| Artist |
| Project Pitchfork |
| Title |
| Quantum Mechanics |
| Format/Cat |
| CD TRI 437 CD |
| Label |
| Trisol |
| Style |
| Industrial electro |
| Date of review |
| 20th December 2011 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 8/10 |
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Hard-Wired Industrial Reviews |
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| Home | |
| Review ratings: | |
| 1. Avoid | 6. Not Bad |
| 2. Poor | 7. Good |
| 3. Weak | 8. Very Good |
| 4. Worth The Effort | 9. Excellent |
| 5. Shows Promise | 10. Must Have |
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Signing to Trisol seems to have provided Peter Spilles much more time to work on new songs as this is the Pitchies third album in as many years (& that's not counting Santa Hates You which has been even more prolific in the same period!), in contrast to most of the first eight years of the new millenium which saw them release the same number of albums & two EPs! What's even better news is that this, whilst maintaining the polished & crisply-delivered thrills of the previous two albums, wipes the floor with either of them with the first half of the album proving especially good value as, after the by now traditional surging & dynamic, anti-dictator-themed opener in the form of 'Freeze In Silence' they really hit the spot with the excellent 'Lament', where, even if the triumphant mood of the chorus is somewhat at odds with the downbeat lyrics, it's impossible not to get swept up in its brilliance, quickly making its mark as one of PP's finest tracks of recent times. This high standard is maintained by the punchy & catchy 'Run For Cover' & the fast-paced 'Radical Business' where the uplifting theme is offset by a touch of the offbeat before 'Mute Spectators' goes for a more melancholic mood that builds into a rousing finale & the reflective title track allows the listener time to get their breath back. Hereafter the quality becomes a tad more variable with 'The Queen Of Time And Space' being the nadir in this writer's opinion (sorry, it just bugs me) & while 'Splice' benefits from a somewhat harsher mood than what has preceded it it's left to the closing 'You Rest In My Heart' to end the album on a high note with soaring synths that resemble vintage Numan (never a bad thing, in my book) adding to the track's already memorable mood; it's a triumphant conclusion to a fine album that proves the Pitchies still have what it takes & then some! | |||||||||||||||||||
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EBM & industrial electro lovers everywhere, drop what you're doing & check out this album from the Spanish duo of Javi Ssagittar & Indio right now as it's easily one of the finest releases of the year. On the face of it the duo do stick to the established modern EBM template pretty closely but there's a definite freshness here that elevates this head & shoulders above most other such releases. A lot of this is down to Javi's vocals which are infectious & possess a kind of raw melodicism, bringing an extra expressive layer to every song, particularly during 'Your Fucking Drugs' where the duo are joined on vocals by Betty CM who also has a strong voice & who contributes towards making this song among the album's highlights, an accolade for which there is no shortage of contenders, from the excellent title track, which you may have heard on the World Wide Electronics compilation through the swaggering 'Nihilismo Moral' with its Spanish-language vocals, the surging cover of Ministry's 'Just One Fix' & on to the utterly superb 'The Pain Of Knowing', where the slow, resonant rhythms, heartfelt melodics & painfully heartfelt vocals all combine to form a masterpiece of power & emotion that harks back to the days of grunge. It really is little short of a masterpiece & is probably the highlight, making the second half of the album a particular delight as proven by the brilliant 'Evolution Of Tomorrow', the dynamic style of which would have made a good closer to the album (aside from the remixes) were it not for 'Primitive Ways' which does the job in a nicely dramatic, forbidding & epic note, building up steam as it goes until it reaches its climax as an intense melodic industrial workout that is just the icing on this particular cake. Simply put, this is a quite superb release that puts many established EBM/industrial artists to shame & is one you absolutely should not miss. | |||||||||||||||||||
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I have to admit that when I first started listening to this album from one Phil Barry, the mix of hard guitars & pounding rhythms led me to believe that this must be an American act so it was quite a surprise when the sleevenotes made it clear that this is, in fact, British although the fact that it was produced at Marc 'Cubanate' Heal's studio soon explained why such a mix-up could be made! It's fair to say, then, that this should indeed appeal to those who have fond memories of Cubanate & their ilk as the 10 tracks on here take a definite influence from the industrial styles of the 90s while the sometimes repetitious feel of certain tracks might also appeal to fans of Uberbyte et al who don't mind the metal elements. So, there's plenty of dancefloor potential here with tracks such as 'Helter Skelter' well placed to take advantage of such opportunities, bearing a superficial resemblance to