Industrial music reviews

SMP has to be one of the most original industrial bands out there, these guys mix up styles like nobody else. You will find everything from ebm type stuff, to outright industrial to well done industrial rap. My first comment would be to watch for what version of "Terminal" you get as there are two different versions floating around. ........... If your unsure of what version you are getting, just look for Sean's tracks which include "Policy", "Finished", "Plastic" (there are a couple others).

From start to finish this CD just kicks your ass, as a DJ I find myself giving my dance floor a lot of SMP.............If you ever get a chance to see this band live, do it! One of the best two live bands to see live .........

SMP is a hard to pigeon-hole band, they have a huge variety of elements coming together to form a cohesive whole. This, their third release, is their best yet. Terminal is a strong 17 track trip through the many faces of SMP. Rejoined this time around by a founding member, the energy is palpable, and incredible. I was impressed with the breadth of this release, ranging from straight up hard edged rap, to in your face EBM sure to pack the dance floors. The disc starts with a hard edged dance track that is hard not to move to, called 'Last Start' (and I hope that it is not their last start..), with other standout tracks being the cover song 'Pictures of You', the self referential but undeniably fun track, 'Policy' which is already tearing up the airwaves on local radio, and the sad but true 'Chemicals'. (Sad as in it happens too often. :) 'As I sit at the bar, and knock them back. I let my mind slip to the past. and I remember or better yet regret...'

SMP stands for 'Sounds of Mass Production' according to the website, but as with any acronym band, you can make your own... The band is Jason Bazinet, Sean Ivy, and Matt Sharifi, and the disc is out on the ADSR Musikwerks label, and hopefully are there to stay, this being the third label for the third album.

It seems to me that ever since KMFDM kicked the bucket, industrial music has been hanging its head a little. But when I grabbed this disc by SMP, the crowned kings of elektro-punk-cyber-rap, I saw that head pick itself up with a jolt. Slamming electronics, punchy guitars, and even distorted rap tracks have been sprayed all over this album, giving it the ultimate edge over its competitors. My personal favorites: Finished, Sheet Metal, Anthem, and Necron 99. Get yourself a copy of Terminal now!!!

The soundscape on "Time and the Maiden" is a distillation of Cocteau Twins, The Shroud, Lycia and Skinner Box-era Julianna Towns. The whole thing goes down smoother than 30-year-old brandy.

Benjamin Fargen's guitar gently floats in a sea of reverb, while Chris Ross gives us just enough synth drums to keep time. Hazy keyboard melodies hold the middle ground between the other instruments and Victoria Lloyd's voice. No, not voice - Voice. How the hell does she sound so world-weary and so yearning at the same time? Practice, I guess.

All the songs are elegant mood pop. Great slow-dance music for ghosts. The trip-hop beats keep "Maiden" from getting too ethereal. Lloyd's lyrics focus on love and what a drag it is to be mortal. Since the songs have a consistent sound, it's hard to list "standouts."

The influences behind Claire Voyant's style jump out at you from song to song. This stuff is two parts ethereal, one part alpha state, one part heartache. Very soothing, slightly haunting.

A sidenote: if you wanna hear a remix of track five ("Majesty") that's even better than the album version, order "Fairies, Elves & Angels Vol. I" through this site.

if you buy soundtracks to get that perfect orchestrated sound with incredible vocals you no longer need to do that. This is one hauntingly beautiful CD that will touch your core. Perfect for the goth enthusiast

The first thing that strikes you about Claire Voyant's music is Victoria Lloyd's soaring voice. She is incredible. Strong and soaring with an impressive range, Lloyd really makes this CD shine with her emotional delivery. The music is thoughtful and almost ethereal, without being boring. The underlying music features mostly synths and some light guitars (nothing cruncy or heavy here). The drums are epic but not to heavy or loopy or dancy (which I think is a good thing - too many artists these days are getting caught up in making things dancy at the cost of being unoriginal.

I have a really hard time trying to pinpoint Claire Voyant's music or fit it within one distinct genre, or even try to compare them to someone else. They are original and creating their own thing. I know this probably won't help you in deciding if you want to give them a try. If you like the Hyperium Heavenly Voices compilations (their prominent placement on Volume IV really helped Claire Voyant gain a number of new fans) then you will likely enjoy this release. Victoria Lloyd definitely has a heavenly voice.

