Industrial music reviews

WHAT A GREAT ALBUM, ALL TRACKS ARE GREAT. IT'S THE ONLY ALBUM I'VE EVER HEARD WHERE EVERY SONG IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE SONG BEFORE. THIS IS REAL ROCK, A LOT BETTER THAN WHAT IS PLAYED ON THE RADIO THESE DAYS. A MASTERPIECE!!!!!! VILLE VALO HAS THE MOST AMAZING VOICE IN THE WORLD, THE LYRICS AND THE MUSIC BEHIND IT ARE A WORK OF BRILLIANCE. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON TOP 40 ROCK WHEN YOU CAN GET AN ALBUM LIKE THIS. ALSO NEW HIM ALBUM AND VILLE VALO SOLO ALBUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005, CAN'T WAIT.

This cd was really awesome. I was astounded by how the music behind the words (which were also phenominal) had improved a great deal! This is definitly the best HIM cd, and any true HIM fan that doesnt have it is missing out! BUY IT!

While HIM has pleased us in the past with brilliant releases like "Greatest Love Songs v. 666" and "Razorblade Romance", they hit a slight slump with their third full length album, "Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highlights". The album was not bad, is just showed no progress. However, HIM come back with their most powerful and masterful work yet, "Love Metal".

Before this release, I never truly realized how talented this band was. I've always appreciated their vocalist, Ville Valo, and consider him one of rock's best singers. He also writes music for all the band, which must be why they all work together and play off each other so well. Their guitarist (there's always two guitars at work at the same time on every track, so I guess he overdubs it) does som pretty tricky and catchy stuff that he hasn't shown off in previous releases. Their bassist, while no Les Claypool, is an excellent rhythm keeper. But the one bad musician, as on all HIM releases, is their drummer. He's not too good, basically. He does not complicated things, and basically hits a snare and a bass drum throughout the whole album, sometimes throwing in a crash. It's either he's not capable or Valo isn't writing good enough stuff for him, but it kind of brings down the music.

Despite the drummer, this release is a masterpiece. Every time I listen to it, it gives me a feeling of seclusion and peace. That sounded corny, but this is one of the only album's I recall that can actually do that. The way "Soul on Fire" comes to it's epic conclusion is oh so super. This is the way music should be done.

The lyrics in the album are quite unique. They basically revolve around joy, sorrow, love and hate. But they are not handled in the Simple Plan way: someone's miserable because their girlfriend used them and now she's going out with the jock. No, I think HIM's a little more mature than that. Most of the lyrics are metafourical, as they have always been. Which is the uniqueness of them.

I highly recommend this band if you are looking for originality. This band is bleeding it.

P.S.: Love metal is the genre HIM falls into. Not goth. Though Love Metal does highly resemble it. And I've read reviews where people seem to think "Love Metal" means something like "I Love Metal". No. That's wrong. Sorry.

WHAT A GREAT ALBUM, ALL TRACKS ARE GREAT. IT'S THE ONLY ALBUM I'VE EVER HEARD WHERE EVERY SONG IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE SONG BEFORE. THIS IS REAL ROCK, A LOT BETTER THAN WHAT IS PLAYED ON THE RADIO THESE DAYS. A MASTERPIECE!!!!!! VILLE VALO HAS THE MOST AMAZING VOICE IN THE WORLD, THE LYRICS AND THE MUSIC BEHIND IT ARE A WORK OF BRILLIANCE. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON TOP 40 ROCK WHEN YOU CAN GET AN ALBUM LIKE THIS. ALSO NEW HIM ALBUM AND VILLE VALO SOLO ALBUM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005, CAN'T WAIT.

This cd was really awesome. I was astounded by how the music behind the words (which were also phenominal) had improved a great deal! This is definitly the best HIM cd, and any true HIM fan that doesnt have it is missing out! BUY IT!

While HIM has pleased us in the past with brilliant releases like "Greatest Love Songs v. 666" and "Razorblade Romance", they hit a slight slump with their third full length album, "Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highlights". The album was not bad, is just showed no progress. However, HIM come back with their most powerful and masterful work yet, "Love Metal".

