Industrial music reviews

Faith and the Muse fans: don't be deceived by looking at the tracks on this CD and thinking, "I already have most of these. This album is worthless to me." Unlike many recent disappointments where artists simply stick their old songs on a CD with one or two new tracks and release it as a "new album" (you've got to stop this, Tori) Vera Causa brings something new to the table.

The morning CD includes compilation appearances, covers, aucoustic versions, and rarities. As for the covers, Faith and the Muse exceeds Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" (I also like it better than Within Temptation's cover) and exceeds Bauhaus's "Hollow Hills." Those songs were meant to have a mediaval spirit to them, and the group adds just that. The piano version of "Patience Worth" adds a delicate shade to the song; one of my favorite moments in the album. The night CD is then composed of live performances and remixes. The quality here is well done--unlike many live performance recordings, it isn't muffled with intersperced audience noises. The live versions also make Monica's voice, at times acapella, really come to life. The percussion is unlike that on the studio tracks, with more of a tribal feel to it and a tie to the group's Celic influences.

Now, in addition to normally not being a fan of live recordings, I also tend to overlook remixes--very few work for me. These remixes, however, are not to be overlooked. So what does make a remix work? It has to revist what works in the original, then enhance a certain element of it. With the Toby Damnit mix to Elyria, for example, the techno adds a different layer to the mood, NOT just a layer for the sake of having an extra pulse that drowns the original value of the song. Other favorites are the geers and teeth mix to "The Silver Circle" and the Laboratory X mix of "Porphyogene." These mixes take us to another atmosphere, one more modern and ambient, while retaining the same aura that makes Faith and the Muse great in the first place.

A booklet inside the cover tells the story how Monica and William met and formed the group, and includes quotes and pictures. This uncommon feature is a nice touch, letting you get a personal connection to them. I give the album 4 stars instead of 5 only due to lack of fluidity--since it it a complilation, the transformations can be jolting instead of sweeping.

I'm still new to Faith and the Muse. I first heard of them when I picked up Autumn's album, "The Hating Tree," which was produced by William Faith. From there, I discovered the song "Cantus," and borrowed the "Annwyn, Beneath the Waves" CD from a friend. I was blown away by the merging styles on that album, from goth rock, darkwave, to medieval classical. It was all there, and it all worked. "Vera Causa" is a retrospective of Faith and the Muse, encompassing several live tracks, remixes, rarities, and demos. The live tracks really stand out, as these live versions show a band of versatility and passion. Besides the fact that it is a real band with real instruments, their alterations of certain songs add new dimension to old favorites, especially "The Silver Circle" and "All Lovers Lost." The remixes are impressive, since the band's music seems to defy the remix treatment, but they work rather well, especially the remixes of "The Silver Circle" and "Shattered in Aspect." I've heard several of the compilation tracks that appear here, but I have to say their cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" more than holds a candle to the original. I dare say it's better than Kate Bush's original. The acoustic version of "Annwyn..." is brilliant because it feels lighter, but is not lacking in intensity. It's still a powerful song. And without knowing anything about Christian Death, I can say at least that their live cover of "Romeo's Distress" is a pleasant listen.
Overall, it might not be the best way to get into Faith and the Muse (that would be "Annwyn..."), but for fans, this is a great collection of all that is good about Faith and the Muse. The music is atmospheric, enchanting, emotional, and just that damn good. I'm a new fan...and part of it is due to this album.

Remixes of Faith and the Muse!Still good and goth...

It does not get any better than this. This is not only in my opinion the best REVCO record, but this is also one of the best industrial releases EVER. This record demonstrates just how talented these REVCO boys are and proves that this is something that can be replicated but certainly never duplicated. This is Al Jourgenson and co.'s strongest release in my opinion even edging out The Land Of Rape And Honey, and Psalm 69 of Al's Ministry catalog. If you are looking to pick up some real industrial music, I highly recommend this record for your collection, and any other REVCO release for that matter.

This album is hilarious. It tells people not to be ashamed of living on Earth just because there are shootings because "it's like that everywhere". I know that this is a live album version of Big Sexy Land but it's [darn] near impossible to get an album of these guys here in Ireland so when I got it....I felt like a little kid in a candystore.

