Industrial music reviews

When I first listened to the Kidneythieves' Zerospace CD I was enthralled, I loved every aspect of it. So naturally when I was given the opportunity to get their debut CD, Trickster, I jumped at the chance thinking it would be even more emotional and intense. What I was greeted with upon first listen was a much more industrial feel, very reminiscent of a Nine Inch Nails record, and Free Dominguez's voice has so much more passion in it (if that's even possible). For my money, this is one of the best debuts I've heard in years.

If there's one reason I like Trickster better than Zerospace I'd say that I just like the entire experience more. Take Pretty, that is one of the most powerful songs I've heard in a long time and it's not even that heavy. What makes Pretty so powerful is the lyrics and the delivery of the lyrics, Free definitely proves her worth on that track. Or take the instrumentation on Feathers, it's incredible. I like how the songs are presented on Zerospace, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that Trickster is way better.

As a whole the CD feels and sounds complete. There's not one certain song that drags, they all have a pretty consistent pace throughout. In fact, every song, to me, is nearly flawless. There are parts of songs that could be a bit better, but it's nothing so bad that it's unlistenable, or even noticeable really.

My favorite songs are Feathers, Creature, K, Pretty, Pleasant. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a CD as much as I do Trickster. I mean the lyrics are amazing, the instrumentation is perfect, the vocals are delicate yet so intense, basically vocals only Free Dominguez could portray. I wouldn't suggest anyone look over this band or CD, if you're a fan of rock, this is for you. There are two wonderful tracks that aren't included in this version though, only on the Trickstereprocess available through their website, so I'd definitely recommend getting that version instead.

awesome CD it sounds so good I had to buy the one with the DVD
"trickstereprocess" from their site
This CD/DVD release have the same songs from Trickster but is completely digitally remastered in addition to 5 new bonus tracks and has a DVD with unseen footage to come with it. Is under the cheapest used priced here. Check it out

I heard about Kidneythieves when I was playing an awesome PC game called Deus Ex: Invisible War. I was told there were six songs in the game from the album Tricksterreprocess and after hearing the songs, I went online to their site and bought the album. I did some more research and found out that reprocess is the digitally remastered version of Trickster, plus reprocess contains two new songs and a bonus DVD. But since Tricksterreprocess is only available at the KT website, I thought I'd post my review of it underneath the Trickster album. I plan on getting every KT album that's on here! Every track stands out in its own way, plus within the crowds of NIN and such, Kidneythieves stand out on their own. They need their own crowd for their type of music!

Does anyone know if they're still around? I just recently went to their site and found out that the latest update from them since was late 2004. Please e-mail me at XNAILSTORMX@aol.com with the subject "KT Status."

KT Forever!

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.

to many bad words (except for this version) to evil, and never slap jesus. hes the man. And I hate voodoo. its evil man! I laugh at the album cause its so rediculous. I do give them credit because they sound AWESOME but like, have bad toppics. not recommended for any religious ppl.

Keep Away is an awesome tune, you can hear a little bit of layne staley from alice in chains in sully's voice, best song on there. another great dark song is voodoo.

It's good, Whatever and Keep Away, everyone knows them and loves them. Very hard and fist pumping. Bad Religion is the best song, very rock radio friendly. Voodoo is a nice little creepy kind of number. Very cool and melodic. The use of percussion on it is really great. Worthy effort.

'SunnyPsyop' has it's moments. The tone of the album is blatantly darker than 'Welt', but I really feel that this album was rushed. That, or they literally just took un-used B-Sides from 'Welt' to make an album.

The sound is here. The thumping electronics, the gritty guitars, and Ogre's ass kicking vocals. But the songs just don't do it for me in some senses. Albeit, the songs I enjoy are great. But beside that, I feel this effort was a little short and hurried.

"Majik", "Watergate", and "Endai" are among the few favorites I enjoy.

I do not really like SP's new sound upon reforming (and I'm sure a decent amount of fans agree). So maybe Ogre could take a break from them and work a little more on his side project...?

Welt was pretty good, but this one blows that record out of the water. It is so much more lush and varied in style. Songs like Jako and Majik are highlights. One or two may be less memorable but as a whole this proves that Ogre can hold his own ground. I dont mind one bit that he is singing, even if I did prefer his sick as hell distorted vocals that were present on earlier puppy releases. He sounds great on here and I totally recommend this to Ogre and Cevik Key fans alike. Also get Cevin Key's "The Dragon Experience." That record is also essential like SunnyPsyOp is and all Skinny Puppy albums are!