Concrete Lung but lacking their raw, more dystopian feel due mainly due to the overly polished production which gives the album a rather sterile feel & which makes it sound rather safe for all its power & robs it of some of the impact it could otherwise have had. A more raw-sounding production would almost certainly have made a difference here, making this the album it could so easily have been. This also means it's a bit of a bind to listen to all in one go although, when taken in smaller snippets, individual tracks start to hit home, among them the action-packed 'Death Drive' which mixes some superbly scything guitar riffs with frantic Drum 'n' bass rhythms & 'Start The Revolution', which boasts a mix of danceable rhythms & typically gutsy guitars in a manner not unlike a more metal version of The Prodigy, make for what is easily the best track on the album. Overall, though, the production just sucks the life out of the music which makes this something of a missed opportunity & anyone looking for more satisfying industrial thrills would be better off checking out the albums from Concrete Lung & Digicore instead. | |||||||||||||||||||
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The uniform grey & the photos on the cover makes it clear that the particular version of hell that the British duo Ed Oxime & William Reiver have in mind is everyday life & the music emphasises the same feeling of rage, boredom & frustration, delivering a kick in the head with its mix of epic synths & hard, brutal percussion being topped off by pile-driving guitars that mix punk, industrial & metal into one infernal whole. The vocals are of the throat-busting variety as Oxime screams his anger for all the world to hear, starting with 'The Outer Circle' & then continuing onto new & ever more brutal dimensions as the impenetrable wall of noise that forms the basis of the short, sharp blast that is 'Suicide High Rise' perfectly evokes the modern concrete jungle until it ends so suddenly the effect is almost vertigo-inducing. Elsewhere 'Wall Of Christ' provides a further uncompromising sonic blast while the slower 'Flux' proves that, had they been around back then, this band could have had Rage Against The Machine no problem! Not that it's all about the power, mind, as there are plenty of more subtle parts, too, as proven by the initially smoking mood of 'Mind Eraser' that, when joined by the usual harder elements, make for a more offbeat experience, likewise the way in which the various elements of 'Wall Of Christ' at first seems to be nothing more than a chaotic jumble that only fit together given time prove give the album greater depth & character , an aspect of the band which is taken to its most logical extreme during the superb 'Pylon Kingdom Pt.1' which is a slow, doom-laden piece full of forboding guitars & synths & tolling bells setting a decidedly gothic, almost supernatural mood that perfectly evokes the images of statues that appear on the label & inner sleeve while 'Dead In The Mind' takes this even further with its oozing soundpool setting a nightmarish mood that's bleak, abstract & dark, not unlike the neofolk act ROME, believe it or not while the sax that breaks through towards the end put me in mind of early Faust, acting like a last sentinel as the music fades away. At over seven minutes it's given the chance to really fulfill its potential & is all the more satisfying for that, in fact it would have been an excellent track to end the album on but as it is there's one last blast in the form of 'bonus track' 'Crash Reality', the bonus track that, if the preceding piece was the nightmare, jabs you in the ribs to awake you to the everyday despair that is this album's driving force. So don't go into this expecting just the power, this is a far more varied industrial offering that deserves widespread attention. | |||||||||||||||||||
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The UK quartet of Danny Carnage, Matt Bastard, S-73 & Cell here unleash the true sound of cyberpunk, bolting mechanical appendages in the form of the drum & bass rhythms & adventurous electronics that crop up throughout the album onto the still-beating heart of punk & providing it with a new lease of life as well as resurrecting the rotting carcass of 90s rock. Indeed, the mellower moments that crop up during the verses of such tracks as 'Without Freedom' & 'Tear It Up' to name but two, are not totally dissimilar to bands such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers & the like while the ChopChop remix of 'We Will Fall' sounds, at least initially, positively laid back in comparison to much of the album & although it goes without saying that there is no comparison in terms of inventiveness & dynamics, it means that, for all the power, there's a human heart beating at its core, this music hasn't forgotten how to feel but it asks questions & takes no prisoners. Witness the pounding brutality of 'Where Were You?', 'No Rest (For The Rebels)' & the superb 'Obey', which is so overwhelming as to inspire you to start setting up the barricades forthwith, while 'Cyberpunks Unite', with its mix of drum 'n' bass rhythms & scything guitars, acts as a call to arms against everyday conformity & the closing 'Your World Is A Lie' makes its mark through its chaotic mix of fractured rhythms that sound as if they're going to collapse upon themselves any moment & belting guitars that almost seem to be struggling to keep up & raw shouted vocals, devoid of all effects & left in their original state; of all the songs on the album, this is the one that comes closest to the raw spirit of punk, it's angry, surging & raw for all its polished elements & it puts you back in touch with your most primal emotions. