Hard-Wired EBM Review
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'Worldwide' this second Noise Terror compilation certainly is as Johan Van Roy (who, let's face it, knows a thing or two about banging EBM tunes) has brought together a whole host of EBMers from far & wide on this utterly superb compilation that no lover of hard electro should be without. As well as the usual suspects there are bands from South Africa, who are put on the map by Winter Soul & a fine track called 'Reactor' & even Peru, although it's a shame their Reaxion Guerilla were remixed by X-Fusion as it would have been more intriguing to hear an original piece so we'd really know what they were made of. It's also a bit of a shame that Turkey's Sadiztik: Injektion follow the established EBM template so closely on 'Realise The Suicide' as they could have wiped the floor with pretty much everyone else on here if they'd combined the electronics with their homeland's musical flavours, the possibilities there would have been endless. Still, it's a fine piece where the busy sequencing & rapid thudding rhythms set the pace quite nicely & The Ukraine's Ginger Snap5 likewise do themselves no harm with the infectious & danceable 'Feel My Rhythm' while Latvia's Rosewater open the album with an intriguing slice of techno/EBM entitled 'N.M.E'. They are followed by the hotly-tipped Alien Vampires from Italy whose 'Evil Generation' would have been transformed from a good club track into a great song if they had incorporated the excellent opening riff into the track more. Still, it should raise awareness of their debut album & I'll certainly be keeping an ear out for France's Asphxia as their 'Sense Of Decay' is another infectious slice of danceable electro. The way in which the beautiful piano gives way to the harder elements marks these out as ones to watch, without a doubt. There are also a couple of real exclusives here in the form of a storming new track from Suicide Commando entitled 'Hate Me' which continues the excellent work of Bind Torture Kill plus the premiere of Kombat Unit, his new project with X-Fusion's Jan L with the memorable 'We Are Machines' which gets this project off the ground in the best way possible. Another highlight is Chaoskult's 'Vengeance Is Mine' which marries dark melodics with dynamic rhythms & an instantly memorable riff while Straftanz attept to prove that they're not one hit wonders (as has been suggested elsewhere though not by me, obviously) with the decent if slightly repetitive 'Burn Down Heaven'. Elsewhere Noisuf-X offer a pretty easy going, mid-paced piece (by their standards) while Egoist's imaginative remix of Controlled Collapse's 'Destiny' at least stands out thanks to the rhythmic effects & squirty bass backing. As the album nears its climax Fractured's rather stop/start remix of Grendel's 'Judged Ones' provides the only real bit of filler before Fix8: Sed8 close the album with a superb remix (courtesy of Cold Drive) of 'Minotaurus' which ends the album on a triumphantly expressive note as the ominous melodics are embellished by such richly-textured bass chords on the chorus that, even at a tad under 6 minutes, still feels too short.
Such is the high standard on this album that to avoid mentioning any single track would have been a massive injustice (hence the long review) but the simple fact is this is easily one of the best compilations of 2007, setting the standards that others will need to match. |
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