The music is brilliant and well really there's not much else to say because the album is well and truly awesome. Interestingly this album has gone in Rolling Stones' Funniest Album Titles segment. Anyway enough rambling buy the album and there will be no disappointment

This is the best live album of the whole WAX TRAX/Industrial era! The video was played hundreds of times at my house in the late 80's, and I still put this on in headphones a few times a year. The sound recording is better than anything recorded at the Metro up to that point. The interaction with the crowd, the variations of samples and lyrics, and the extra drunkeness towards the end make this the finest of all REVCO releases. "You Often Forget" is amazing, my favorite all time WAX TRAX album cut!

No matter how different songs from this album are classified. If you are looking for something realy new, if you like non conventional rock music, here is one of the best creations I have ever heard. Great compossition, great use of electronic sounds and magnificent female voices.

This album could quite possibly be the pinnacle of industrial music. The melodies blend so perfectly with the backbeats, creating a soundscape to be vied by any other industrial artist. Only one other band comes close, and that is Kidneytheives (whom I highly recommend if you enjoy FBK).

... in the middle of a mass-produced wasteland, a band of sonic innovators finds a battle-scared, beaten-down steed. His eyes, which once betrayed a fire within, were dim and disenchanted. His stance, once proud and tall, was now almost broken with the weight of unoriginality and conformity. Yet, despite his condition, the band recognized the promise that once was. Full Blown Kirk manages to drag that tired old mule of Industrial music to fresh, new waters, and actually make him drink. The way they graft different styles together and make them work is awe-inspiring and very original; this CD represents what creative people can do when they look outside of one style of music and incorporate fresh influences.

I have to agree with the others this is a great CD. Anointing their return. After many years Tommy pulled together a great crew and proves Prong is at the forefront of heavy tunage. Many acredited Prong with molding their sound, but this CD shows that PRONG is on top form and a leader. I caught the live show at HARPOS and they slammed harder than I had seen in any other show. Let this be a paving stone to things to come. And what a treat I like the live rawness of this, it's live, hardcore and heavy. Knocks you package.

Prong rules live!!! Get this and you won't be disappointed!!! End of Story.

The long awaited return of Tommy Victor is over. I had to give it 5 stars, Prong delivers a swift kick to the sack. It would've been nice if "Out Of This Misery, One Outnumbered, Test, and Caprice" were included as they were played on the tour as well. "Disbelief, and Unconditional" are awesome, they didn't play those at the show I saw. Ted Parsons, and Paul Raven are missed but the new guys are right on the money, no complaints. If you are a Prong fan or was, pick this up. The new album is supposed to be released next year, I can't wait.

Yeah I know that most of these songs are on albums and everywhere else but many of the songs ( particularly Silence Is Sexy ) allow to track to breathe a bit more. I still don't like it but it sounds a whole lot better than the studio version. Excellent sound quality and bizarre mutterings from Blixa when the song hasn't started at times. They even lost a couple of verses from Newtons Gravititlichkeit ( but I'm sure they have a copy of their album somewhere and will find the lyrics ). Otherwise all I have to say is that the crowd seem to enjoying the show. Perhaps a little too much when you consider that Jubel is 2 and a half minutes of live cheering after Redukt which leaves you wondering " Was that really necessary? Couldn't they just cut that out? " Nevertheless an excellent live show. Also if you've been doubtful over which albums you should get of Neubauten - this will come as a handy accessory

While no recording could ever truly capture the spontaneity and energy of an EN show, the quality here makes it very worthwhile. This is one of my favorite live albums ever. Blixa's onstage commentary reveals warmth, and humor that may surprise many of his American fans. Unlike many profound artists, you can hear in his voice just how much he enjoys his work. And the songs are astonishing live. We get used to assuming that everything is processed and coming out of some keyboard live, and very little actually is. Everything from compressed air, to a large metal tub is used as an instrument.

I loved this band years ago, when I only knew them for their noise, and metal objects used for brutal sounding percussion. I love them even more now, for the instruments they make are even weirder, but the music is hypnotic and beautiful. And though they may have matured with age, they can still scare you if they want to. This is more than industrial music. This is groundbreaking art that continues to inspire people.