I am a huge fan from the home town of Radio Iodine and the record "Tiny Warnings" is amazing from start to finish. Ellen was an incredible frontman (woman) for the band. They gave incredible performances and never disappointed! I was very bummed when they split. I give "Tiny Warnings" 12 stars! Great piece of work. They need to get back together and have another concert!

Unfortunately, Radio Iodine has broken up. But their full length cd, Tiny Warnings and the EP which features an additional song called "Sleep" are essentials for any one who enjoys Garbage. The vocals are amazing, the lyrics aren't fluffy, and it's hard enough to be palatable.

We really hate to compare Radio Iodine to anyone, but if you like Garbage the odds are good that you will like Radio Iodine. Like Garbage, Radio Iodine has a strong vocal presence and an interesting sonic landscape. Enough of the comparisons.

Many first efforts fail to distinguish themselves in any way, but this is a very accomplished first full-length album. Some of these songs should have made it big. "Manic Girl" is undeniably catchy. "Never Meant To" makes the best use of pauses for dramatic effect since Wagner. "For You" is sweet, but with a twist. "Things I Do" received some radio play, and invokes exceptional mental images. "Tearing Me Down" is a dramatic ending to a disc full of very honest personal emotions.

Do yourself a favor and listen to all of the musical samples. Then do yourself another favor and remember that the musical samples can only do so much. Chances are that your computer speakers won't provide the same bass in "Things I Do" as your car will. Also, these are complete songs with many great lyrics, their effect does not merely hinge on a great chorus that can captured in 30 seconds (although some of the choruses ARE good).

It is not likely that this disc will suddenly go platinum, but it would be nice. We need more music from the members of Radio Iodine, whether as a group or individually. What if Shirley Manson stopped singing after her first CD with Angelfish?

Although I refrain from giving it a 5, it should get it just because the pros outweigh the neg.
First off, I will state that I listen to a lot of different music but really like industrial music, more so, I like techno pop and heavy metal so in my eyes, industrial music is the perfect blend.
Second, I will state that I don't care much for death metal, some is ok but it is- for the most part, kind of lame.
Enough of my personal opinions.
This is the first SMG album I have purchased and was solely because of the strong positive reviews listed on this website (10 years after its release!!!). I can honestly say it was a bit hard to muster at first -- the music structure is very good -- complex but yet simple enough that it doesn't build an overwhelming pressure when listening for extended periods but the vocals leave you listening harder than I want. I still don't understand what he is saying for 75% of the vocals, even after listening to it close to 50 times. This is really the only negative, but it isn't really though because the music structure is soooooo strong, that you don't need to understand more than the chorus and a few versus here and there in order to enjoy it. I don't really think it is a dark cd, its very light and arid but is a very strong sound. Not strong in a Pantera way, more strong in a NIN type of way -- very textured and very driving. I can listen to this cd over and over again for days on end and still enjoy it.

I purchased this album at the same time that I purchased Machines of Loving Grace's Concentration; If I were to do it again, I would've bought 2 different SMG cd's and skipped the MLG...

When I dive into my CD collection and reflect on the Chris Randall's highlight reel, I always gravitate toward Torture Technique as a good place to start. And I say that knowing that Sins of the Flesh was good enough to stay in the selection, and while acknowledging that it spawned songs that are worthwhile additions to a "best of" anthology starring Sister Machine Gun. Still, Torture Technique marked a point where trends began that made me think "Sister Machine Gun" when I heard certain things in a song, making them stand apart from the fold, and where sonic arrays became refinement once SMG made them their playground. This was the work where Randall introduced a little more of what he wanted to do into the fold, rolling with beats that incorporated other styles of music, and where he started meshing in different flavors that weren't associated with "Industrial." When you listen to songs like Sacrifice and hear the base booming through it, you can see deviation that really wasn't present in most bands at the time, and one that would further refine into jazz and blues and other influences on the artist.
And this is also the place where Randall started to solidify the vocals he would begin to use like a powertool.