Before this release, I never truly realized how talented this band was. I've always appreciated their vocalist, Ville Valo, and consider him one of rock's best singers. He also writes music for all the band, which must be why they all work together and play off each other so well. Their guitarist (there's always two guitars at work at the same time on every track, so I guess he overdubs it) does som pretty tricky and catchy stuff that he hasn't shown off in previous releases. Their bassist, while no Les Claypool, is an excellent rhythm keeper. But the one bad musician, as on all HIM releases, is their drummer. He's not too good, basically. He does not complicated things, and basically hits a snare and a bass drum throughout the whole album, sometimes throwing in a crash. It's either he's not capable or Valo isn't writing good enough stuff for him, but it kind of brings down the music.

Despite the drummer, this release is a masterpiece. Every time I listen to it, it gives me a feeling of seclusion and peace. That sounded corny, but this is one of the only album's I recall that can actually do that. The way "Soul on Fire" comes to it's epic conclusion is oh so super. This is the way music should be done.

The lyrics in the album are quite unique. They basically revolve around joy, sorrow, love and hate. But they are not handled in the Simple Plan way: someone's miserable because their girlfriend used them and now she's going out with the jock. No, I think HIM's a little more mature than that. Most of the lyrics are metafourical, as they have always been. Which is the uniqueness of them.

I highly recommend this band if you are looking for originality. This band is bleeding it.

P.S.: Love metal is the genre HIM falls into. Not goth. Though Love Metal does highly resemble it. And I've read reviews where people seem to think "Love Metal" means something like "I Love Metal". No. That's wrong. Sorry.

This 1987 release from SP is a great industrial/experimental music relase proves is another record released by the masters of this kind of music. The lyrics are very well written without being trite or just odd and strange. Addiction is a stupendous track, as is deep down trauma hounfs and there are many others on the same level on this great record. The book-let is a strange creation and has this odd looking photograph like it came from some low budget horror movie and the information is sketchy but they have included the lyrics which is nice since it is hard to hear what Ogre sings.

CFM is quite a fine album, a highlight in the long line of grand movements created in Skinny Puppy's long career (along with Vivisect and *gasp* The Greater Wrong Of The Right).

Now, with that out of the way, I'd like to state that elitism is a nasty, nasty thing. It causes those less pretencious and/or more open minded than the elite to become quite enraged with said elitists' bitching and whining. There is a place where Skinny Puppy, NIN, and even Primus can all coincide in peaceful existance, that place being an open mind. I'd also like to throw in that Skinny Puppy has nothing on being abrasive, noisy, and unaccesible; I'd love to watch all the oh-so-elite rivetheads try and sit thru Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music followed by a healthy serving of Sonic Youth.

-He-Who-Likes-Wumpscut-And-Dead-Kennedys

If you're new to Skinny Puppy this is a great album to buy.
The best songs on Cleanse Fold And Manipulate are First Aid, Addiction, and Deep Down Trauma Hounds. First Aid is a great song with very meaningful lyrics. Addiction is actually kind of catchy (not negatively) for a Skinny Puppy song. Deep Down Trauma Hounds is an SP classic. Cleanse Fold And Manipulate will seem a bit caustic to the uninitiated, though this is to be expected with Skinny Puppy. Of their works, I would definitely recommend this album (or Last Rights) to anyone who has an open mind and likes industrial/experimental music.

Ive heard about 7 Skinny Puppy CD's and this one is my favorite. The Early SP seems to be the best, most creative and original sounding. This is a piece of classic early industrial work for any true industrial fan.

My first experiment with puppy was with the new stuff. I loved it, wanted to hear some old stuff. So i got bites, wasn't impressed. Got mind TPI, wasn't impressed. When remission came out, i crapped my pants, because i was an infant. When i bought remission, quite a few years later, i nearly crapped em again.

Smothered Hope is a legendary song, i bought the album on account of it. However the rest of the songs (all of them) are just as good. Incision is incredible. It's like hexonxonx with rhythm. I can listen to the song all day. Far too frail, sleeping beast, icebreaker are classics. Interestingly enough, icebreaker gets a kick-ass intro in manwhole, and the song itself is slightly better than the Bites version.

There's a minimalistic raw element of the sound, which is more subdued in Bites. The energy is incredible, and the album is original as it gets. Mind you, it's not as wildly deep and esoteric as their later albums, that's growth for you. The music is accessible (for puppy) and the appeal is instantaneous. I count this as a must-have album.