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Now here's a prime candidate for the 'blimey, are they still going?" log!! I remember K-Nitrate playing early on at an Elektrofest some years ago but then, as with so many bands, it all seemed to go quiet. That was until 2010 when this newie saw the light of day, on the Russian Advoxya label which indicates that Graham Rayner & Chistian Weber's networking techniques are not to be scoffed at! Sadly, the album isn't the electrifying experience that the title might promise, being a repetitive industrial slog that's lacking in variety or any real excitement while the lack of any meaningful vocals robs it of any kind of character. It's certainly crisply rendered & powerful when taken in small doses & there are some promising riffs in there, too, but this promise is never really built upon which makes listening to it all in one go something of an ordeal, what good ideas there are being stretched far too thinly over the album's 10 tracks & it's only towards the end that anything comes along to make the listener sit up & take notice in the shape of 'XMachineX' which is quite an infectious little ditty beiing followed by 'Disbeliever' which isn't totally without merit either while the atmospheric break that graces otherwise minmalistic penultimate track 'Automatik Killer' offers another glimpse of what they could be capable of but, overall, these bursts of inspiration aren't enough to make this one worth recommending, not when there are so many bands out there turning out much better music, sorry. | |||||||||||||||||||
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The release of this latest Covenant album was a strangely low-beat affair, it seemingly just appeared during January without anyone really seeming to get very excited about it. This is all the stranger when you consider that it's 5 years since the release of Skyshaper or has the UK electro scene become so thickle that it's a case of out of sight out of mind? I hope not. What makes this newie even more intriguing is that it marks the debut on disc of Daniel 'Haujobb/Cleaner/Destroid/Architect' Meier & it's tempting to ponder on what influence he has had on the album as there is a distinctly novel edge towards the use of sounds & effects on a number of tracks, not least the pairing of 'Kairos' & 'The Beauty And The Grace' which builds from the atmospheric opening of the former into the reflective mood of the latter with some fine melodic work making for a most reflective & touching number while the lively 'Get On' is given a further twist by the abstract flavours which are worked into the track's overtly accessible feel. Not that the is in any way hard going or difficult to get into as, throughout, the boys prove they've not lost any of their talent for writing immediately memorable songs that stick in your brain on first listening. The preceding single 'Lightbringer', which is given a distinctly 'urban' feel by the rapped vocals from Necro Facility & some distinctly 'robust' rhythms, is proof of this, as is the following 'Judge Of My Domain' which is the most typically 'Covenant' piece here while, as the album reaches its latter stages there's a real treat waiting for you in the form of 'Beat The Noise' which is nothing less than a triumphant stormer, dynamic, infectious & utterly superb, it must be one of the best tracks they've ever written & is sure to go down a storm on the band's forthcoming European tour in sharp contrast to 'The Road' which is a pleasant piece of dark ambience ideal for last night listening with the lights out. Whilst this is perhaps not Covenant's most immediately enjoyable album repeated listenings bring out its many strengths & makes this a worthwhile addition to their impressive catalogue. | |||||||||||||||||||
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This colourfully-presented newie from German band Ext!ze will doubtless appeal to all you dark ravers out there as the 30 tracks on offer here (22 originals, 8 remixes) are a dead cert to be setting the dancefloors alight even as we speak! At times it's reminiscent of Massiv In Mensch's best works but even they never took the 'dark rave' theme to these extremes, the music proving to be as colourful as its artwork & given that It's a double album, with CD1 being subtitled 'Hell' with disc 2 inevitably being 'Heaven', there's plenty to get your teeth into on this manic, infectious & fun tour-de-force of pounding rhythms, infectious riffs & manic German voice that's certain to ensure that you do indeed follow the instructions of 'Keep Dancing' which, with its pounding, unstoppable rhythms & red hot synth licks, is not only a killer of a track it's as good as a statement of intent as to what the band are all about, a statement that, in fairness, had already been layed down by the equally superb 'Headquake', both of which build up to such a sonic onslaught that, under the right conditions, could cause you to lose your mind entirely!! It's tracks such as these that provide the highlights, in contrast to the more astract/repetitive numbers that do get a tad tiresome although these are more than made up for by the further highlights such as 'Stop This Noise' with its pitch-bending madness & crowd effects adding to the 'hands in the air' feel while '(D)Evil Girl' & 'Rave My Head' both prove equally capable of getting you moving whether you want to or not! Disc two is an at times more melodic & more restrained affair (the choice of remixers on each disc mirrors these differences!) although, in the case of 'La Gallerine Est Morte' & 'Notre Pere', the power isn't totally forgotten as some pretty beefy rhythms are pretty much to the fore in both cases. 