Now, to everyone going on a bitchfest about how this isn't "Skinny Puppy", GUESS WHAT? It's not! Go ahead, Read the cover. It says "oGhR!" I ABSOLUTELY ADMIRE Kevin Ogilvie for this project. That's right, folks, a project, NOT SKINNY PUPPY! That's like referring Cevin Key's side projects as Skinny Puppy. Sunnypsyop + WELT are both a breath of fresh air for the fans. This is not a permanent sound, yet a PROJECT. A VVEEERRRYY INTERESTING PROJECT. :) Take a listen... You won't be sorry. It's more than unique, DIFFERENT, upbeat and witty.

=nihilisticmystix=

Filters latest single "Take A Picture" is the pinnacle of pop rock. With good vocals, lyrics, music and hooks.

This song never bores.

This is a great song.The lead singer's voice finds its way perfectly through a beautiful haze of guitars,percussion,and synthesizer.

I love this song! Take A Picture is like the best song ever! Plus, this cd is enhanced so you can watch the video on your computer. What is cooler than being able to watch your favorite band 24/7 whenever you want? There's nothing cooler!

Incredibly boring, repetitive and unimaginative sludgy thumping EBM. Every song is exactly (EXACTLY) the same, with the same rhythm and approximately the same lyrics. I would admire Funker Vogt's work as a single military concept album (the uniformity of music fits the theme), but they keep churning out the exact same stuff on every single disc.

They are essentially a one-trick band. I actually quite like some of their remixes (they've done particularly good work with Velvet Acid Christ and Front Line Assembly), but their original work is just plain bad. If you're looking for angry and hard-pounding stuff that actually has some art to it, check out Suicide Commando's industrial / EBM or Combichrist's grinding electro.

Great album. Love the layout, the tracks are solid, Funker Vogt sets the bar!

This is by far the best Industrial album ever made. period. Every single song, except possibly "buried alive", is amazingly well done and addicting (buried alive seems a little too "bland" to me, somehow). Even a p2p maniac would want to go out and buy this album; as it is absolutely perfect.

want something dark and danceable? this cd is sweet. there are only like 2 or 3 slow songs on it. the rest is just pure Assemblage 23 ebm at it's finest.

This is a good cd, but the gloomy depressed atmosphere is a bit smothering. Two songs do stand out, though, "Disappoint" and "Awake". The rest are ok, but heavy and not as danceable. Sometimes this sounds a little like Gary Numan. The vocals sometimes go monotone and flat. If you like depressing EBM, this is for you, but if you want something a little more risky and adventurous, try either Covenant--"The United State Of Mind" or In Strict Confidence "Holy"

"Naked" will be forever the standard by which I judge other EBM/synthpop/TI music, and it's only one of the delicious aural treats that Tom Shear has in store for avid listeners on this album.

Along with being a highly congenial and very patient person with his fans, Mr. Shear is both an accomplished vocalist and an excellent composer. He avoids the traps that many TI groups--even VNV Nation, which I also love with all my heart!--fall into on Failure and indeed all of his albums of keeping his songs from becoming the same set of beats and loops with different lyrics expressing the exact same message. The brutally honest self-affirmation of "Naked" progresses to the counterculture warning of "I Am the Rain" to the heart-wrenching, elegiac "Disappoint" to "King of Insects" and its hauntingly personal warning over a gorgeous piano line. While there are some tracks I like less on this album, in large part because Shear cloaks his magnificent voice in fuzz and static ("Silence" and "Tried" come to mind), they're still enjoyable listening, and the true message of the lyrics still hit home.

Buy this. Then go buy the rest of Assemblage 23's albums.

This has to be some of the most furious music ever made. In college (where I was when this came out), one my friends said the military should play this before battle. When the album cover and liner consist of terrible pictures of concentration camp victims, you know you are not in for a pleasant easy listening experience. It also features sampled shouts of "Sieg, Heil!" (Nazi cheer, "hail victory"), Arabic prayers, mission control chatter of a disastrous space mission, etc. Abrasive and nihilistic and frankly unpleasant, but undeniably powerful. Stigmata and Land of Rape and Honey stand out. This music played enough could be used as a torture instrument or maybe to knock down buildings, it is simply punishing to listen to.

Ministry is a million times better than the whiny Nine Inch Nails. Al Jourgensen can drop kick Trent Reznor and pimp-slap him til he turns beet-red. Anyway, this CD RULES! Buy now!