First, I was really delightfully surprised by the quality of the recording. It sounds great. & the songs on this cd do often sound different from studio recordings. There's even some really great new material on this cd that I don't know from anything else by Neubauten. Great cd, worthwhile, recommended.

In my opinion, nothing summed up The Tea Party's essence better than this. It's so intensely ethnic; not a guitar in sight.
The songs were already brilliant, but I think reworked they're even more spendid.

The tea Party really did well with this album. My favorite part is that on the opening 3 tracs they used ouds instead of guitars. The sister awake remix is unbelievable and just leaves you saying wow. I have never heard this band create a bad song and I even like to song with Roy Harper that's on the album. The extras on the Enhanced CD are the best of any Enhaced CD I have ever seen, but if you have above windows 95 you wont be able to access them unfortunately. Once again this is a great album by a band little known here in the states, I say we buy their albums and give them the respect they deserve.

This cd is amazing!!!
great remixes and different takes on the the tea party's songs. A more acoustical journey. But it never lets you down.. This is a must you have to hear it to believe it...
(yeah i know that sounded kind of cheesey, just get the cd, it's really good..)

This is one of the best cd I ever heard the music is very heavy and great if anybody like Fear Factory they have to buy this album because Beauty is 200 times better

This album is so good it's scary. This is some of the most powerful and professional extreme music ever made. Each song is perfectly balanced and ranges from moments of slow, deep despair to furious, violent fits of rage like you can't even imagine. It's like the music gets thrown into a high speed blender and then you throw the blender into a tornado. If you like metal or industrial music at all, then you Need this album. It is Seriously good.

This is easily the best metal/electronic album I've ever heard. Where many would write off any band working in "industrial metal" as passe and possibly cheesy, Beauty demonstrates that it can be done intelligently and still rock hard. This album finally strikes an effective balance between the guitars and electronics; fans of Slayer and Carcass should be as happy with it as those of Skinny Puppy and Numb. Play it loud.

What I said, good intro to 242 for those on an industrial strength budget,(Re review for "Geography").

As the album title indicates this collection features material right from when the band first started out. Throughout it you can trace their development in sound, though the material itself only covers a brief moment of time in Front 242's career, from 1981 to 1985.

It is very much a good buy. Fans of Front 242 should get this as it features material from various early albums and EP's by the group, which some may have missed.

Sounding much more basic than their later works, the songs on here are early dance songs and electro tracks. It shows the group honing their sound and working on sounds. For those that are not as into their later hard dance works such as 'Up Evil' or 'Off' then this maybe a better bet.

The best songs on here are 'U-Men', the instrumental 'Kampfbereit', the almost hip-hop-ish, breakbeat 'Take One', 'Lovely Day' and the swooping 'Don't Crash'.

This is a great complilation album. I personally prefer Front 242's early work to the later, dance-oriented stuff. The only tracks I don't care for are the 2 live ones at the end.

This album has completely withstood the test of time. I've had it for almost 10 years now, and I had the original vinyl records before that. Groups like Prodigy or Chemical Brothers I'll like for a few years, and then grow sick of them and toss them, always returning to this amazing album and my other favorite Front 242 record, Offical Version. The more I listen, the more I love it, and the more there is to hear.

Headhunter and Welcome to Paradise are cool dance tunes, but they are a little forced, and pop-ish in comparison.

Lycia enjoys a small but devoted following. They employ a style of acoustic guitar and mellow keyboards layered harmonically with the beautiful vocals of Mike and Tara VanPortfleet. The effect is to produce haunting, pensive images and stories reminiscent of Dead Can Dance, or some of Pink Floyd's early acoustic work. However, what I couldn't get past was the total lack of percussion in their work. This is quiet, brooding music, but it barely seems to move at times. The advice I would give a 1st time shopper for their titles? Listen carefully before you buy. Lycia is a ghost ship that never leaves the port.

Another great release from Lycia--Definite influences from Sam Rosenthal, "Black Tape For A Blue Girl". You can't go wrong if you like Projekt Records. The music has matured and the guitar sound is much cleaner and acoustic. All the songs don't mesh together as before. Ambient and mellow as usual.

... to describe how truly beautiful this album is. Serene yet sad, this is a perfect CD to reflect on the passing of the years.