'In Your Eyes', however, is an unusual mix of strong rhythms & reflective melodics that make for a refreshing & ultimately optimistic piece while the melodic 'Close Your Eyes' will appeal to lovers of more traditional electro songs & although the punchy 'Connect To Paradize' shows that they're not totally spent yet it's left to 'Away From Paradize', which sees them teaming up with Inline Sex Terror & 'Requiem D Moll' which mixes some religious choir samples with pounding rhythms to superb effect to replicate the brain-frying rave experiences of the first disc & very well done in both cases, it is too! | |||||||||||||||||||
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This double anthology (which is obviously a posh way of saying it's a 'best of'!!) offers a comprehensive oversite of the band's first decade between 1991 & the days of 'Dhyani' & 'Psychic Torture' & 2001 & the all-conquering 'Daimonion', doubtless leaving the way clear for a second anthology to turn up in due course. All the tracks are remastered (although a couple are labelled as 'restored', your guess is as good as mine as to what the difference is!) which is a nice thought but the fact is that it smoothes out some of the rough edge which sort of takes away some of the spark as well, particularly on such offerings from the very early days as 'Caught In The Abbatoir' & 'Song Of The Winds', where the rawness is an important part of their appeal although this is less of a problem with the later songs-I just wish they'd used the album version of 'I Live Your Dream' rather than the drippily commercial single version! As well as the hits such as 'Souls', 'Timekiller' & 'God Wrote' there are a good selection of lesser-known tracks such as 'Lie On Grass' &, on a purely personal note, it's a nice touch that the whole thing ends with the perfection that is 'Green World' where the evocatively natural atmosphere is affected not at all! And let us not forget that there's a new track to enjoy in the form of 'Burning' which echoes the clinical albeit not unemotional mood of their most recent works & is an enjoyably emotive piece. Whether it, or the fascinating band history & pictures (nincluding the embarrassing 80s goth picture that most bands sportingly allow to appear on such projects as this!) in the accompanying booklet, are enough to tempt all but the most devoted Pitchfork completist to buy this remains to be seen but it does offer a timely reminder of just how important this band have been over the years. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Inertia have long had a thing for doing cover versions & on this album they've given full rein to these impulses, paying tribute to their many & widespread musical influences. And given both Reza & Alexys' legendary catholic tastes there's a fair selection of artists' music that is covered, from Elvis, who gets a look in via a cover of 'Mystery Train' & The Beatles who are payed due respect with 'Something' which, if anything, sounds more psychedelic than the original, through to Concrete Blonde with a deathrock-lite take on 'Bloodletting' & the odd leftfield choice in the form of Selena & David Byrne's 'God's Child' while the duo's theatrical leaning no doubt account for the inclusion of 'Heaven On Their Minds' from Jesus Christ Superstar & while the dancey style is a nice surprise (wonder what Andrew Lloyd Webber made of that!) Reza's lead vocals sound horribly out of tune, wonder what happened there? Starting the album with their own ultra-infectious version of 'Children Of The Revolution' was another smart move (in reality, they couldn't have done anything else, really!) while the band pay homage to a more predictable list elsewhere, most notably Nick Cave on 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' (not forgetting Alexys' turn as Kylie, of course!) & Sparks on 'Cool Places', where she fills in for Jane Wiedlin (& a bery good job she does, too!) as well as Duran Duran & Depeche Mode, although in true fanboy/girl fashion, they chose lesser-known tracks in both cases ('Late Bar' & 'Flexible' respectively) & much the same can be said by the excellent cover of Falco's 'Monarchy Now' (where Armageddon Dildos' Uwe Kanka putting in a guest appearance on vocals-bet Alexys loved that!) when it might have been easier to cover another, rather more well-known song (although it's still obvious who the original was by!). This is certain to go down a storm at any electro parties or the less serious club nights & the cover notes promise there could well be more like this to come, wonder who'll they cover next? | |||||||||||||||||||