When listening to Torture Technique, my first inclanation is to skip to Negative because I really like that song. It has been a track that withstood the years, it standing apart as a clean song both in vocals and in sound, and actually reflecting quality way beyond when the CD was pressed. A lot of earlier Wax Trax albums have problems with quality reflecting age, but songs like Negative prove that some defy the medium of years. "My mind remembers who I was when my conscience died. So negative." That's good stuff.
I normally make a B-line for "Cocaine Jesus" afterwards because I like the contrast in the song and because I like the message of the time. It is a minimal song with a reverb effect kicking the vocals into a blurry liquidity, like static in the audio pond, and I think it highlights the lyrics pretty well. "I'm so f-ed up, I don't know my own name. You'd think I'd learn by now that its always the same. Cocaine Jesus." Yeah.
My motion through the tracks then parks me on Nothing, again contrasting the previous two tracks because it has a little more beat than the second, more guitar than the first, and a rawer form of lyrical grey matter. Its something of an angry song, screaming "I want to go down, but I know that I'm nothing," and I enjoy it. It's kinda like that kid that you had with your former wife and you only have to see on weekends, so you enjoy it whenever you see it. Its fun to revisit.
And "Iron Sun" is possibly my favorite track on the album, because I like the way it builds, the noise it uses when it blurs the vocals as it loops them into a stream that finally comes together, and because I like the whole concept that begins to play out in the album here.

From the interior label (a snippet): "Placing his faith in sister machine gun and brother bomb, (he) is allowed back into the womb, back into the darkness - to return to the ultimate refutation of thinghood -to be non-nothing... To be nothing."
This wants you. You want it back.

This album rocks! If you have any interest for vintage industrial flavor , then this has got to be one of the first you pick up. This is s.m.g's 2nd album and is arguably the masterpeice album in the bands library.It has a very Bleak, creepy, hellish feeling to it. And with songs like "krackhead" "wired" "brother bomb" and "The Torture Technique" they make you wanna get up and a rob a bank. (Not that im trying to influence anybody lol) but the music is some of the best ive heard of all classic cyber-metal. Not to mention the spooky distorted samples that chris randall placed inbetween each song, check out the psycho sounds at the end of "negative" i bet you never heard anything like that before, (sounds kinda like an evil cyborg getting possessed and going haywire, or some kind of alien being mutilated or something?!) so all in all a must for industrial rock fans! Buy this cd, stay home one night, wait till about midnight or so, chill out in your room , put the album on and be tripped out all night!

This limited edition cd has tourniquet, the tourniquet prosthetic dance mix and horrible people songs on it. It runs about 20 minutes for all three songs but it is worth it! If you are a serious colector of imported rare cds and a manson fan-big or small-buy this! You will not regret it!

Take your Hatred out of m

tourniquet is on ACS (buy that one its better) and the prostetic dance mix and horrible people are on remix and repent which also includes 2 live songs and a remix of the man that you fear. the cd itself has the same art as the 2 other tourniquet singles (manson with a butterfly on the cover and the band on the inside) so unless your a big mm collector pick up remix and repent if your looking for good remixes of Antichrist superstar songs

This limited edition cd has tourniquet, the tourniquet prosthetic dance mix and horrible people songs on it. It runs about 20 minutes for all three songs but it is worth it! If you are a serious colector of imported rare cds and a manson fan-big or small-buy this! You will not regret it!

Take your Hatred out of m

tourniquet is on ACS (buy that one its better) and the prostetic dance mix and horrible people are on remix and repent which also includes 2 live songs and a remix of the man that you fear. the cd itself has the same art as the 2 other tourniquet singles (manson with a butterfly on the cover and the band on the inside) so unless your a big mm collector pick up remix and repent if your looking for good remixes of Antichrist superstar songs

This limited edition cd has tourniquet, the tourniquet prosthetic dance mix and horrible people songs on it. It runs about 20 minutes for all three songs but it is worth it! If you are a serious colector of imported rare cds and a manson fan-big or small-buy this! You will not regret it!

Take your Hatred out of m

tourniquet is on ACS (buy that one its better) and the prostetic dance mix and horrible people are on remix and repent which also includes 2 live songs and a remix of the man that you fear. the cd itself has the same art as the 2 other tourniquet singles (manson with a butterfly on the cover and the band on the inside) so unless your a big mm collector pick up remix and repent if your looking for good remixes of Antichrist superstar songs

...because, after all, is anything really perfect? Or am I just being to hard? I rated Scatology and Astral Disaster 4 stars also, I'm feeling guilty and tight. This short and charming CD, North, is pleasant and evocative. Very flowing. The first track is beautifully plainchant-like melodic with enough 'noise' in it to keep it crisp and on edge, growing more abstract and moving toward well-crafted noise in the final 2 minutes. The second track is a few minutes of hypnotic, rhythmic textured noise with an electronically mutated often barely-discernable-from-the-mix vocal drone before dissolving into track 3: harmonic overtone soundscape with some backward tape loopy-sounding subtext and a chakra meditation gently intoned over this. Wonderful. Can't wait to hear this one alone in the dark. Track 4: Odd, Christmas song. Droney somewhat bagpipe-y strings and moody layered female vocals with some charming dark little twists. A nice tidbit to add to the stocking but rumor or perhaps fact has it not out for long and hence limited.

