Let's be objective: the SNAKESKIN project cannot be viewed as a standalone, independent project. We automatically recall that this is the solo project of Tilo Wolff, a person primarily associated with LACRIMOSA. Unlike the first SNAKESKIN album "Music For The Lost," where Tilo performed all vocal parts and then extensively manipulated them, ultimately achieving a rather unusual sound, on "Cantatronic" the main vocal duties in as many as five tracks fell to Kerstin Doelle, possessor of a classical vocal education and a quite decent soprano. First and foremost, for LACRIMOSA fans this album will clearly be more interesting than its predecessor — this is tied to the musical component, especially evident in the composition "Still Not Home" (if one sets aside the club music elements), immediately bringing to mind the albums "Echoes" and "Lichtgestalt." And the track "Stonecoldhands" instantly evokes thoughts of the album "Satura." As for Tilo's vocals — things were fairly predictable here: we hear a sinister, slightly growling whisper at times, a hysterical scream at others, additionally overdriven and distorted by electronics. Less expected, however, was the presence of clean vocals, which we hear in the aforementioned "Still Not Home," the finale of "The Eternal," and the penultimate track "Tourniquet," which incidentally leans more toward synthpop than darkwave in terms of genre.
Overall, the album is more compositionally interesting compared to the first, less chaotic, and somehow more serious — there are fewer electronic experiments here, while compositional ones, by contrast, are far more numerous.
As bonus material, three tracks are presented on the disc: one album composition is offered in a club mix, while the album opener "Etterna" comes with two whole mixes — the second is especially interesting, resulting in something of a darkish house track genre-wise. And that's the entire album, pleasing above all with the fact that, unlike the first disc, music is not sacrificed at the altar of sound design and electronic experiments.