Skinny Puppy have lead an interesting musical legacy to say the least. From early synthpop-meets-industromayhem-meets-horror put to music, to layered nightmarish "sound sculptures", a stint with Ministry founder Al Jourgenson which almost resulted in generic industrial-metal disaster, to the current unfortunate dabblings in what i like to call "crappy rave music". Skinny Puppy's music is most definitely a required taste, and almost all of their albums require a "warming up to" period. However the time it takes to absorb their music is definitely worth the effort once you develope an appreciation for what they're doing.

The great thing about this, their first album, is that it's the easiest to wrap your head around on the first listen, and honestly it's just bloody brilliant. The best way I can think to describe this album is to dub it "Experimental-Industrial-80's SynthPop". It's dance-y beats and catchy song structures definitely has the ability to hook someone on the first listen moreso than any of their other albums. And perhaps I'm losing you already if you're looking for bizarre abstraction in conventional musicianship, but wait. The music may basically be the early musings of a discography that would contain intense barrages of industrial sound and space, and could be simply written off as Skinny Puppy Lite(TM), but the album really is simply flawless, groundbreaking, and yet still distinctly Skinny Puppy. Ogre never lets up on the disconnected abstract "lyrics" that make SP so great, and the mixture of the Industrial shock tactics and ogre's robotic death-cry, blend into an amazing excersize in horror.

I would definitely recommend picking this one first if you're new to Skinny Puppy or Industrial music in general. I would also recommend picking this one up as opposed to "Bites" as it is basically the same idea with all of the fat cut out. The only unfortunate thing about this album is that nobody, including Skinny Puppy, ever really made another one like it.

Key Songs: "Smothered Hope", "Far Too Frail", "Solvent"

Ive heard about 7 Skinny Puppy CD's and this one is my favorite. The Early SP seems to be the best, most creative and original sounding. This is a piece of classic early industrial work for any true industrial fan.

My first experiment with puppy was with the new stuff. I loved it, wanted to hear some old stuff. So i got bites, wasn't impressed. Got mind TPI, wasn't impressed. When remission came out, i crapped my pants, because i was an infant. When i bought remission, quite a few years later, i nearly crapped em again.

Smothered Hope is a legendary song, i bought the album on account of it. However the rest of the songs (all of them) are just as good. Incision is incredible. It's like hexonxonx with rhythm. I can listen to the song all day. Far too frail, sleeping beast, icebreaker are classics. Interestingly enough, icebreaker gets a kick-ass intro in manwhole, and the song itself is slightly better than the Bites version.

There's a minimalistic raw element of the sound, which is more subdued in Bites. The energy is incredible, and the album is original as it gets. Mind you, it's not as wildly deep and esoteric as their later albums, that's growth for you. The music is accessible (for puppy) and the appeal is instantaneous. I count this as a must-have album.

Skinny Puppy have lead an interesting musical legacy to say the least. From early synthpop-meets-industromayhem-meets-horror put to music, to layered nightmarish "sound sculptures", a stint with Ministry founder Al Jourgenson which almost resulted in generic industrial-metal disaster, to the current unfortunate dabblings in what i like to call "crappy rave music". Skinny Puppy's music is most definitely a required taste, and almost all of their albums require a "warming up to" period. However the time it takes to absorb their music is definitely worth the effort once you develope an appreciation for what they're doing.

The great thing about this, their first album, is that it's the easiest to wrap your head around on the first listen, and honestly it's just bloody brilliant. The best way I can think to describe this album is to dub it "Experimental-Industrial-80's SynthPop". It's dance-y beats and catchy song structures definitely has the ability to hook someone on the first listen moreso than any of their other albums. And perhaps I'm losing you already if you're looking for bizarre abstraction in conventional musicianship, but wait. The music may basically be the early musings of a discography that would contain intense barrages of industrial sound and space, and could be simply written off as Skinny Puppy Lite(TM), but the album really is simply flawless, groundbreaking, and yet still distinctly Skinny Puppy. Ogre never lets up on the disconnected abstract "lyrics" that make SP so great, and the mixture of the Industrial shock tactics and ogre's robotic death-cry, blend into an amazing excersize in horror.