This is a brilliant mix of electronic music and metal and defines what is true industrial rock. Prior to this release one had not heard such an album and I remember not liking at the time that I bought it. I was expecting music that only involved keyboards and was against the use of guitars at the time. However, now with a much broader palate for music I truly appreciate it for what it is. There are so many good tracks on this album, however, the first three are truly gems, starting with stigmata, followed by the missing and deity. The book-let is a strange story with a cryptic picture on the front and not much information inside. Yet the quality of this album is truly the begining of the new harder and rougher Ministry and the begining of a new style of music blending electronics and metal and the end result is nothing short of brilliance.

An EP released to fulfill fan demands for live material. The CD not only features live blistering renditions tracks from the mammoth known as Antichrist Superstar, it also includes remix tracks, notebly a favourite activity among the Manson crew.

See U in the Future...

This is an ep by Marilyn Manson withawesome remixes and two great live songs. This is how I rate them all.
The Horrible People 8/10: This remix was really cool but got annoying at points. Still a great remix but no original.
Tourniquet Prosthetic Dance Mix 9/10: I loved the original and this one is just as good.
Dried up, tied up, and dead to the world 10/10: This song is so great and the sound is perfect and I usually don't like live songs but this blew me away. The audience was great.
Antichrist Superstar 12/10" This is one of Mansons most powerful songs and is perfectly showcased in this live version
man that you fear accoustic 8/10: An accoustic version of MTYF is pretty cool. Manson's original is great to but this one seemed to be a lot more dark and mysterious. SOmething Manson does very well.
Overall this album was great.

I think Marilyn Manson realy has talent but most people dont see that.Now this 5 track CD a really good for just 5 songs.If dont mind I'll tell you what I think.

The Horrible (9/10)- this is a really cool mix of da beutiful people.

The Tourniquet prosthetic dance mix (7.5/10)-I still think the original tourniquet from AntiChristSuperstar was better.But this one is ok it's just not one I would listen to over and over again.

Dried up,tied,and dead to the world (live) (10/10)-This a great song even the album version was good.But this is better in my opinion.

AntiChrist Superstar (Live in Hartford,CT)(12/10)-I think this live version of this song is better than the one on Last day on earth.Even the original version of the song.

Man that you fear (Acoustic requiem for antichrist superstar)(13/10)-This is another song better then it's original self.When Manson was recording this it sounded if he was more depressed than when he was recordeing it for antichrist superstar...SAD SONG...

I purchased this album yesturday and simply can't get enough of it.

I'm not sure why exactly it seems to be getting so many bad reviews; sompe people seem to be complaining that its not just one genere of music: "Goth rock", "Goth", "Darkwave" or whatever else when apparently they haven't even read the booklet that came with this compliation cd

"Orginally, this collection was going to be similar to previous releases such as Goth Box, in that it would feature only "Gothic music", When compiling began, it became blatantly obvious that the material needed a fresh approach." etc. etc.

As for the people that say that the songs choosen for this album were "mundane" or unorginal, or whichever else; I wonder why they purchased this set in the first place without even looking at the back of the box; everything is clearly marked there plane as day.

I don't mean to start any kind of "Flame war" here, but I feel that the negative criticism that this album has recived is un-fair based on the incompetence in its authors.

Oh, the person I had purchased this compilation from also meantioned that it seems that this is also going out of print, so if you manage to track down a copy I would highly suggest not passing up a chance to get this.

A nice mixture of different dark styles. From the usual suspects of Spahn Ranch, Ministry, Bauhaus and Switchblade Symphony to some of less well known stars of the dark side.
Some surprising choices from those bands, like choosing a song off of Ministry's keyboard album instead of the even darker stuff that was to follow.

While most of the people buying it probably already have a lot of what's here, the things you don't make it worth it. If you like Darkwave, industrial/goth, etc., etc. it's well worth the price.

I suppose it's difficult to please fans of Goth, who tend to look on the gloomy side of things by definition, but I think this collection is very good! There are four CDs in a nice case and the extensive liner notes are quite informative and entertaining.

Here you'll find cuts from Alien Sex Fiend, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Magenta, Die Krupps, Mission UK and many others, many of them on a compilation or for US distribution for the first time. Of course not all of your favorite groups will be here and you would undoubtedly have put on a different song than the one selected, but with the great range of music and the great written information, chances are you will learn something as well as discover a few new favorite groups.