Industrial music reviews

Oh yeah, its also one of the greatest albums of the 90s, one of those CDs that must taunt Tipper Gore in her sleep. If it was as well known as 2 Live Crew, the PRMC would surely have gone on a campaign to have it banned. I remember when I bought this album when I was fourteen, a good year of my life was devoted to making sure my parents wouldn't discover it. Not so much for the lyrics, they probably wouldn't have done anything about that. Its the cover that would upset them. A classic pose (which the respectable folks at Amazon haven't displayed) of two naked chicks covered with blood and a little boy in the background holding what appears to be a bunny rabbit. This isn't a painting, but an actual photograph! As for the music itself, its so unbeleivably catchy. The lyrics are as offesive as anything GG Allin did (if not nearly as creepy), but its all done with a sense of humor (albiet a very very sick and deranged one most people won't appreciate). The vocalist Blag Jesus sings about statutory rape, how he wants to have sex (thats not the term they use) in the backseat of his car, and how he is angry at a girl who is afraid of AIDS. Yeah, its in really bad taste, but is a rocking and funny as hell. The "Surfing Bird" tribute in the middle of "Motherf^^ker" cracks me up everytime I hear it. The CD only lasts fourteen minutes with thirteen songs, and its always an adreneline rush when you listen to it. Try to sit still with this in rotation. As you can tell this isn't for everybody. If what you read interests you, you'll love this album. If what I describe in this review makes you sick to your stomach, the album will too. P.S., if you ever see these guys live, don't go to the bathroom, you'll miss their whole set!

easily one of the ten best albums ever recorded. a work of art from cover to the content.

This hardcore punk underground little gem, is 13 minutes of full fast manic and devil worshipping punk mayhem! Tracks full of hate and fun from the best punk band in the last decades. Classic cover, chosen as one of the most sexy all time album covers and a reputation of one of the most killer albums in HC, are no lie. Buy this baby now, play it loud, kick someone right in the balls and laugh the night away with a bottle of rum! Cheers!

Take a dark Nine Inch Nails song and make it four times darker. Each remix is a bit different from each other. all in all, portray a dark and dismal atmosphere, in an audio-theatrical presentation. each remix tells a different story of closer. some of the sounds produced from this session could be described as a scraping, shredding sound with rythmic pounding and animal instinctive foreplay of industrial rock, with pulverizing smashes and crippling, flesh wrenching fiascos, produced in sounds. in regards to an older review, there is a closer two disc, it must not have been available back in 2000, but there is an EP from 1994 that was recently reissued (late `00/early `01) it's the Closer to God ep. it's a combo of both Parts 1 and 2 (Halo 9), you'll notice that neither Part One nor Part Two has a Halo number with it......Closer and it's remixes are great in every aspect, buy this disc, or Closer To God for the the full effect.

Just buy it. Trust what all these folks are saying. This is NIN's best song of the 90's.

While it's true that this is the song that people accuse Nine Inch Nails for selling out, one listen to this single will prove you wrong in a heartbeat. Other than the original, the 4 remixes on the first disc of this single will stop you in your tracks. They're all pretty radical reworkings, with the Coil and Meat Beat Manifesto remixes taking center stage over everything. MBM's mix is very laid back with strong nuances of traditional elements. It remains incredibly faithful to the original while sounding extremely different. Coil's remix takes the cake though. Clocking in at a whopping 7 minutes, you never see what direction the song will go into next. One minute will be incredibly dark and atmospheric and then you'll be lead into straight forward beats and guitars playing under Trent's heavily processed voice. If you've seen the movie "Seven", this is the song that plays during the opening credits. Very unforgetable. The Further Away remix leans more towards traditional industrial. Very noisy and overdriven. And the Internal remix is a sparse cut and paste collage, not bad, but gets overlooked by the rest of the disc. If you liked the original song, you might be incredibly intrigued by these remixes. If you're a NIN fan, this breathes new life into an otherwise dead song. It's definitely worth getting.

but an inferno full of interesting things.

For those who don't know, Foetus is Jim Thirlwell, a very important remixer who has worked with bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Einsturzende Neubauten, among others.

I must admit that, though I have known him as a remixer for almost 10 years now, that is, since I listened to a remix he did of Religion by Front 242, as an independent musician I just know him for 2 or 3 months.

Now, when I listened to this album I realised I had committed a mistake by not having paid him attention earlier.