I would definitely recommend picking this one first if you're new to Skinny Puppy or Industrial music in general. I would also recommend picking this one up as opposed to "Bites" as it is basically the same idea with all of the fat cut out. The only unfortunate thing about this album is that nobody, including Skinny Puppy, ever really made another one like it.

Key Songs: "Smothered Hope", "Far Too Frail", "Solvent"

I, like alot of people, first heard THC on Buffy. I looked for this CD for a long time and I couldn't find it anywhere. I can't beleive how much people are selling it for, it's outrageous. I e-mailed George Sarah and he sold me a copy for $15, it was a burnt copy but I would rather pay him a few dollars for a burnt copy than pay someone else a unreasonable ammount. I love all the songs on this CD but alot of people only buy it b/c of the songs Dip, Overfire, and Need to Destroy. The other songs, with the exception of Girlflesh and Unsaid Warning are alot different than those songs, they don't have vocals and they are trippy techno so they're not really what you would expect after hearing the songs that Sarah Folkman sings on. If you like George Sarah's Ossia and Opus Eleven then you will also like the other songs on this CD. If you want to get a copy from George you can e-mail him at georgesarah@earthlink.net. I hope this will be helpful and maybe save you some money.

I too, first heard T.H.C. on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have been searching for the cd ever since, i've heard the songs but cannot find a copy to own myself. I'm determined because the feel of the music is amazing, the morbidity and smoothness just blows me away!Defintely worth the search.

I first heard about thc when i was downloading music by another band called portishead but quickly realised how alike and in many ways superior thc were. I pesonally prefer songs like darjeeling, overfire and dip to stuff like need to destroy even though they are so alike. My only criticism is having to wait ages to get it imported into the uk as amazon .co.uk had no copies- sort it out amazon- but i think this album thorougly deserves a 5 star rating for it industial/sultry pioneering type of music.

If you are just discovering skinny puppy, and have been listening to relatively normal music up to this point, this album may be lost on you. The book of revelations comes to mind as an analogy, in that it makes no sense to people who have not already read a great deal of the bible.

Skinny puppy is known for melodious and harrowing sound that challenges the popular conception of music. This album is the clearest example of such.

That said, for those who have cut their teeth on the starter albums, this album provides the meat, depth, and emotion that ensures long-term satisfaction.

Also, i don't hear a lot of mentions of 'inquisition', which i feel could be sp's best song. They keep time with an impact wrench, for god's sake.

Last Rights is a brutal, beautiful force that starts in the confines of your skull and ends in the depths of your soul.
It opens on shades of hopelessness and the gutter scraping pain of addiction/kicking with Love In Vein, one of the finer songs SP has ever written. From there it moves to Killing Game, a quieter song dipped in the well of sorrow. As you soak this in, Knowhere? comes along like a slow, massive, nuclear jackhammer that will either induce migraines or cure them. Yes, you are alone. Yes, it hurts like this. And it's just getting started....

This album is a layered, excruciating masterpiece. It offers no answers, no hope, nowhere to hide. It doesn't have the overtly suicidal overtones of The Cure's 'Pornography' nor the murder-your-neighbor violence of Ministry's 'Land Of Rape And Honey'. Yet, it contains both at once. It's depression and anger intertwined like the fingers of a small child and a corpse. Riverz End is the final sunset of the world while Lust Chance pulls at you to break out that whip you've been dying to use on everyone. You can feel the tension in your teeth. Something is going to go down but you're never sure if it's at the local office building or your apartment. Either way, call the ambulance.

After most is said and done, Download closes out the album. This may be the sound of insanity or a bad acid trip in a county morgue but either way, hell yes. This is synthesizer madness at its finest. Keyboards struggling against oblivion and a straight jacket. It's a 10 minute ride that is as solid as anything I've ever heard. As it starts to cool, you're crawling along the floor, searching beneath the curtains for your skin. By the end, you're face up in bed, mute and wide eyed at a dead white ceiling, knowing, like emptiness itself, "This is it, this is all there is."

Now, play it again.