This is the best of the Season EP's, it is closest to Music To Play In The Dark 1 and 2.

Coil did a Christmas song, that was a surprise. What wasn't a surprise was that it was excellent. My favorite track on this album is "A White Rainbow" which builds up and concludes wonderfully. A great track full of sound maipulation. This album follows in a similar vein with that of "Music to Play in the Dark vol. 1" An excellent almost trance inducing magikal journey to end the year.

In the music world, you have much to choose from. From pop stars to rappers, music is used as a tool to gain fame and fortune. However, through the underground scene, music is used as a means of communication, a message about the way things are in society. Wisdom is a great album with excellent structure (as well as some phatty beats) that flows into one great picture. Electrifying sound effects mixed with face melting guitars, make this album Immortal. But dont just take my word for it.

Of the first three 16 Volt albums, this one is the best -- it's all downhill from here, folks. Unfortunately, 16 Volt seems to be one of those [many] bands, industrial or otherwise, that start off with much vigor and potency but end up getting limp over time (Nine Inch Nails would be a perfect example of this phenomenon as well). In this case, can we blame this on production values? Perhaps, because "Wisdom" was produced by a couple of masters: Keith "Fluffy" Auerbach and Dave Ogilvie (the brother of Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre). Their subsequent releases were not so blessed. (Still, "Skin" was okay, but "Letdowncrush" was aptly named). This album has better lyrics, all things considered, and a few tempo tricks up its sleeve, like on "Hand Over End" with its marching band snare beat giving way to louder, crushing percussion. "Motorskill" is probably the most widely-known 16 Volt song that I've come across and is my all-time favorite. "Filthy Love of Fire" has a sinister quality to it, evoked by Eric Powell's whispered and distorted vocals. The title track starts and stops, then starts again like a bad day, yelling in your ear. The other songs are also of a skull-splitting vein that pummels you repeatedly.

If there is ever an album that is exemplory of what 'industrial' music should sound like, it's 16 Volt's Wisdom. It's noisy, percussive and very oppressive, with a dark edge to it. The guitar reminds me of a chainsaw and the beats sound like concrete being crushed; it's near perfect.

Eric Powell whispers his way through 'Filthy Love Of Fire' adding to its grinding, sludgy eroticism. 'Motorskill', 'Head Of Stone' and 'Dreams Of Light' are some of the best tracks here. They focus neither on the midtempo beat or guitar, but the song as a whole, blending it all together for a burnt-out, rubble-strewn apocalyptic group of songs. 'Wisdom' and 'Will' are both crushing songs with heavy beats. 'Downtime Pt 1' (Pt 2 is on Skin) is another slow, noisy grinder.

Most of the songs here have guitar in them, but it's one of the few discs I know of where the percussion is so overpowering that it outdoes the guitar.

The great thing about this CD is that there isn't a! lot of music out there that sounds like this. Wisdom sounds nothing like the high profile bands: Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Pig and the like. This is a heavier, more menacing and a lot more overwhelming CD than those previously mentioned that will leave you exhausted. It's one of my favorites.

Although I enjoy jazz rock, I am more of a prog fan so I am always on the lookout for "proggy" jazz rock bands or at the very least, really "weird" jazz rock albums. This 1978 album by Area certainly fits in the latter category, and the fact that it is Italian is all that much cooler.

The musicians on this album include keyboardist Patrizio Fariselli (Polymoog, ARP Pro soloist, ARP Odyssey, ARP Omni, and acoustic piano; excellent bassist/trombonist Ares Tavolazzi (he plays a fretless bass, in addition to acoustic and was heavily influenced by Jaco Pastorius); great drummer Guilio Capiozzo; and last but not least unbelievable vocalist Demetrios Stratos. To say that he has an unusual vocal style is an understatement. Specifically, there are times when he literally jumps several octaves in a single measure with an undulating, almost yodeling vocal style (all in Italian). It really works well with the material.