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I know that, to anyone who claims to be 'metal' being described or even linked in any way to emo is reason enough to issue a fatwah on whoever uttered the dreaded words but I still can't listen to Zeromancer without thinking of My Chemical Romance or something similar. All the ingredients are there, rock with a poppy edge, some pretty gritty guitar riffs, it must be said & emotive vocals sung in a very clean fashion that is sure to appeal to any teenage girl who fancies herself as being a little alternative prior to graduating on to the heavier rock styles. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, of course, it's a formula that has served them well in the past & does so again here with the opening double header of 'Industrypeople' & 'The Hate Alphabet' kicking the album off in a nicely dynamic style that is sure to please their fans with a mix of gritty & infectious guitar riffs & more melodic elements, a formula that later makes its mark once more during 'Murder Sound', 'Plinth' & the closing 'V'. Overall, there's less of the invention that marked the previous album Sinners International which is a shame as, after a while, the whole album starts to feel a little samey. Having said that, it's impossible not to prick up your ears to the soaring riffs that add a nice feeling of gravitas to the stately title track, a feeling that is further deepened by the deep bass work that adds further muscle to this fine piece. Similarly, 'The Pygmalion Effect' sets a darker mood with some effective guitar noodling being contrasted nicely by the soaring chorus (I wonder what George Bernard Shaw would have made of this!!) while 'Revengefuck' at least matches its title by being the hardest track on the album with its grinding guitar & flowing chorus creating a mood that's verging on the pompous (this is a good thing, by the way!) while the ambient elements that grace 'Mint' sees the band at their best, elevating the music away from the usual format & creating a mood that stays with you for a long time, far more than any of the other tracks certainly. Overall, though, Zeromancer's music is just to polished to really grab me but, if you're a fan then this is certain to keep you happy. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Hailing from the UK, Concrete Lung are Ed Oxime (who some of you may know through his work with Katscan) & William Reiver & their sound is an intense barrage of scything sustained guitars, grinding rhythms & some electro elements that accurately describes the decaying world depicted on the cover. However, for all that this isn't music for the faint-hearted there's no reason why the more open-minded punk/new wave fans shouldn't be able to enjoy 'Breathe In The Monochrome', 'Destructive' or the remix (not a typo) of 'Graveyard Recovery' which, in some respects, put me in mind of a more experimental & intense version of PiL (& if they also happen to like Leechwoman then they'll be laughing!). Likewise, EBM lovers should find enough familiar elements in 'Recovery Position' &, at a push, the remixx of 'Sins Of Flesh' to be able to get along with them (not that any labels totally cover what the band are about but you get the picture, I trust!). The slower 'Pyre Burns' impresses through its soaring guitars & a grinding chorus that sets an oppressively dark atmosphere & shows what the duo are really capable of. Perfectly straddling the areas of hard industrial, rock & electro this is an inventive, dark & uncompromising release, decay never sounded so good! | |||||||||||||||||||
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Hot on the tail of the blistering You're On The Naughty List, PS & Jinxy are back, with Peter Spilles looking more maniacal than ever (& it's all done with some make-up & a magnifying glass!) & Jinxy looking even more stunningly beautiful than ever (if God created the world in seven days & made her on the eighth then his work's definitely improving!!). What's more, they're hitting you with an album that's as ultra-infectious & possibly even more frantic than its predecessor, so much so that the opening tracks seen to whizz by without pausing for breath, like someone talking so fast you're struggling to take in what they're saying. However, once you 'tune in' to what the album is about (& the good news is that's not hard to do!) it’s impossible not to be swept up by the musical maelstrom that the duo whip up with their trademark blend of dark, at times rather caustic humour, minimalist arrangements & unrelenting rhythms. They're all out in force again, too, with 'You Make Me Wanna Bang My Head Against The Wall And Not In A Good Way' proving a contender for title of the year while the lyrics of 'Slime Green Spaceship' should raise a chuckle if nothing else. The fact that 'Z.O.MB.I.E' sounds so much like their Sugar 'n' Spice' initially had me worried that they'd already begun repeating themselves but by the time it was over I was so blown-away by its ultra-infectious nature that I couldn't have cared less (& I'll wager anyone who hears it will feel the same!) while Jinxy delivers another sultry performance on 'La Malia' where the contrast between her voice & Spilles' harsher style & the insistent & surging music is a sharp one indeed. The closest that they come to the recent Pitchfork sound is during 'Your Soul's Funeral' which sounds positively restrained compared to the rest of the album whilst still retaining the dynamic energy that is SHY's trademark; it's like a grenade going off in your head & that's DEFINITELY in a good way! | |||||||||||||||||||
