Industrial music reviews

This is a solid couple of discs, it should probably have been named Brap: Back & Forth 3 & 4, because that is essentially what it is. I would not recommend newbies who might have been introduced to SP through "greater wrong of the right" to get this cd if they are looking to delve into SP's past, but only for people who already have all the staple skinny puppy albums. This is better than the newer released "back & forth 5" live in germany with zero new material. This at least has new material, I especially like the ambient pieces at the end very much in the vein of dragon experience. For those wanting to delve, start at the beginning and get "back & forth 2", make sure you turn the volume up.

This is a great little gift from SP to their fans. The CD has everything a fan could want: Great artwork, CD-ROM features (including a video of Spasmolytic), never-released material, and great live performances of classic SP songs (excluding the beginning of Tin Omen, which for some reason sounds like you're in a sewer). The older material that never saw the light of day (Jackhammer, Splasher, Double Cross) are not necessarily strong Puppy songs, but they are all great peeks into the inner workings of the band at their early stages. Since I love this kind of fodder, I was more than pleased with this release. If you're not a big Skinny Puppy fan, this is probably not for you. Instead, check out Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate, or perhaps Rabies. If you like what you hear, then please do continue to collect material from one of the more influential industrial/electro bands of our time.

This is, in my opinion, the best puppy album of all time (I have them all). One of the best 'Industrial' albums, also. This is the album that shaped my taste in music, and caused me to discard all my NIN, White Zombie, Etc.
Tin Omen, especially the version on this CD, is great... as well as Spasmolytic, Grave Wisdom, Double Cross, Nature's Revenge, TFWO, and Choralone (don't listen to choralone while on drugs).
Most people don't like it that well, and would probably be bigger fans of Rabies. If you've never heard of Skinny Puppy, this album probably isn't for you... it's an acquired taste.

This is an OK album if you're already a Neubauten fan; however, it's a very VERY weak intro to the band. Go get Haus der Luge or Halber Mensch instead. In the meantime, if you MUST buy this album, at least save yourself some agony and go directly to "Der Schact von Babel."

This is a great record from start to finish.Unlike some of their earlier stuff which can be a bit grating on the ears Ende Neu is both accessible and experimental. I highly recommend this one for anyone interested in checking out something different.

i had no clue what to expect from this album. i didnt know weather to expect just some random noise, or good music. theyve been called industrial, but its really like no other, and they dont hide behind that "well its art" curtain either. its really good, and has a soul. they use some weird items to make music, but youd just think its a sampler, or some random noise already created, but they record all the sounds themselves, which is interesting. this is an excellent release, and i plan to indulge in more of their albums. very melodic, and interesting music. catchy, and flows. i was quite suprised by this record, cause its excellent. if you want a good record, thats sung in 90% german, here it is.

this is DEFINITELY the single best lard release you can get your hands on. it's also some of jello's best work. you might recognise "forkboy" from the jail riot scene in natural born killers, and while that is an adrenaline junky's wet dream, there are also a ton of other equally great tracks on here! if you like jello, GET IT! if you like '88-'90 ministry stuff, GET IT!

Lard is a group I recently began listening to. In 1990, they were at the top of their game with The Last Temptation of Reid. To most fans of more pop-friendly metal in the late 80's / early 90's, the sound of the singer's voice will make one imagine of an angier Ace Frehley (from Kiss) meeting up with Motley Crue. Forkboy and Pineapple Head are pieces of hard thrashing metal. "Drug Raid at 4am" is the best example of the shocking and humorus mixtures. My personal favorite is the driving "war pimp renaissance". Jeff Ward from NIN provided the perfect beats for the album too.

If you're going to buy, steal, or a swap your sweater collection for a Lard album, this is the one to get. The first album, The Power of Lard, hinted at the band's potential. This album realizes it with brilliant lyrics and music. Where the first EP was almost novelty in its approach, The Last Temptation of Reid is a real album and is more focused and gratifying. One senses that at the time of the recording, the members felt more comfortable with each other, and not surprisingly, more ambitious. I've been listening to it since it came out and I still love it. And for Biafra fanatics, Bozo the Skeleton is one of the very few personal lyrics Biafra ever used.

