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Archived Reviews
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It seems as if FLA are one of the few 'veteran' industrial acts whose latest material is as highly thought of as their old classics, even by the most diehard fans. Mind you, with this superb album to consider that's not surprising as messrs Leeb & Fulber have produced one of their finest albums to date. Chris Peterson & Jeremy Inkel lend their additional talents on keyboards & programming as do Jean Luc De Meyer & Covenant's Eskil Simonssen, both of whom add their distinctive vocal tones to the surefire dancefloor killers "Future Fail" & "The Storm" respectively. Likewise Jared Slingerland's scorching guitar work adds an additionally gritty element to the hard rocking "Decsension", which almost resembles Rage Against The Machine et al in places (one for you moshers, this!) while Adrian White does the same on the infectious "Dopamine". In contrast to the preceeding Civilisation this is a more straighforward, up & at 'em affair with 65 minutes of excitement & good old-fashioned industrial rocking. Whilst it's an outwardly accessable album (it's certainly easy to get into) with "Unleashed" & "Lowlife" proving to be a solidly enjoyable opening duo, the real genius lies in the way in which the band pack so many inventive twists into every track, meaning that it's possible to go totally ape over the music whilst admiring their inventiveness on a more objective level. It's this that elevates FLA over so many of their peers (& doubtless accounts for so much of their longevity) & that's before we even mention other such masterstrokes as the drum 'n' bass rhythms that add a hi-octane turbo boost to the superbly infectious "Buried Alive", which really motors at breakneck speed while "Social Enemy" emerges as probably the standout track, simply due to the hard rhythms & ultra-infectious chorus before the closing "Humanity (World War 3)" closes the album on a slightly more reflective note, thus giving the listener the chance to wind down from the preceeding musical maelstrom. For me, this superb album even tops such classics as Tactical Neural Implant, meaning that FLA have never been more inventive, exciting or just plain brilliant. |
