| Artist |
| Aesthetic Perfection |
| Title |
| All Beauty Destroyed |
| Format/Cat |
| 2CD OUT 518/519 |
| Label |
| Out of Line |
| Style |
| Industrial Electro |
| Date of review |
| 27th March 2012 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 8/10 |
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Hard-Wired Industrial Reviews |
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| 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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After the 'breakthrough' album that was A Violent Emotion, & the massive round of touring that followed it, this latest album from Daniel Graves was much anticipated &, discounting the remix disc which strips away everything that makes the album proper so special & isn't worth bothering with, it doesn't disappoint at all. Compared to the AP live sound, this is less of an electro/industrial/rock effort, thanks largely to the absence of the live drums, rather it carries on the good work of the preceding album, developing further the distinctive electro sound that is somehow clinical yet dirty & never anything less than enthralling, thanks to his knack of combining superb melodic hooks, insistent sequence lines & powerful rhythms on such tracks as 'One And Only' as well as the preceding single 'Inhuman'. However, as the opening 'A Nice Place To Visit' gets underway, it seems that the time he spent supporting Combichrist has rubbed off on him as, with its pitch-bending synths, stomping rhythms & screamed vocals, the spirit of Andy LaPlegua looms large here, ditto the sirens that open the following 'The Devil's In The Details' although in both cases, Graves makes the songs very much his own. Indeed, as the album progresses, it becomes apparent that these facets are actually indicative of how much more of everything this album has compared to its predecessor; more power in the music with some no-nonsense, hard-hitting tracks in the form of 'Celebrity Sin' & particularly 'Motherfucker' which is every bit as uncompromising as the title would lead you to expect with a battery of surging rhythms & no-nonsense sequencing hitting you square between the eyes & setting the scene for a lung-busting vocal performance from Graves, whose varied & versatile voice, mixing an evocative &, at times distinctly melancholic melodic style with shouted phrases that act like an exclamation to what's being said, ensures that there's likewise more emotion here, be it the sad resignation of 'The Little Death', the more restrained feel of which actually brings the message across all the more clearly or evoking the sleaze described during 'Filthy Design'. Similarly, there's also a more varied sound, particularly towards the end with the totally a capella 'Under Your Skin', which provides something of a breather after the anger overload of the preceding tracks, seeing him experiment with a plethora of voice effects to create a very human experience which presumably includes the rhythmic backing effects too, while this emotive side is taken to its logical conclusion on the beautifully bittersweet title track which ends the album where Lauren Kroethe's delicate piano sets the mood for Graves to open his heart in a startlingly intimate manner while the shouted lines work surprisingly well here, actually build the heartbreak still further, coming across like a despairing cry from the heart, rather than a jarring aberration they could so easily have been. In a way, it's just as powerful as the faster tracks, if not more so & certainly stays with you long after its conclusion, making for a fitting end to a fine album that sees the artist pushing his own electro boundaries a bit further & finding fertile new fields to explore as he goes. | |||||||||||||||||||
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This is Formalin's second album of 'Berlin City Industrial' music, following on from 2010's Bodyminding & it's a massive step forward from the uncompromising but somewhat one-dimensional sound of that album. That's not to say the music has lost any of its anger or rebellious vitality nor its harsh edges, far from it, but here it's been enhanced with a more soaring melodic edge that both emphasises & contrasts their anger & passion, transforming their sound into a somewhat punky take on electro-industrial music that could well appeal to fans of Katscan with Tominous' gruff, macho vocals similarly sounding typically 'industrial' & giving the music more character in so doing whilst adding a decidedly rebellious, snotty but passionate attitude to virtually every track, particularly on 'Copycat Criminal' where the duo declare open season on plagiarists everywhere, crowning this no-nonsense blast with the line 'Formalin Will kick your arse'. This is counterbalanced in places by more melodic vocal tones which add a more reasoned side even to such no-nonsense-titled tracks such as 'The Great Armageddon' while the soaring chorus that it boasts is a hallmark of the album & one that pays dividends time after time with 'Faker' boasting the kind of riffs that any metal band would be proud to possess but all done synthetically while the big bass chords that punctuate 'Collider' are another masterful touch that proves this young duo have really got this style down to a tee. The excellent closer 'End Of All Suffering' offers further proof of this, the slower tempo proving the perfect foil for another epic-sounding chorus backed by powerful rhythms that ends the album on an expansive note that it's impossible not to be swept up by. The more minimalist tracks 'Tied & Blinded' & 'Fight The Enemy' do have a certain old skool EBM feel to them, particularly the chanted '1,2,3,4' bridge on the latter track & while the former does have an effective uncompromisingly harsh edge to it it is a tad repetitive when listened to at home, although it's certain to do the business in the clubs. However, it's when they're bridging the two environments & offering a more versatile listening experience that they are at their best & that's a feat they accomplish with ease time & time again. In fact, the only let downs here come in the rather naff voice samples of 'Fruits Of Evil', I mean 'I shall invoke your demons, bwa ha ha'; even if it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek it's still a bad idea while the spoken female voice on 'Burst Into Fire' isn't really imposing enough to make its mark, like she's mumbling & although it's no big deal a more assertive performance wouldn't have gone amiss. Overall, though, this is an excellent album by a talented duo developing a style that is very much their own & making their mark in the electro world. | |||||||||||||||||||