This was a monumental release when it was released. The end result is nothing short of astounding. The layers of sounds sound like the melody is going to collapse at any moment and the vocals are rugged and filled with anger and venom. The lyrics are very personal and for those reasons the band decided against having them in the book-let. The album is filled with chaos, anger and mirror saw is an awesome track that just seethes with emotions. It is so emotion filled that one is affraid that it is going to collapse under the emotion and layers of sound. This is one of the best records that I have ever heard. The book-let is nice and the cover art perfectly blends with the theme of intense emotions.

While Wreath is one of :W:'s better albums, I will have to say that it hasn't aged very well. As time has gone one, I have grown to like most of the tracks on it lesser and lesser. There are still a few that I do enjoy though, and they will be pointed out as this review progresses.

Wreath starts with a bang on the aggressive and almost typical electro track "Opening the Gates of Hell", which is almost in a way a homage to the "Gate Opening" track on Bunker Gate 7. The only difference though is that "Openeing the Gates of Hell" is a true track, featuring lyrics and all the usual aspects a track has. It has a somewhat redundant grinding electro synth dominating the track, with some somewhat unoticable distortion drums. Rudy's vocals are distorted a tad lesser than earlier :W:, but still definently in the vein of :W:. "Opening..." serves as a satisfactory intro track, but it will probaby not grow too well with the listener after a few runs with the album.

"Deliverance" follows "Opening...", which is one of the strongest tracks on the album. It's drumming patterns are much more noticable than on the preceeding track. It's synths consist mostly of strings and a bass line that mixes in with the drums at certain parts to give it a slightly strong 'industrial' beat. The chorus has Rudy using a somewhat rough vocoder, which gives the strong some addly strength. This track does age rather well for a while, but it can get old after a while due to being too simplistic in some respects.

The title track of the album comes next, which is arguably the best song on the album. Featuring entirely vocoded lyrics, mostly string synths (which execute a slightly haunting sound), another 'chiming' synth that joins the song and gets more powerful towards the end, and a nice steady NIN-ish drum beat, Wreath of Barbs will probably go down as one of the best :W: tracks of all time in some camps. During certain parts of the song Rudy's unprocessed vocals jump in (most noticably on the chorus at the end of the song.) To hear a much more evil and powerful version of this song though, one should check out the Neurotic Fish remix of this song on the Wreath of Barbs single.

"Dr. Thodt" is in some respects an intermission track. It doesn't feature Rudy anywhere on it, and instead features a female reciting her experiences with the said doctor in the song's title. The song has a slightly high pitched synth that creates the beat, which ends with a two fisted synth drum pounding. There are some other effects that create a dark atmosphere that kind of captures the feeling of a dirty and typical horror movie operating room. Somewhat worth a listen the first way through, but advisable to skip on repeated listenings.

"Mankind's Disease" reminds me of "Super Castlevania" for the Super Nintendo for some reason. It has an eastern european violin floating around in the background with a nice plodding bass synth and pounding processed drum beat to go with it. It serves as a decent instrumental, but it overall is not that much new with all things :W: considered (before and after this album.)

"Christf**k" is a definite club track, featuring an upbeat main synth line and somewhat electric sounding noise that joins it. The drums are a typical four on the floor drum beat that changes up to match Rudy when he says the title of the song on the chorus of the song. There is also a nice aggressive sample saying "Christ" in a cursing manner that becomes a noise that accompanies the song after a couple minutes, and stays pretty much towards the end. This track is definently one of the best on this album, even though it has some blatently stupid lyrics.

Troops Under Fire sounds much like an improved version of an instrumental off of :W:'s strange "Blood Child" album. It features an oscilating electro synth and heavy distorted drums that work in unision for about five minutes. It is a little redundant, and is lacking any real melody. It works out alright though with a somewhat echoey variety of synths that join it as the song gets closer to it's end, where even a female vocal sample joins in. This might work well as atmosphere or even somewhere on a dance floor.

Line of Corpses is a somewhat dissapointing track, featuring an echoey high pitched synth that dominates the track, lots of echoey and haunting samples, and the repeated title of the song here and there. There are also lots of 'movie' samples, and Rudy talking, trying to sound scary. Not much here, typical of :W: as a filler track.

Hate is Mine is another not so great regular track. It is dark and bass dominated, featuring a lot of throbbing noises and Rudy slightly singing about something as he leads into the chorus of the song (which is the title of the song being yelled.) The song improves slightly as it gets closer to the half-way point, getting a little more evil in places. It's main problem though is that it is dreary.