Foetus denies to be considered "industrial". I'm not going to make a speech about my disliking labels and all that 'cos it would bore you, but I'll just tell you that Foetus IS industrial...AND LOTS OF MORE THINGS. When you listen to Foetus, and especially to this album and the previous ones, you realise of some things:

1. That the amazing band Einsturzende Neubauten (probably my second favourite band, just after The Legendary Pink Dots) were not alone in their concept of music made by inventing ayny instrument you can imagine.

2. That Thirlwell must listen to a lot of diverse music and he mixes all those influences in his records: industrial, jazz, lounge, classical, pop, punk...

3. That Foetus is an agressive band with a lot of sense of humour.

My favourite songs are:

- 'The Throne of Agony', where Foetus shows all his potentials, including agressiveness and sense of melody in the same packet.

-'Pigswill', where Foetus shows that Einsturzende Neubauten concept of noisy music, both descendants of Can's Tago Mago.

- 'Descent into the Inferno', a song which starts very calm, a sort of industrial blues which shows us the sensitive side of Foetus, but as it progresses everything starts to get more and more "punk-ish"

- 'Enter the Exterminator', where again the Einsturzende Neubauten similarities are obvious. More whispered than screamed.

- 'Anything', another good industrial song.

I used to be a pure industrial lover. Years ago I only listened to bands such as Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, etc. Now I consider some (not all, of course)of those bands are too monolythical. Their voices (especially FLA's, Wumpscut's, etc) are distorted and lack humanity.
Foetus' voice is at first sight similar. But when you get used to his raw singing, you start to observe that he does a lot of things with his voice. He's more a sort of Nick Cave singer.

Nail is probably his best album. If you like it, get 'Hole', the previous album. You'll find there how Foetus dares even to parody Beach Boys.

One last thing. If you have never listened to Foetus, don't get scared by its name. I also thought this was going to be just another pseudo-gothic band with bad taste. (see Nosferatu, for example) But you'll get a band that should deserve more recognition.

Nail (1985), perhaps his masterpiece, was even more powerful, and in an "evil" way. Every single sound is exaggerated, overdone, dramatized. This album's songs are poems carved with a jack-hammer into the marble of a gravestone. A touch of retro` attitude (not too different from Frank Zappa's ventures into orchestral and jazz music) is drowned into magniloquent, sinister, gloomy, tragic, terrifying industrial "symphonies". But, ultimately, this was also a heartbreaking cry of grief that soars in a landscape of desolation and depravation.

This is the follow up album to HOLE, an excellent album in it's own right, but after listening to this, it seems that he was merely getting a running start for NAIL, his best album. Thirlwell comes off as a demented and evil Tom Waits, telling sordid stories of hell, hatred, suffering and misogyny. These tales are told with an angry delivery, tempered with a sense of humor that is, well, just WRONG, but right...

That sense of humor is what sets him apart from artists that came along later. They had the anger, but they lacked the humor. Mr. Thirlwell can say the most horrendous things, but by using a twist of phrase (musical or lyrical) he sets you giggling, albeit guiltily. But be warned, there's some truly offensive stuff here. It's not for the faint of heart, but for the brave and open minded there's an opportunity to hear a true pioneer, a man with talent that took real risks nearly *gulp* twenty years ago...

but an inferno full of interesting things.

For those who don't know, Foetus is Jim Thirlwell, a very important remixer who has worked with bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Einsturzende Neubauten, among others.

I must admit that, though I have known him as a remixer for almost 10 years now, that is, since I listened to a remix he did of Religion by Front 242, as an independent musician I just know him for 2 or 3 months.

Now, when I listened to this album I realised I had committed a mistake by not having paid him attention earlier.

Foetus denies to be considered "industrial". I'm not going to make a speech about my disliking labels and all that 'cos it would bore you, but I'll just tell you that Foetus IS industrial...AND LOTS OF MORE THINGS. When you listen to Foetus, and especially to this album and the previous ones, you realise of some things:

1. That the amazing band Einsturzende Neubauten (probably my second favourite band, just after The Legendary Pink Dots) were not alone in their concept of music made by inventing ayny instrument you can imagine.

2. That Thirlwell must listen to a lot of diverse music and he mixes all those influences in his records: industrial, jazz, lounge, classical, pop, punk...

3. That Foetus is an agressive band with a lot of sense of humour.

My favourite songs are:

- 'The Throne of Agony', where Foetus shows all his potentials, including agressiveness and sense of melody in the same packet.

