Industrial music reviews

This provides a good overview of many hard to find Gothic acts. For me Athamay and Faithful Dawn are the highlights but I'm into gryl bands. There are also samples of none gryl stuff like the heavly distorted vioces of Midnight configuration. This isn't the light 4AD or classical stuff but hard core death and blood electronic/industrial Goth. Enjoy.

This is an amazingly good disc! It's probably the best trance album I own right now. Every single track is good: there are no losers -- just track after track of heavy, exquisitely danceable trance. (The RealAudio samples give you some idea of the genre, but really don't do the album justice.) My only caveat is that the tracks are all in the exact same genre, so if you listen to the whole album straight through, you might find it a little repetitive by the end. I don't, but you might.

But of course, this sort of album is clearly meant for mixing, not for straight-through listening (though I think it's great for that, too). If you DJ, or if you're just a trance afficionado, this disc is a MUST HAVE!

The brainchild behind Phylr is Jim Filer Coleman, former sample guru of Cop Shoot Cop. On "Halflife" he lays down some serious trip hop grooves and assorted electronica, as well as a plethora of samples. Many of the songs are instrumentals (except for vocal samples), but one song, "Turn and Smile", stands out with sweet vocals by Carolyn "Honeychild" Coleman (his wife, perhaps?). Another song that caught my ear was "Everything Is Fine" -- a slow, piano-inflected tune that about a minute-and-a-half into it bursts forth with some enthusiastic beats before returning to its former state of being laid back. This one is sung by Mr. Coleman himself. That song is preceded by "Blowhole Etc.", a story about a terrifying marine stunt.
I'd say that if you're a fan of Portishead but are longing for something a little harder, this would be a good place to look. If you're a fan of one of Jim Coleman's other projects, Here (his collaboration with Mauro Teho Teardo of Meathead and Circus of Pain), then Phylr will not disappoint.

Attrition is one of those groups that has to be heard to be understood. To try and describe them by labeling them dark or 'goth' or industrial darkwave or one of those 'gothic' bands just doesn't do them justice. Many would categorize industrial and gothic as a world of music that all sounds the same. Well sounding the same is what bad groups do. Attrition has a distinctly original sound that is unique to them. They don't sound like Funker Vogt. They don't sound like Lords of Acid. They don't sound like Ministry. Wait a minute, aren't all these groups classified in the same category? You see my point? Attrition doesn't even sound like Leather Strip despite both bands having an evident love of classical music.
So give them a listen. Their music has a strange passion that can be dark, uplifting, and danceable all at the same time. The remixes on this album represent various artist's take on the group and all have their own unique approach as well.

face it- we've all spent money on remix albums and been terribly disappointed with the quality and consistency of the mixes. "the hand that feeds," is NOT one of those disappointments. this is a wonderful album, with each remix building on the original. recommendations are morbus kitahara's mix of "white men talk" and chris & cosey's take on "i am (eternity)". very good stuff.

The Young Gods have won a small but impassioned group of admirers for their emotionally angular, hypercerebral, and poetically experimental rock permutations. For this effort, however, founder F. Treichler drops even his token attempts at Rock formalism and ventures far into a synthetic landscape without any of the comforting signposts (rousing vocals, squalling guitars) that could help to orient people into the terrain occupied by this Swiss group. Apart from a recognizable remix of Strangel, now given a new electro skin and almost danceable, structure is largely absent or hiding on this album. Ghosts of TYG are sprinkled througout, but the emphasis here is on mood, specifically a kind that is sleepily celestial to the point of losing sight of the ground entirely- even a track titled 'Landing' is ominous, unsettling- the bass notes churning resemble the sounds of a military helicopter or UFO descending from some dreamlike section of the firmament. The dream state is occasionally lightened-see the chanting children on the brief 'nano pata.' But on the whole, what really shows the mark of TYG on this effort is the fixation on the irreal, fantastic, suddenly violent, unlikely poetic that Treichler and company have so memorably evoked in their albums. An interesting one-off that in many ways surpasses the other studio efforts.