Stylistically, this music is predominantly jazz-rock, but Demetrios vocals, the synthesizers, and the use of European avant-garde styles makes this a very "weird" sounding jazz rock album. I actually like it quite a lot. The virtuosity is completely over the top throughout and at times there are some free-from parts, where things gradually disintegrate into a furious atonal barrage before returning to the main themes (Guarditi dal Mese Vicino all'Aprile). At the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the rather upbeat and breezy tune Hommage A Violette Nozieres, complete with Demetrio's odd vocals and nice melodies. Somewhere in the middle are tiny bits and pieces of prog rock - not too much though.

All in all I would have to say that this is a fantastic album with some pretty sick grooves and is a welcome change of pace. Recommended to open minded jazz rock fans, and adventurous proggers.

If you're a fan of mind-blowing progressive music that stretches the envelope to the bursting point, and you've never experienced the music of AreA, you should IMMEDIATELY check them out. They began releasing albums in 1973, they created some of the most incredible recordings of the era - and those releases are as startling today as ever. It's said too often when speaking of musical conglomerations, but it's truer in this case than in most: they sound like no one else.

The band was basically Italian. After the first album, the personnel remains pretty much the same through the next few releases, with the exception of guitarist Giampaolo Tofani, who departed the band before 1978:... was recorded. The instrumentation itself is pretty standard: bass (electric and acoustic), keyboards, drums, and vocals - embellished with trombone, trumpet, mandola, acoustic guitar, bailophone, &c. The difference here is in the way the instruments are utilized. On this recording, the groupings are pretty straightforward - it's the playing, and the construction of the pieces themselves that make them unique. Demetrio Stratos offers his unique voice, as well as piano and organ. Giulio Capiozzo (drums, percussion) and Ares Tavolazzi (acoustic and electric basses, trombone, pocket-trumpet, mandola) tackle some of the most complex time signatures I've ever heard with seeming abandon and true precision. Capiozzo's playing is strong, but never overpowers the rest of the group - and Tavolazzi takes my breath away with his rapid, precise playing that incorporates chords seemingly at will (on both the electric and acoustic bass). Calling them a `rhythm section' does them a complete disservice - they are the heartbeat of the band's sound, true, but their contributions are much greater than that. Patrizio Fariselli (who continues to compose and record music today) handles the keyboard chores nicely - on other recordings by the band, he also contributes bass clarinet. The compositions and arrangements are credited to the band as a whole - and given their politics as well as the resulting sound of their music, I can readily believe that these are truly collective works.

The vocals - I don't know how to describe what Demetrio Stratos does with his voice. He destroys borders. He takes singing to new definition and heights. He has been described as `operatic' - but that actually limits the description too much. There are elements of that in his style, to be sure - but there is so much more. He uses his voice as an instrument more than just about anyone I've ever heard - Tim Buckley's legendary recordings LORCA and STARSAILOR are the closest comparisons I can think of. If Stratos hadn't tragically died in 1979 of leukemia, there's no telling where his explorations would have taken him. There are times when he can be heard singing two or three notes at the same time - really. During his lifetime, he released several solo albums - I've only heard one of them, but it amazed me. He recorded it without any instruments or electronic effects, and it's a truly mind-expanding document.

The music on this group recording is rooted in progressive rock and jazz - Fariselli's keyboard work straddles the two genres handily, and Capiozzo's drumming and Tavolazzi's bass playing lean a little more toward the jazz side. The vocals are all in Italian - but don't think for a moment that you're going to miss out on the emotion of the words. Stratos conveys that without any trouble at all. On some of the tracks, there aren't any words to speak of - but there are plenty of notes in Italian that give the group's thoughts on the subjects they're addressing. There are odd time signatures and polyrhythms aplenty - and the players seem very much at home with them, either when playing set melody lines or improvising over them.

The music here is challenging and moving - and at the same time extremely listenable. AreA have long been my favorite of all of the great progressive Italian bands - and in fact of progressive music from any country.

I owned this on vinyl the year it came out. This is probably close to the bands best work. The is a musician's recording. I'm going to order it now that I know it's available on CD.

This does NOT sound seventiesish. It's still good today! P.S. The Keyboad player and drummer(s) are phenomenal!!!