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If you're looking for a varied album then you need look no further than this Dutch quintet's latest release because this has got pretty much everything. Much has been made of the fact that their lyrics are inspired by Weimar poets such as Adolf Frey & JW von Goethe which might give the impression that this is going to be some sort of gothic/mittelalter album & while this is one of the many avenues that the band explore, most notably during 'Einst' which combines lute & orchestral motifs in a most emotive manner for the full-on medieval experience but, there's so much more going on here, starting with the danceable albeit melodic EBM styles of the opening pair of 'Schlusspoetik' & 'Ein Schatten' which might come as something of a surprise, particularly given that Zeon's vocals are in the typically harsh style although these are offset a good deal by Angelika's more melodic voice which, throughout the album, proves to be an important part of their musical armoury. The former gets the album off to a pretty good start but it's the latter that really hits the spot, being an instantly infectious winner that's a cert for dancefloor adoration while 'An Den Todesengel' later takes this side of their sound to ever harsher realms, veering towards so-called 'hellektro' realms. So far so predictable, you might think but the gothic flavours that Angelika brings to the album hint at the variety that is the band's hallmark, starting with slow & atmospheric 'Der Schwere Abend' which builds from mysterious beginnings into a sumptuous gothic-inspired piece of electro while those overtly melodramatic spoken vocals that so many goth bands use appear at the beginning of 'Nomen Ist Omen' & while this develops into a rousing electro/medieval piece with chanted vocals in the expected way, it's so rousing that it really is hard to resist. By now, the question that needs to be asked is 'can this band make a bad track?' & once 'Heimfahrt', with its overloaded-style vocals that seem to link the old & the new & lighter electro feel that verges on synthpop, gets into its stride, the answer would seem to be a resounding no as this is another infectious piece while few bands could equal the feeling of suspense that makes 'Die Fabrik' another winner & shows yet another facet to their sound while 'Der Schwarze Tod' manages a similar feat & is as dark as the title would lead you to expect. To finish comes a 3-part piece inspired by JW von Goethe's 'Gesang Der Geister Uber Den Wassern' & this is a full-on piece of classical magic, alternating between rich choral progressions & sepulchral choirs in a manner that is evocative, dynamic, varied & exciting & illustrates anew just what a varied band this is & how expertly they have mastered their chosen musical field. Yes, this is an album that does so many things but does every one of them well & that can only make this a must-have release, in fact, the only problem I can see is that you're going to have to wait until May for it to be released!! | |||||||||||||||||||
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This double offering brings together both of Alexander Kaschte's bands, the symphonic/progressive metal of Samsas Traum & the more varied approach of Weema Morloch although the large number of remixes means it's a pretty varied affair for the most part. Of the 35 tracks on offer, only 11 are originals & even some of them are pushing it a bit, particularly on the Samsas Traum disc as, aside from 'All Die Toten Spiegel' which kicks off proceedings in fine style & is a good example of what they're about & the surprisingly sweet 'Leb' Wohl, Geliebter Sohn' where the piano & strings that lead the way might prove a touch too 'nice' for some of their fans, the rest of their original material is made up of two instrumental demos (which, admittedly, aren't bad)& two live tracks that scream 'filler' & are likely to be of interest only to completists. I can't get away from the feeling that more 'real' tracks would have made this a more tempting proposition for fans & whether the varied remixes prove to be a masterstroke in tempting a wider range of punters to give it a go or prove too varied for anyone but those with the most catholic tastes is open to debate. What isn't is that whoever got these remixers on board weren't afraid to engage a wide range of artists & even if the inclusion of a few labelmates did make the task a touch easier these are chosen well, too, with Tying Tiffany again proving herself to be one of the most exciting new artists about with a fine interpretation of 'Den Wolken Naher' being a prime example. Elsewhere Jovian Spin cater for electro lovers as do K Is For Kraken whose C64 stylings are a major surprise. Elsewhere Chillheimer & Digimortal both stay closest to the ST sound, albeit a grittier variant in the latter case while Fabrik C's mix of harsh pounding beats & abstract effects should go down a storm on your average aggro-tech floor. Finishing things off is Tony Wakeford, whose participation was, I'd guess, something of a coup & his neofolk style is yet another musical facet that this disc alone covers. That Weema Morloch's disc is just as varied isn't a massive surprise as their last album had enough surprises in its own right & this again proves to be the case on the originals here as the beautiful 'orkester version' of 'Amok' & the equally lovely cover of Mono Fur Alle's 'Hallo Verfassungsschutz' are contrasted by another rocky 'instrumental demo' & even more so by the mix of impenetrable noise effects & lonely piano that makes up 'Akka Und Bachyt' & is an intriguing blend if nothing else! The remixes again cross a number of genres, ranging from the straight ahead electro of Santa Hates You, the bleepy synthpop of The Girl And The Robot & the ultra-rave stylings of Extize on the electro front through to the industrial rock of Mechanical Moth & PTYL & the abstract offering from Morpheus Lunae while Merzbow seems to just tag on a few harsh effects almost as an afterthought. More industrial royalty comes in the form of Albin Sunlight Julius, who provides a somewhat repetitive interpretation of 'Sammheim (Kampf)' & Deutsch Nepal who provide another abstract ambient/industrial offering, although, if this is the best they can come up with, I can't really see what all the fuss is about. Still, with so much variation there should be something for everyone here although it's highly unlikely anyone is going to like it all. | |||||||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||||||||||
