Industrial music reviews

Another great CD, seven months of recording pays off here. Through "Beat Noir", Spahn Ranch shows that they can successfully integrate musical genres with grace. Athan Maroulis continues to add the clean, suave lyrics/vocals to most of the songs, while Matt Green goes off on his own for three of the four instrumental tracks on this CD, 'Well Charged' and 'Fire Lives In The Hearts Of All Men' being decidedly "rave-popular" in our local clubs. Every track on "Beat Noir" offers electronic dance appeal, but the most memorable to myself are 'Remnants' and 'An Exit'. The first being faster and the opening song during their recent tour with Front Line Assembly; the second is a slower song with sentimental potential. Spahn Ranch has been around for a long while, despite the fact they they have managed to dodge the mainstream's trendy techniques when it comes to creating music. Try something new- this isn't as hard-edged as "The Coiled One" nor as atmospheric and soft as "Architecture"- it's more of the proverbial "happy-medium".

I knew I had to acquire the remixes to "Beloved". I wanted to hear what my personal favorite VNV Nation song sounded like remixed, plus seeing Apoptygma Berzerk had remixed "Genesis" (another favorite VNV song) was just icing on the cake for me. I particularly loved the Grey Down version by VNV Nation. The Grey Down version has a bit more industrial influence in the music but still maintains the catchiness and hooks of this beautiful song. I still get chills down my voice listening to Ronan Harris singing this particular song. The Tim Schuldt (feat. D-Fundation) remix is equally good. Different in terms of beat but it is good nevertheless. The second version has a more laid back, trip hop groove to the song. If you were to slow down the beats to "Beloved", this is what it would sound like. I just loved the Apoptgyma Berzerk remix of "Genesis". Just sheer brilliance. AB is my other favorite Metropolis artist, next to VNV and Wumpscut, so it was only fit for AB to remix a VNV Nation song. Both AB and VNV shares that same sound of industrial/trance sound. The only track on this single I didn't think was all that hot or had to be included was the demo version of "Holding On" but that is just me. Good song but I didn't think it had to be included on the single. Overall, excellent remixes. Well worth the search.

This is probably my favorite collection of Pigface - thrashing, rhythmatic percussion and ambience.

Mr.Atkins and his incarnation of pigface on this album are at peak performance on this disk. The best Pigface album, by far in my opinion. WHY? becasue any generation X or Y individual can dance, rock, thrash and enjoy this unique music experience. A style of music that avoids all music genres. it sets it's own with excellent mixing of musicianship, hard industrial and eletronica.

This album is simply wonderful. Only gripe: the ENTIRE " Lord of Flies " track list should have been included! That being said, this is a great compilation of Nosferatu from " Prince of Darkness " on; with Nosferatu's OTHER excellent vocalist Dminic LeVay ( the best being Louis DeWray, who has now rejoined the band.) Two unreleased gems " The Night is Young " and " Luficer Rising " are worth the price alone! HIGHLY recomended.

Let me be the first to review this album, since no one else has had the good taste in music so far to do so. Although this music is not for everyone, being harsh, vulgar ,intense and well...just plain evil. It's a perfect introduction to this group if not this genre of music. The so-called "industrial" label has countless artists with their own styles of music, and the Psychopomps have clearly formed their own. It is clearly gone to the levels that prohibit this band from going "mainstream" in America, which is what makes this group so good. If your only experience with this type of music is bands such as Nine Inch Nails, give this one a try. You'll be quite amazed as the "pomps" make NIN look like Cher. This is the type of music that's fun to play at full volume in a church parking lot on Sunday morning and count how many people turn and look at you like your setting off bottle rockets in a public library.