Bleed in Silence is an instrumental 'outro' track where the album ends on a dreary, slightly haunting industrial funeral dirge. It is reminisquent of the last two tracks in many ways, but it does manage to contain some rather heavy industrial sounding samples. Lots of harsh noises and sampleage towards the end.

The remix of Eclipse that is tacked on the end of this version of Wreath is not very specail, but is worth a listen. It has a steady oscilating beating synth going over it, with a lot of shallow female vocals. It almost doesn't even sound like a :W: track unless you compaire it to a lot of his stranger straight up electronic tracks. It has a somewhat gothic/darkwave tinge to it...

Overall Wreath is a good release, but it just does not age well over time. It will probably max out after about 15-20 listens over a good time period. After the time period though, it will get buried with the rest of :W:'s dusty CDs. Well made, but has a lot of filler.

This album starts with one of my real favorite songs from Rudy, and is as a whole a great solid attempt. Okay, so this album does seems as though it has gotten some real ups&downs in terms of being aprooved by the fans. I truely believe that if you are a real [Rudy R.] :Wumpscut: fan you'll have an interesting, but very real veiw about it. I currently own three albums from him - the only track that is the most on my "ugh" list is: Dr Todt. A very interesting piece in it's self, really other than that this album is very nice!!! I would recommend either Embryodead, or BunkerGate7 first however.

A marked departure from older Wumpscut, but twisted dementia still finds its place among death and disease in Wreath of Barbs. The only complaints I have seemed to notice regarding new Wumpscut material is its lack of energetic tracks (read this as "danceable" or "club worthy"). People cite this album and Bone Peeler as examples...but let me say this: the main thread tying all wumpalbums together is decay. This is only, of course, my humble opinion. It worked on MFAST, Bunkertor 7, Embryodead, and Eevil Young Flesh, and it works here too. But if every album were MFAST, how good of an artist would Rudy be?

Taken on its own 'Eevil Young Flesh' is a very solid album of hard industrial dance. There are probably 4 great dancefloor songs and 1 excellent instrumental. However the issue reallly isn't the song quality, it's just that at this point in Rudy's career this has become a bit of a formula and it feels a little trite for long-time fans. (Note: I actually wrote the review of this album for 'Outburn Magazine' years ago and said basically the same thing).

The album opens with the fast-paced, frantic "Wulf" - German for "Wolf". It's interesting to notice that this is the only track with a German title and it is sung in English, while all of the other tracks are listed in English while sung in German - quirky. The amazing synth hook in this song cuts through the mix like few others I have ever heard.

The next track is "Deadmaker", a turbocharged, psychotic thrill-ride not fit for the faint of heart. If you really love this song you can get the "Totmacher" remixes which feature this song remixes by a slew of major electro acts. "DM" is followed directly by the next dance slammer "I Want You". This one features the clearest beat on the disc and razor sharp electro lines. The only drawback is that the porno samples at the beginning are lame, immature and don't fit the songs theme of fully possessing another person... it's just kind of a snore of a way to open such a good song.

Later on the disc you'll find "Wasted Dreams", a bitter tale of a person looking to reclaim past losses. Further on is the hauntingly beautiful "Outside", likely the best instrumental :W: has done since "Thorns".

In sum, this is a great release that new fans will likely love. It's an easy entry point. Still it is not one of his best 3 albums and at the time it felt like he needed more of a step forward with his sound and this was firmly treading on familiar ground. However, that is high quality ground.

This cd is really good, actually better than I expected. I like all of the tracks, but 'Outside' is an exceptionally beautiful piece, and 'escape'. 'Deadmaker' was not as good as I thought it would be, I thought it would be a very exciting, different song, but instead it is repetitive, but NOT as repetitive as 'witches' dance'. I like that song to an extent, but you don't want to listen to the whole thing... It gets old fast. 'I want you', despite the porno audio clip, is a brilliant song. I love it, maybe the clip is just proving the 'maturity' in Rudy's genius.