-'Pigswill', where Foetus shows that Einsturzende Neubauten concept of noisy music, both descendants of Can's Tago Mago.

- 'Descent into the Inferno', a song which starts very calm, a sort of industrial blues which shows us the sensitive side of Foetus, but as it progresses everything starts to get more and more "punk-ish"

- 'Enter the Exterminator', where again the Einsturzende Neubauten similarities are obvious. More whispered than screamed.

- 'Anything', another good industrial song.

I used to be a pure industrial lover. Years ago I only listened to bands such as Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, etc. Now I consider some (not all, of course)of those bands are too monolythical. Their voices (especially FLA's, Wumpscut's, etc) are distorted and lack humanity.
Foetus' voice is at first sight similar. But when you get used to his raw singing, you start to observe that he does a lot of things with his voice. He's more a sort of Nick Cave singer.

Nail is probably his best album. If you like it, get 'Hole', the previous album. You'll find there how Foetus dares even to parody Beach Boys.

One last thing. If you have never listened to Foetus, don't get scared by its name. I also thought this was going to be just another pseudo-gothic band with bad taste. (see Nosferatu, for example) But you'll get a band that should deserve more recognition.

Nail (1985), perhaps his masterpiece, was even more powerful, and in an "evil" way. Every single sound is exaggerated, overdone, dramatized. This album's songs are poems carved with a jack-hammer into the marble of a gravestone. A touch of retro` attitude (not too different from Frank Zappa's ventures into orchestral and jazz music) is drowned into magniloquent, sinister, gloomy, tragic, terrifying industrial "symphonies". But, ultimately, this was also a heartbreaking cry of grief that soars in a landscape of desolation and depravation.

This is the follow up album to HOLE, an excellent album in it's own right, but after listening to this, it seems that he was merely getting a running start for NAIL, his best album. Thirlwell comes off as a demented and evil Tom Waits, telling sordid stories of hell, hatred, suffering and misogyny. These tales are told with an angry delivery, tempered with a sense of humor that is, well, just WRONG, but right...

That sense of humor is what sets him apart from artists that came along later. They had the anger, but they lacked the humor. Mr. Thirlwell can say the most horrendous things, but by using a twist of phrase (musical or lyrical) he sets you giggling, albeit guiltily. But be warned, there's some truly offensive stuff here. It's not for the faint of heart, but for the brave and open minded there's an opportunity to hear a true pioneer, a man with talent that took real risks nearly *gulp* twenty years ago...

I don't hold this album with the same high regard I do for Sinsation, but nonetheless Watts did a very fine job in producing this album. Overall a very dark album with true industrial grit for the hard core fan. Remeniscent of KMFDM and Ministry at their finest, complete with some very deranged artwork. Essential tracks include "Everything," "Contempt," and "Silt."

I have purchased 4 Pig cds, But this one is by far the best. If you only get one get this one. My favorite pig song is No One Gets Out Of Her Alive. The minute I heard that song I was frickin blown Away. The lyrics to this cd are just great. I think this cd is on equal ground with a lot of KMFDM. By the way I hope Watts gets back with them for their next CD. The sanctuary Remix is better than the Original. "two wrongs dont make right, Two blacks dont make a white" is just awsome sounding in that song.

I PERSONALLY THINK THIS IS WATTS BEST CD. A CREEPY OVERTONE, WITH SOME CRAFTY LYRICS REALLY SET THE MOOD TO WATT'S TWISTED FREAKSHOW. IVE RECENTLY SEEN KMFDM LIVE, AND WITHOUT WATTS, I THINK THEIR LIVE SHOW WAS GREAT, BUT LACKED THAT CERTAIN TOUCH THAT ONLY WATTS CAN GIVE. THIS CD'S HIGHLIGHTS ARE: NO ONE GETS OUT OF HER ALIVE, SANCTUARY, AND CONTEMPT.(BUT TRUST ME, THEIR ALL GRAVY BABY!)

I don't hold this album with the same high regard I do for Sinsation, but nonetheless Watts did a very fine job in producing this album. Overall a very dark album with true industrial grit for the hard core fan. Remeniscent of KMFDM and Ministry at their finest, complete with some very deranged artwork. Essential tracks include "Everything," "Contempt," and "Silt."

