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Archived Reviews
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I wonder if the profusion of SC-influenced bands that have made their mark over the past couple of years have caused Johan Van Roy to have a re-think & raise the bar accordingly? Probably not but the fact remains that this is quite easily his best work to date with a far more expressive & at times atmospheric edge that is just what his music (which I've always found to be a tad one-dimensional) needed, adding a superb contrast & greater depth to the typically hard & uncompromising SC soundscapes which, in turn, sound more powerful than ever. This is hinted at during the opening title track which develops from a simple rhythm line, assimilating & incorporating successive musical elements in expert fashion as it transforms into a typical crowdpleaser but it is then taken to its fullest extent by such hard-hitting tracks as the racey "Conspiracy With The Devil", which fully exploit's the album's horrific serial killer concept while the chorus of "We Are The Sinners" cranks up the tension in fine style. The cover of Tommi Stumpf's "Massaker" is a nod towards SC's beginnings (it was Stumpf who wrote the track from which Van Roy took his act's name, after all) & with bass kicks like machine gun fire, strong sequencing & a chant-like refrain it proves to be yet another excellent track while the incessant backing of "Fuck You Bitch" (not the ideal first date song, methinks!) acts like an unstoppable maelstrom that consumes & flattens everything in its path. Of equal importance is the dark atmospherics that further embellish "Bleed For Us All", "Dead March" & "Torment Me", thus setting the scene for Van Roy to work his patented brand of hard-hitting magic, the latter track in particularly racing along in a quite superb fasion. In fact, so good is this album that it even knocks spots off such classics as See You In Hell & Hellraiser, proving that "Menschenfresser (Eat Me)" wasn't the odd choice for proceeding single that it might have seemed at the time & offering a timely reminder than Van Roy isn't regarded as the godfather of 'hellektro' without good reason, this is, quite simply, superb stuff. |
