Juno Reactor - The Mutant Theater

Juno Reactor's ninth album The Mutant Theater just came out last week (June 22) and I wanted to write a review of the whole album.  I have listened to this album non-stop since it came out.  I am still waiting for a physical copy of the album but I have downloaded a digital copy.  I knew that this album was going to be very good since I have heard most of the songs before the album came out.  Out of the 9 songs on this album (all Juno Reactor albums have 9 songs in them, except for Luciana), I only didn't know 3 of them (Dakota, Showtime and The Tannhauser Gate).  The album as a whole is now one of my favourite Juno Reactor albums.  It has a very good theme to it (Space/Out of the Universe/Fantasy) and each of the songs flows nicely to one another.  I will give a more detailed look at the album later but I will go through each of the songs individually now.

1) The Return of the Pistolero
- When Juno Reactor was performing their new songs at the Lublin and Ozora shows in 2017, one of my favourites from that show was this song.  This song is truly amazing in that there is some great guitar playing from Amir Haddad.  There is also some great vocals by Taja Devi and Tula Ben-Ari.  For a 11 minute song, this is truly one of the greatest Juno Reactor songs ever.

2) Our World
- Our World was the first single released from this album.  I have already covered this song in another blog post so I won't go into too much detail here.  It is definitely one of the stronger songs in this album.

3) Let's Turn On

- Let's Turn On is another song that was featured heavily at the Lublin and Ozora shows.  I think the album version of this song is much better than the live version because you can hear all the small blips and chirps.  I know there is a video version as well but the album version is the best version.  This song features the vocals of Michele Adamson.

4) Dakota
- Dakota is probably my most favourite song from this album.  It really surprised me when I first heard this song.  Somehow Ben Watkins was able to put together aboriginal chants with his electronic music seamlessly.  I am not sure any music artist is able to pull off something like this.  I like to call this my Canadian Juno Reactor song because I think Ben must of been influenced while travelling and doing shows in Canada.

5) Alien
- Alien is another song that was featured in the Lublin and Ozora shows.  I think it was probably one of the first new song that we heard.  It really works well with the Mutant Theater vibe.  If you could sum up the Mutant Theater album as whole, this song would probably be it.  This song features the vocals of Taja Devi.

6) The Sky is Blue The Sky is Black
- I found this song a while back when watching the Ozora show.  I think Ben called this song Mutant Machina before.  I like Ben's vocals here.  I didn't like this song at first but is now growing on me.

7) Showtime
- Showtime is one of the songs that I haven't heard before the album release so it was pleasant surprise when I listened to this song for first time.  I don't know what influenced Ben to write this song (I asked on the forum, I will edit this when I get an answer).  This song really makes you go on an epic trip.

8) Voyager 304
- Voyager 304 is much like Voyager 303, which was previously released before.  Although I think Voyager 304 is pretty much okay, it is better than Voyager 303 (only a little bit better). It is probably one of the weaker songs in this album but it sets up the next song very well.

9) The Tannhauser Gate
- The Tannhauser Gate is very surreal.  You can tell this song was influenced by the movie Blade Runner.  You can almost picture the movie running in your head when listening to this song.  Fans of the Blade Runner movie will definitely enjoy this song.  This song also makes the album complete.

As a whole the Mutant Theater album is sitting as my second most favourite Juno Reactor album (just behind Labyrinth).  I think there are some great songs in this album, you could argue that most of the good songs are in the top half of this album.  I think one song that could have made this album even better is Ingonyama (with Ace Ventura) but I wouldn't know which song to take out (maybe Voyager 304 but then again this song sets up The Tannhauser Gate really well).  I really recommend everyone checking out this album because it is one of the better Juno Reactor albums.