:wumpscut: does many things for many people, depending on how much they pay attention to the tracks and how strongly they feel on certain morbid matters. On the outside the beats sometimes move an audience and do it rather well, with a very accessible beat founding some works and a very enticing build manufacturing others, and that suits some listeners. Others delve in a little deeper, hear the Germanic words flowing to the beat and the voxing coming through, and that perhaps disturbs them. The way the voxing sounds and the deep wells of bitterness they seem to be derived from sometimes have that way with people, making them think that its perhaps morbid. But for those others that dive into the lyrical content and find out that it is actually more disturbed than simply the voxing and the sounds because the content truly is dark, there�s a plethora of thoughts to choose from. And, personally, I think I�ve chosen to buy quite few albums because its just too good to pass up.

Boeses Junges Flisch (Evil Young Flesh) perhaps isn�t the most easily accessible work in the :wumpscut� catalog for everyone because (1) most of the vocals are in German and (2) because its an deliciously depraved byproduct. For some reason the language barrier bothers some people, them not enjoying stuff they can�t sing along to stateside, and they won�t purchase it. They have to be able to sing along in their native tongue, not really getting into the songs and not really noticing the translations housed directly inside the case. And that�s understandable, albeit limiting. Others have a problem because some of these songs are rather explicit, one spoke by a female and talking about certain acts she�d like to engage in, or because they�re about some rather violent themes. Stalking, killing, the random acts of violence that fuel the world; those are what :wumpscut: revolves around. And if one doesn�t mind that and likes their EBM on the mostly-aggressive side, then Evil Young Flesh is a prime choice.

While I wouldn�t go as far as to say I�d choose a favorite in the :wumpscut: collection, I would go as far as to say that this ends up in my discman more than most of the others. The reason for that is primarily because it has a little taste of everything, be it beats that build or songs with growling vocals, and it flows with more consistency than a lot of the other works do. The beginning track, �Wulf� has a good built, some nice voxing on it, a switch between German and English vocals, and leads nicely into �Deadmaker.� At first glance, �Deadmaker� seems like a calm sea of sounds, with a melodic introduction done with guitar, but that takes off quickly and leads into the building ocean of beats and technotroic static pretty fast. It sounds somewhat calm even when it builds, too, until you truly delve into the lyrical translations and see that �no thought afterwards when I broke your bones� and �I�m a slave to the killing� aren�t exactly lullaby material. �I want you� is actually something of a change for :wumpscut:, with a lot of the vocals done by a lady as she graphically goes into what turns her on while leading into Rudy�s portion. I�ve always thought this was a commendable effort, too, because its so unacceptable to do and so catchy at the same time. It shocks a lot of people at first, finding that somewhat appalling, but its only sexuality when it comes down to it. �Escape� is a song I heard a few times on other albums and that I really liked as well, with its translations showing a chase erupting from �deep in the woods� as someone, �all alone,� tries to flee. The voxing on this song and the German itself has a much greater effect when the words play out, too, making it sound � cold. Yeah, that�s some good stuff. �Witches Dance� is a superb instrumental, it almost a dance theme set in dark times, and �Outside� follows it up as a slower piece also set in electronic instrumental skies. �Eternal� is a pretty good song, too, leading into �Forgive Me,� which is a colder sound and a much more corrosive theme that is enjoyably dark. �Tell Me Now� is a bit different when combined with the albums progressing idea inside the music, with the female vocals (this time in German) combining with R. Ratzinger�s and speaking more on love and the wants instead of the horrors that are often the byproducts of this in :wumpscut: songs. And, to end, is the musical piece �Longing,� bringing the album to close with a nice beat and some interesting clips to boot.

While I wouldn�t recommend this to everyone nor would I say that this would be a good starting point to introduce :wumpscut:, I would say that this is a piece anyone that liked what they do should pick up because it has a lot of good stuff. The beats are energetic and dark, and the progressing theme of the songs is also of the violent variety, and the things I like from :wumpscut: flow within those veins. As I said before, its something that works well as an entire piece and has replayability. It�s always helps me gear toward killing time (or is that times?).

Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse is a timeless work, ahead of its time when it came out and still ahead of anything i've ever heard to date. This album is possibly my favorite album of all time.

One Time One Place is rather one of the less mind blowing tracks of the album, but it sets the pace and lets you *slightly* know what is to come.

