “Relax”, the first track on the album, was released by way of music video on July 7th, about a month before the album dropped:

I found “Relax” to be the perfect combination of a soothing, sultry voice with dark, heavy beats that lulled me into a trance like state. I found myself grooving along with the track, almost as if I were truly in a state of hypnosis. It’s easy to see why this track is the first on the album and was released as a “teaser” before the full album dropped: it is emblematic of the sound of the entire album and introduces listeners to REZZ’s style, namely her focus on cerebral sounds with driving, heavy beats.

Although “Diluted Brains” is a nice downtempo break in the album, it feels at times like there is a bit too much going on.

The ethereal, relaxed quality of “Diluted Brains” makes for a nice prelude to some of the heavier aspects of the album. However, at points, the track feels like it can’t decide what it wants to be. Perhaps that is my own predilection for REZZ’s harder side, but I can’t help but feel as though it is a bit unfocused.

“Premonition” features a dark, grungy, industrial sound that has me wondering if REZZ is the love child of Nine Inch Nails and Gesaffelstein!

The driving beat combined with the hard synths and face melting breakdown made me get up out of my seat and have a mini dance party. “Premonition” was easily my favorite track from the album. Its edgy sound, masterful production, and exquisite layering highlight just how talented REZZ is at producing music.

Another single released from the album, “DRUGS!”, features a seriously heavy bass line interspersed with sound effects that are straight out of a science fiction film.

“DRUGS!” has the feel of a dubstep banger but more uptempo and definitely weirder. I found myself stuck between two worlds on this track: one of heavy, driving grooves and the other of light, trippy sounds that can feel slightly discombobulated. Given the title of the track, perhaps this is exactly what REZZ was shooting for.

“Green Gusher” is a driving, scratching, masterpiece of a track.

The track is composed of tension filled melodies that draw the listener between a state of calm and absolute terror coupled with massive beats. The use of scratching as a melodic line in the track adds a layer of texture that is rarely found outside of live performances.

Mass Manipulation is everything I had hoped it would be and more.

REZZ has proven herself to be an extremely talented producer and delivers some truly unique sounds from start to finish. Even though many of the tracks felt similar, it is easy to keep listening to this album time and again because the music is that good.

I found it impossible to not dance and groove while writing this review and I suspect that if you’re a fan of bass music, or industrial/grunge rock, or hard techno, you’ll feel the same way. The future is bright for this young producer and I am eager to see what she has in store for us next.