All the songs on here are great. I Am the Clock is truly strange and is more akin to Time to Melt than anything on this album.

In the early 90's Jello Biafra could do no wrong musically. After the Dead Kennedy's, he broke off into side-projects and produced brilliant collaberation albums with both DOA and NoMeansNo, respectively. (East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride, and DH Peligro couldn't come up anything nearly as brilliant as Jello's works--one has to only look at their post-DK output. That's why they're reprocessing DK stuff.)

Fans of this album might also checkout the Jello releases with DOA and NoMeansNo, as well as, Ministry's collaberation with Ian Mackaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat), called Pailhead.

The music isn't much concerned with melody, just timbre, rhythm and atmosphere. The vocal delivery has so much personality, and the lyrics are so evocative, like Jane is some sleepwalking stowaway on a spaceship, telling you half-remembered stories and dreams. It sounds completely non-rehearsed. At the time this album was just another quirky alternative pop-rock album, but with that era behind us now, the album has proven to be so much more musically enduring than I would have imagined. More Than I Can is the most melodic, immediately catchy song, and a well chosen single, maybe even written for a single, but the stand-outs for me are Blank Suger and Dream Ridiculous Implausable, where Jane's multitracked vocals reach their peak of random colliding cuteness.

This album came out like the first firefly in summer when the guys were pretty much swamping the music scene. Her song release, "More Than I Can", actually did get airplay, and I considered it a hit. Don't let the title fool you. Jane is more serious than comic books, and she has more substance than your general "whore". Her lyrics are deep, intelligent, and insightful - profound poetry put to electronic, bass-driven, techno-type pop rock.

The true artistry is in the fact that all this meaning is cloaked in Interscope Records' plucking, prodding, and polishing. It's covert, almost, as if they tried to hide Jane Jensen behind a cardboard cut-out of a teenage boy's fantasy, and out leaked the supergirl. Isn't that the way it is, though? We gals learn early what personas are presentable, only to find the presentation isn't worth it at all. What counts is the stuff we've been hiding...the stuff of us. Take, for instance, "Clumsy", where Jane Jensen asks, "You want the girl that you see...so why the h*ll don't you want me?" Or the confessional, "Highway 90", where she admits, "I think about a girl, she lives so fast. She coulda been a Super Sonic Chica. If she could get off her *ss."

My personal favorites are the tracks where she gets strong in her lyrics, such as "Listen" ("You, You're going to listen to me now. You, You better watch yourself this time.") and "More Than I Can" ("That's just more than I can give. I'm gonna save myself first..."); and the tracks were she gets philisophical, such as "Be Just Sound" ("Kafka's no bedtime story.And you're no morning glory.") and "Superstar" ("So why you wanna be so quiet? Did the angels get to you too? You know we always misunderstand them. We always do.") But I won't spoil all the fun lyrics about Buddha and Mighty Mouse - you should absolutely check it out yourself. This album is a must-have.

I don't know why nobody has really caught on to Jane. I have never heard her on the radio, nobody I meet ever knows who she is. I have introduced her to many people who instantly become addicted. Comic Book Whore is one of the most amazing albums of all time. Jane has a beautiful voice and hypnotic tunes. The words to her songs grab your heart and soul. I have had this album for years and it is still one of my favorites. This is a style of music that will never fade with time. A MUST listen-to for any alternative music or rock and roll fan, especially those who admire significant women in rock. She knows what it feels like to be a woman!

Not quite as strange as Throbbing Gristle, but this industrial German band create songs with fast beats, lots of noise and weird squealing vocals. Theres one point on the album where the dude sings a note that sounds like fingernails scratching a chalk board..yikes.

I not much of a big fan of noise music like this, but it's not bad. I really love the song 'Sand', because it's completely different fom the rest of the songs, and it's also funny and sarcastic. I prefer this album much over their newer Perpetuum Mobile, which I thought was boring elevator music crap.