I have purchased 4 Pig cds, But this one is by far the best. If you only get one get this one. My favorite pig song is No One Gets Out Of Her Alive. The minute I heard that song I was frickin blown Away. The lyrics to this cd are just great. I think this cd is on equal ground with a lot of KMFDM. By the way I hope Watts gets back with them for their next CD. The sanctuary Remix is better than the Original. "two wrongs dont make right, Two blacks dont make a white" is just awsome sounding in that song.

I PERSONALLY THINK THIS IS WATTS BEST CD. A CREEPY OVERTONE, WITH SOME CRAFTY LYRICS REALLY SET THE MOOD TO WATT'S TWISTED FREAKSHOW. IVE RECENTLY SEEN KMFDM LIVE, AND WITHOUT WATTS, I THINK THEIR LIVE SHOW WAS GREAT, BUT LACKED THAT CERTAIN TOUCH THAT ONLY WATTS CAN GIVE. THIS CD'S HIGHLIGHTS ARE: NO ONE GETS OUT OF HER ALIVE, SANCTUARY, AND CONTEMPT.(BUT TRUST ME, THEIR ALL GRAVY BABY!)

I'm glad this album got a re-release in 2001, because it was my favorite album of 1991. It is so strong, that I ranked it just ahead of U2's Achtung Baby for best album of '91. Man, I cannot believe it's been about 14 years!

The early 90's were incredible for alternative music, and Tribe's Joyride (I Saw The Film) would be the perfect time capsule video for the time. If it weren't for MTV's 120 Minutes (back when they actually played some music videos), I never would have known about this exciting Boston band. Their second album was excellent, also, and the more raw demo(?) "Here At The Home", which I have on tape, contains excellent earlier versions of some of the songs.

This album is a classic, and if you can get ahold of a copy, I HIGHLY recommend it.

How could this album ever have gone out of print? Fortunately, it's back, so now you've got no excuse -- especially if you enjoy the likes of Hole, Veruca Salt, Lush, Garbage, or The Heartthrobs.

Genius guitar hooks, great vocal harmonies, inspired drumming -- and maybe a *little* too much production, depending on your tastes. (If the latter overpowers the experience for you, there's always _Here at the Home_, which contains earlier versions of most of these songs. It's not exactly easy to find, though.)

In its day, _Abort_ was an overlooked alt-emo-goth-power-pop masterpiece. I'm not entirely convinced that its day has ended. I suppose that's partly up to you.

Abort is a wonderful album that never found an audience. Its gothic,punk,pop all at the same time and catchy as hell. Im just going to state what everybody else has already said here and its absolutley true, this band should have been alot bigger. Its a shame they broke up, I think the 3rd time might have been the charm. I blame the record company for not putting more marketing muscle behind this band. I remember when their 2nd album Sleeper came out, the record store only had one copy sent to them which I bought and there was absolutley no advertising for this album or sleeper. Abort and Sleeper are both great albums and I still listen to them today and they still sound fresh. Hopefully they will get together again in the future and make another album.

A previous reviewer had mentioned this album is great for melting the ladies, and, as a lady, I must say I do melt every time I hear it. I don't know what it is -- most likely Chris Randall's voice --*shivers*-- but this album just does things to me that no other collection of music ever has done before. I had loved SMG prior to the release of this album, and I must say, the random addition of the saxaphones was a stroke of genius. I don't dare to think what the album would have been like without it.

IMHO, this is the best album they've ever done, and it's easily in the top ten of my all-time favorite albums. I've played my own copy so many times that it's all scratched to hell, and any day now I'm going to have to buy a second copy. It's that good.

C.Randall really did it this time, a dark ,smooth album thats perfect for either melting the ladies (if they are goth or grunge girls), breaking somone's knee caps in some violent fighting game, or walking around at night. Very diverse and very well made stuff, and some points are very rowdy as well "hole in the ground" for one, very reminicent of the preceding album
"The Torture Technique" (s.m.g's masterpeice album). Not to knock this one at all though, if "TTT" was never made (perish the thought) than this album "Burn" would absolutely be the band's masterpeice cd. Strong electronic beats, to die for guitar riffs,gothic organs, saxophones, spliced up voice filters, a few trippy samples here and there, c.randalls evil/smooth lyrics and just a kewl atmosphere make this cd what it is. It was also produced by Jim Marcus of Die Warzau so that doesnt exactly hurt either.So if your into very unique sounding industrial rock then you'll enjoy this big time. my favorite tracks on here : "overload" "dispossessed" and "better than me"

Back when this album was made, no one sounded like SMG. The smoother mixture of jazz and industrial riffs is flawless. Some people will relate SMG to NIN, well I disagree. I think SMG is more smoothe and solid. With BURN, you get tracks of intense lyrics, bass lines, and super-natural drum beats. I will admit, I found out about SMG from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. But this album is still one of the greatests. Probably my favourite track on this is 'Red'. Something about that organ and guitar. Other great tracks are 'better than me', 'overload', and 'Snake'. SMG mixes such great styles all into one and the creation can not be matched. There is also 2 awesome bonus tracks ( 1 before, and 1 after the cd ). So, where there's smoke there's fire. And light a match and watch this one burn ...