Skinny Puppy's music was a force to be reckoned with in the 1980's "Industrial" music scene, where the band's approach was to overwhelm the listener with a barrage of an intensely layered soundscape of sampled dialogue, tortured vocals, and punishing clamor. These elements were already set in place for the band's second(?) album BITES, although later recordings would flesh out their sound more successfully.

Apparently, from information I've learned by checking out Puppy discographies by way of fan-sites, BITES has been subjected to quite a few modifications in song quantity and running order since it's initial mid-80's release. (At one time it was bundled onto a single CD with it's similar-sounding predecessor REMISSION). The current release of BITES pulls together nearly all the stray tracks from these various reconfigurations onto a single disc, perhaps diluting it's initial cohesive statement in the process. The problem that mostly dogs BITES is that it's too heavily weighed down with an overabundance of instrumental and filler tracks. Its not so much that individually these additions are terrible, but collectively they do detract from the overall flow of the record. Some sound like underdeveloped demo material ("Dead Doll" and "Falling" in particular) while others are duplicated on other Puppy albums of this time period ("Film", "Icebreaker", and "Love"). The tracks with the sore-throated barkings of vocalist Ogre fare a little better, such as "Assimilate" and "The Choke", but elsewhere some of the vocal melodies aren't as strong or memorable. Its overlong running-time practically begs to be trimmed in half and the fun is in the individual listener to decide for him or herself to create the perfect track-list.

I must make exception for the two outstanding instrumentals that conclude this CD. These two tracks, "The Centre Bullet" and the unlisted "One Day", are two of the best works I've heard from SP ever. Both are fascinating for their serenity, something Puppy is generally not renowned for. "Bullet" is nearly 10 hypnotic minutes of slow motion pulsating synths and rain-droplet keyboarding. "One Day" is a robotic lullaby with a eerie creaking sound as it's percussion. Both tracks easily foreshadow the works of 90's electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin and Autechre.

I am going to give BITES a mediocre rating for the amount of filler tracks and that I feel there are better recordings by this band one should start out with (there are many other reviews found on this site as to which record that should be). Undeniably the band's sound would be further augmented with the arrival of third-member Dwayne Goettel on BITES' successor MIND: THE PERPETUAL INTERCOURSE where the instrumental offerings would stand on equal-footing with (or in the case of "Stairs and Flowers", surpassing) the vocal songs.

FINAL RATING: 2.5 out of 5
FAVORITE TRACKS: "Assimilate", "Icebreaker", "Centre Bullet", "One Day"

This is one of my fav skinny puppy albums next to Too Dark Park and Mind: It has all the best samples and still retains that 80's feel. I cant get tired of this disc and you shouldnt either. Listen to this with the lights off

listening to songs like "Deadlines", "THe Choke", "Last Call", "Assimilate" and "Centre Bullet" take me back, and forth in time. i am reminded of the clever and creative use of voice (in Ogre and/or sampled form), the remolding of almost every other aspect of conventional music, and the fact that this album was truly years ahead of it's time. I can undeniably say that this is one of the most unique listening experiences i have ever had.

I'd heard Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and the Bill Laswells and John Zorn's, Throbbing Gristles and Residents as well, although perhaps a touch too young to understand. But these Skinny Puppy fellas did something to me that the others didn't when they created this record - They scared the crap outta me and at the same time filled me with a tremendous sense of curiosity and wonder. it was unlike anything i had ever experienced before. I can't help remembering the images of 3 goth/punks all in their cool attire, including Cevin's Def Jam t-shirts, worn with pride (he pounded out some seriously groovy beats - Hank Shocklee owes him some props on that for promoting his label even b4 Scott Ian did). These images still to this day stay in my mind as they opened me to the world outside top40/glam metal.

I am truly biased towards this record because it's such a milestone in my life. But i do have to say, 19 years later that it still has an undeniable freshness and power. Much of the music is so undeniably the foundation and bulding blocks to many future genres. All i can say is that i will keep listening to this record as long as i have eardrums. The only regret I have is that I never had the chance to see them live - Altho Ain't It Ded Yet? was pretty darn cool as well as some live clips I've seen. Well, Nuff said Enjoy the record and keep on B-rappin'....