THE DANSE SOCIETY are without doubt one of the undiscovered gems of the 80's. This album has very gothic leanings with its jangly guitar and minor key arrangements. Perhaps the best thing about it is Lyndon Scarfe's distinctive keyboard sound which shines here more than on their earlier releases. The production is also a quantum leap forward from their independant releases which contributes even more to the density and menace of the songs.

If you like THE SISTERS OF MERCY or early CLAN OF XYMOX you will find plenty in this CD to get your juices flowing. Its probably more like "Floodland" than anything but THE DANSE SOCIETY pre-date SISTERS so its no rip-off, unlike so much mid to late 80's Goth. Most of the bonus tracks are culled from "B" sides and from the limited edition, gate-fold "double" single for "2000 Light Years From Home", which makes it great for collectors. For my money this is the best Goth album I own and it still sounds great today.

9/10 Silver Future - Monster Magnet- Great metal track with that psychedelic vibe, some of their better new material you're going to listen to.

10/10 Immortality Insane - Pantera-If you're a collector of Pantera material this Soundtrack is a must have. One of my top 10 fav Pantera tracks and this is the only place you can find it.

4/10 Dirt Ball - Insane Clown Posse-I'm a juggalo at heart, truth be said the song's nothing to brag about but it's classic ICP/Twiztid.

7/10 Storaged - System Of A Down- Reminiscence of their debut, short track (under 2 minutes) but an essential if you liked SOAD's original material. Inless you feel like spending $50 on a cd, this is the only place you can find this track.

11/10 Green Iron Fist - Full Devil Jacket-Best metal track "Heavy Metal 2000" has to offer! I'm a huge fan of their "Wax Box EP" and this track blows everything they've ever done out of the water. (only available on this soundtrack)

6/10 Wishes - Coal Chamber- Once again, unreleased. Not their best work but not bad by any means.

One of the best Metal soundtracks available, right up there with "The Crow", "Dracula 2000" & "Freddy vs Jason".

The HM2K Soundtrack is excellent - Whether your into Industrial/Grindcore metal, or a little Psychopathic Hiphop, it will have a song(s) for you. And the limited edition comes with an exclusive CD-ROM with all kinds of cool HM2K stuff on it. If you are a fan of the original movie and soundtrack, this is a definte buy, especially for collectors.

Incredibly, this album remains an obscure preface to MC's later commercial success with inferior work. Humorous lyrics throughout range from silly to scary/psychotic.

Apparently DJ Zero, and the production heavily influenced this album, because MC 900's sense of humor seems to be the only common link between Hell with the Lid Off and later albums like One Step Ahead of the Spider, and Welcome to My dream. While funny is good, it doesn't substitute for the creative, energetic, and trippy sounds produced on Hell With the Lid Off.

Be warned! If you liked his later work, you probably will not like this album. To me One Step Ahead, and Welcome to My Dream, were very dissapointing. If you like the idea of a twisted story told through a heavily modified vocal, in a quick style over slamming beats, with spare, but effective turntablism, you might check it out. If you are looking for jazzy tracks, with a lazy humorous narrative like you may have heard on his other albums, skip this one.

I just heard this c.d. and would recommend it to any fan of electronic music.

This album hails from 1996 and I think Zoe is British because it was recorded in Britain.
But that's not the important thing, the really important thing is that it is a great album and she's a great singer. She leans in the folk direction though the opening single has a really 90's rock sound. There's some more experimental tracks towards the end of the album, but the mid-section of the album deals with folk music.

Zoe has this big booming voice (and if you've seen the cover, she has a nice face too!) that has an element of twang in it. She sings songs about longing for a more natural existence and many of the songs deal with a painful relationship break-up. The song 'Hammer' is a hard-rock song that is very bitter indeed (think, what's she going to do with the hammer?). On the folk song tracks she often experiments with various instruments, that's a nice element to the album. It's a nice listen, hope you will like it too, Brendan.

I took a chance and bought this album only knowing 2 of the songs, Hammer and The Lion Roars. If you liked early Alanis Morissette music, you might like Zoe better. She's belts out the songs with a clear and strong voice that's full of emotion but without being overwhelming. Also, the instruments compliment her voice without competing for attention. Music can alter my attitude and this album left me happy. It's not just a "chick" album, my boyfriend thought it was "worth it".