Tracklist>>> 1 Radio edit -3:38/ 2 TAKE A PICTURE live -7:12/ 3 Johnny Vicious Club Mix -11:10/ 4 DJ Dan & Terry Mullan Mix -8:02/ 5 Humble Brothers Remix -6:36/ 6 Dub Pistols Club Mix -6:09. Fans of Filter and particularly dance fans should seek out this Australian exclusive ep as soon as you can. "The best things in life aren't for free" so fork out the extra dollars -you won't regret it! Leading on from the fantastic Rauhofer and Hybrid remixes of the last hit, TAKE A PICTURE, come these superb new remixes of the BEST THINGS -a standout track from the recent impressive TITLE OF RECORD CD. The original mix is a full on energetic rock trip driven by powerful dance beats and was begging to be remixed. And Reprise haven't disappointed -hauling in NY's finest>> Johnny Vicious>> to rework the track into an 11-minute club journey. A fabulous trance-y, peaktime, hands-in-the-air rollercoaster ride that drives through the verses, goes down for the chorus and then "and it's goin' and it's goin'..." lifts you skyhigh for a keyboard led dance frenzy; An epic and wonderful remix. West Coast DJ Dan & Terry Mullan's mix is a solid house dub with mashed-up vocal touches. The second fabulous remix comes from the Humble Brothers>> Starting out very Depeche Mode the remix builds into a moody but terrific club trip with the vocals simmering under the heated beats and guitars. London's Dub Pistols take over the final mix with an underground, futuristic-feel, bombastic dub. It doesn't look like these mixes are going to see the light of day anywhere else in the world, so it's worth picking this up as soon as you can.

Snog has re-immerged for 2003 with another cynical attack on the corporate world of big business. Their newest album, "Beyond the Valley of the Proles" features eleven mellow electronic ''spaghetti western'' tracks similar to a mix of Lee Hazelwood and Leonard Cohen. Rich musical textures, clean acoustic guitars, and David Thrussel's deep bass vocals create a soothing atmosphere to calm the most restless spirit. Snog's "Beyond the Valley of the Proles" carefully merges electronic music with acoustic lounge pop to generate a hybrid unlike no other. It will confound, captivate, and mystify the most intent listener.Play this album at home!:)

If you truly like Diary of Dreams, you will want to hear them at the peak of their talent. Though largely ignored in the US, because DoD was "under the radar" of most US DJ's when this was released, this album produced more than a few club hits in Europe.
Notable is "June," where Adrian's voice digs tunnels under a stark sounscape of piano and synthesizers.

If you like electro/Terrence Fixmer this might be a good addition. I had Fixmer's Muscle Machine and I got tired of him after a few listens, so it's not much different here. McCarthy's vocals are great, beats are pretty standard, but I think the music background itself could use more imaginitive melody/buildup for listening to instead of just looping argeggios. Ebb fans should listen to a few songs first though before jumping to get this.

This CD impressed the hell out of me. Like many, I was a big fan of Nitzer Ebb's pioneering early work, but was disappointed in their later albums when they seemed to lose their edge. So when this disc came out featuring the Nitzer Ebb vocalist and some other guy doing the music, I didn't have very high expectations.

But just one listen to this awesome disc and my fears were put to rest. This is what the last two or three Ebb CD's should have sounded like, and it's a very welcome return to form. The music is fast, intense, minimalist electronic/EBM; it's very, very muscular and beat-oriented, similar to That Total Age era Nitzer Ebb, but Terence Fixmer brings his own sound and it's good. Douglas McCarthy's vocals are exactly the sort of cathartic, angst-filled screaming and repetitive slogans that you would expect from a classic Ebb track - the guy is back in top form and it's a pleasure to hear him shouting his head off about god-knows-what. It sounds like these guys had a blast recording this album, and I hope there's a follow-up soon. The world needs more Fixmer/McCarthy.

To anyone who likes Nitzer Ebb, buy this album and buy it now. You won't be disappointed. This album in my opinion ranks right up there with Nitzer Ebb Belief and That Total Age which in my opinion are two of the best Industrial/EBM albums ever released. There are a few tracks which I think could have come right off That Total Age. I agree with the other reviewer that said that this album is like a mix of That Total Age and Belief. This album exceeded my expectations. I'm very glad that it sounds more like earlier Nitzer Ebb than later. It is purely electronic and there isn't any guitar in it like in later Nitzer Ebb. I think Terrence did a great job. I can't recommend it enough.

This is some of the earlies recordings of the groundbreaking group Skinny Puppy and compared to their later releases this is quite rough and not nearly as polished. The equipment used sounds cheap and the vocals a bit forced. However, still and all it is a very good debut cd and shows their potential that is later explored in later releases such as Too Dark Park, Vivi Sect VI and many others. The book-let looks cheap and I remember when I bought it that I felt like they had rushed the release since there was not much information in it at all. The cover art looks cheap and like Netwerk had no idea what to do with this newly signed band and the end result feels less then satisfying. Assimiliate and Smothered Hope are the best tracks and the rest are well done. However, when compared to their later releases this does deserve a 4 out of 5.

If you like early industrial, this is a must buy!
This is Puppy when they really kicked arse!