Fabulous....really: what a voice. Seems to come right from the deep Norwegian fjords, echoing against the rocks.... The rifs are very infectious. Especially Norwegian Hammerworks Corp. Other highlights: Sirens, Strange colour blue, Electric, Salt. Good debute, easy-listening but outstanding quality!

An amazing collection of songs, reminiscent of Grant Lee Buffalo(Phillips) and Mazzy Star. Not to be missed if you like either of them. This cd compels one to want to see this band perform live. It just seems like it would be special indeed.

This CD made it into the top 3 of my CD collection instantly. Very very good indeed. Sort of Tindersticks mixed with the Heroes del Silencio and a bit of Ry Cooder. "Vocal" is an absolute classic, together with "Shine" and "This Old House". Shame the band isn't very well known outside Norway because they really deserve it. I just ordered their latest album and from what I have read so far, it's even better than this one

This is a new sound out of Static X and if you listen to the cd without making up your mind after the first song you will like it is is different. If you get used to where they are going with the music then it will be a good cd. If you are new to Static X and are not sure where to start listening to it I would start with Wisconsin Death Trip then Machine then Shadow Zone it will progress as you go.

This CD Is A Very Loud And Fast But It Also Haves It's Slow Not So Loud Moments.

Destroy All 8/10 A Very Loud Fast Short Song That Has A Lot Of Energy In It Great For Mosh Pits

Control It 8/10 Another Great Song But It Feels Empty In Some Spots

New Pain 7/10 Songs A Good Song A Little Catchy And That Could Be Annoying Ocasionaly

Shadow Zone 10/10 My Favorite Song On The CD No Complants

Dead World 8/10 Another Strong Powerful Song

Monster 9/10 Short And Sweet

The Only 7/10 Good Song But Got Bored Of It While Playing Need For Speed Underground. I Bought The CD For This Song. I'm Going To Go Listen To It Real Fast Hold On. I Would Like To Give It A 8 Instead Of A 7 Now

Kill Your Idols 8/10 He He Kill Your Idols That's Funny

All In Wait 7/10 Good Song

Otsegolectric 9/10 The Otsego Of Shadow Zone Very Pleasant

So 6/10 My Least Favorite Song On The CD I Usally Skip This One But It Is Worth Listening To

Transmission 6/10 I Usally Don't Like Music Only Tracks But This One Is Allllllright

Invincible 10/10 Another Great Static-X Song Very Mellow Great Ending For A Great CD

Bonus DVD 10/10 Love The Live Songs Very Good

Over All Shadow Zone Is A Great CD. The Front Cover Is Cool Looking. The Music On The Disc Is Great. The Band Rocks. Overall I Say This CD Is Better Than Machine And On The Same Level As Wisconsin Death Trip Both Killer Cds

This is by-far the best of Static-X's albums. I am a heavy metal fan, but the best is static-x. They have changed over the years getting better and better each album! First with WDT, it was awesome, it had only one downfall... There lead guitarplayer sucked, i mean wayne did half of it anyway let alone singin, that guys riffs sounded the same very often, but still that album rocks! Now im on Machine. They now have Tripp Eisen... There the ultimate now, with there guitar riffs and waynes awesome howl, and kens drumming! they just rule, theres nothing else to it! Now im on Shadowzone. Now that Ken left...WE HAVE NICK! The drumming was awesome b4 and its awesomer now! i dont know how they can get any better! Then i noticed another thing, the guitars were much heavyer and much better than b4 making this album the best in the world. Then the BIGGEST thing i noticed was that wayne balances his awesome howl and his unique tone of voice out! Making them sound like they should win some kind of award for the best artist ever! If your friends try to tell you that anyone can scream into a mic then tell him its not a scream its an awesome heavy howl and amazing origional vocals that doesntcompare to you So STFU b4 i drop kik u in ur fat little head.