God's Gift(Maggot) is probably the most horrific Skinny Puppy song ever made(however possibly Knowhere or State Aid), it begins with pounding synths that seem to crush the insides of your brain. Sheer Terror, and incredible.

Three Blind Mice starts out with a catchy stacatto chime sound, and creates a trance.

Love is a great track that relieves you of the intensity of the past 3 tracks.

Stairs And Flowers is probably my favorite Skinny Puppy song, it is just so unique, I have never heard anything like it. It has one of the greatest synths in it that I have ever heard, a sort of classical sound that fits in perfectly with the deathly ghoul moans and Nivek's harrowing wails.

Antagonism is one of my lesser liked tracks off the album, however it is still an incredible song. This track brings back the uncomfortable tension of the album, after the Love + Stairs & Flowers break. The synths are great, sorta like Three Blind Mice.

200 Years starts in with awesome beating tribal drums and a grinding synth noise. Very entertaining song with samples of someone saying, "What's Wrong with you, WHAT'S WRONG WITH EVERYONE IN THIS CRAZY PLACE!!!!" then not sure if it is Ohgr's modified voice or just sampling, right after that screams set the pace of the song.

Dig It breaks in with a cool beat and a rocking guitar that comes in and out. It is one of Skinny Puppy's staple songs and is more presentable that the previous tracks.

Burnt With Water, incredible, on par with Stairs And Flowers in its creativity. Starts with an even pulsing hand shake bell sound and cool synths, and a man talking about I cannot figure out what. Then Nivek comes in and screams Behavior. It is possible that I like this track so much just because of the mosque chants that you can hear somewhere around 2:30 in the song
***This arabic mosque chant is the EXACT same chant as the speaker Mosque in the Motorcade Interception level of Hitman 2:Silent Assassin.*** I know that sounds kinda ridiculous but it was one of my favorite games, and finding out that my favorite band used a sample that was in that game, some 13 w/e years before that game came out, is pretty cool to me.

*Note: Burnt With Water was originally the last track of the album, but the others were added on later versions.

Chainsaw is an awesome song with a sweet baseline and cool drums and great synths... wtf I think that about all SP songs. This is another track that is more presentable than the others. The refrain on this track is incredible, it is just such perfect words by Ohgr, completely unique and not bland in any way, I have to state them:
Self-Destruct...
Mechanism..
Introvert overturn..
assassination..
make from steel the ugly weapon
killers instinct from man to trigger

O also, I shouldn't forget the sound of the chainsaws ripping :)

I'm not gonna talk about Addiction + DDTH cause they don't even have a meaningful purpose to this album, they are and belong on Cleanse Fold & Manipulate.

Skinny Puppy's "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse" is a brilliant masterpiece. The album is well developed, well layered, and very unique among the music industry. This album is dark, and the sounds will drown you in its shadows. The lyrics are dark and intellectual. Ogre's strong philosophical views, and his dangerous voice make KORN look like barney dancing with little children. If you do not enjoy the CD it is because of a few things.
A) It was too hellish seeming
B) You as a listener, are naive and young to subculture music.
C) You like guitars and bass and stimuli that isn't original.
D) You listen to Slipknot, who looks like a pussy compared to Skinny Puppy.
E) There are more, but I'll spare the insults

The heavy mechanical noises, and the infinite seeming sounds, come from all corners. The album truly defines individual artisty, and should be taken in as an art concept, it may be weak as something to head band too....which is ridiculous anyway.
This album isn't one a group of people can listen to. Give the album a try, and listen to it in your room. Take in the art that is Skinny Puppy.

Personal Favorites

One Time One Place
Stairs and Flowers
God's Gift Maggot
Dig It
Addiction
Deep Down Trauma Hounds
The most popular of the songs on the album.

Mind: Perpetual Intercourse being Skinny Puppys 1988 release showed how ahead of their time they truly were. Their use of samples, mixing guitar riffs and electronic muisc was basically unheard of back in 1988 and Nivek Ogre mixes theatre, music and art and has managed to create something quite unique. The use of vocal treatments is also ahead its time and there are so many awesome tracks on it like one time one place, stairs and flowers and many others. I love their use of the vocoder, explosive keyboard sounds and Ogres angry and venom filled vocals.