Apparently, someone in the small batch of reviews for this special little treasure box of a Teutonic industrial explosions, believed that this was entirely meant to be taken seriously.
These symphonies of cacophanous organized chaos (the best description I can find lies in this paradoxical statement) have been close to my heart ever since I first listened to the samples provided here. As a child I had thought that it would be just dandy if someone had the patience to arrange as many loud, destructive noises as possible into such an impressive song cycle.
Blixa Bargeld possesses the most surprising vocal assortment of almost any male performer I have ever heard....Unbridled precision and ungodly high-pitched caterwauls unfolding like a nightmare that you end up remembering with fondness because it was so enjoyable trippy.
Best of all, none of this comes off as particularly self-conscious or posing. Its waves of bludgeoning interlace like the disarmingly engaging factory/messhall/bulldozer choral riot instead of a forced concept. The rather awkwardly translated lyrics are also particularly accute, laced with the naturally twisted wit missing in so much music lazily piled under the "Gothic/Industrial" section of your local CD store.
In short, this is meant to be a sensory impact to all our reactive impulses; some will dig it, some will not--But they have been bludgeoned all the same!

If you plan to buy this album, please don't buy the version distributed by Thirsty Ear/Some Bizarre Records. The company has never paid the band for its recordings, and NONE of your purchase price will go to the creators of this exceptional music.

Another version is available through Indigo Records, and the group does get paid for those copies.

Seems like for every genre of music there is,a handful of bands will step barely outside the beaten path.'Metropolis' is SMG's fourth effort.Best described as industrial metal.Having John Fryer(White Zombie)to produce this CD didn't hurt either.Tracks that I thought showed Sister Machine Gun's true colors were "Living Without You","White Lightning","Admit"(for it's full string orchestration)and "Bitter End".Might appeal to fans of Gravity Kills,Fliter,KMFDM and possibly Deftones or Faith Nor More.

Without having a great frame of reference for Sister Machine Gun, I picked up Metropolis shortly after it came out on the recommendation of a friend, who's musical tastes are very much in tune with my own. I was extremely pleased to find this CD was right up my alley. Electro-rock has never sounded better! With it's industrial edge, this CD definitely turns it up a notch. 'This Metal Sky' really sets the tone and mood for the CD, with it's spoken word cynicism. It reminds me of KMFDM's 'Dogma' with spoken word by Nicole Blackman. 'Desparation' is a noisy, fast paced song that I give 5 stars! 'Temptation' makes me think of Ministry's Al Jourgenson in a crushed red velvet suit doing his imitation of a lounge singer. Except this song has a much more serious tone than Al would probably give it lounge singer style. 'White Lightning' is industra-billy (if there is such a category) for this country tinged number. 'Living Without You' has a jazzy feel. 'Torque' throws it into high gear with attitude. 'Think' is the same idea. 'Bitter End' is a slower, bassy number that really kicks. 'Cut Down' has a drum n' bass influence that Goldie would be proud of. But I have to agree with several other reviewers that the true high point of this CD is 'Admit'. It is an emotional, melodic, practically perfect piece.

I love this CD. There is some noisy guitar, electro beats, strong independent bass rhythms, just the right electronics, strings in some places. I eagerly anticipate the next album, hoping this diversity shines through on it as well.

This is really one of s.m.g's best "lost" peices of work, as awesome and well made as this album is, it really didn't see that much exposure like the other albums....why? I have no clue, some say it's because wax trax! didn't lift a finger to promote it. (i beleive it!)A real gem. first off you've got a darkly atmospheric intro featuring c.randall's wifee speaking with her voice lightly distorted over hyper-ventilated blips & bleeps talking about how the corporate world is trying to brain-wash you. Then from there we have an ecclectic album resuming many of the good old fashioned wax trax traditions, mixed up with new suave (but demented) tones. Think like "Burn" just sped up some, and much more polished. This is sister machine gun's last album from wax trax! after this c.randall started up his own positron! records. Best songs: "desperation" " what do you want from me" "think" and "torque". also "admit" will really suprise you, seems kind of odd at first but you understand the passion/fury behind the lyrics, then it grows on you.

Toast--nice, heavy opening track with a catchy chorus...speaks out against alcoholism

Peace Minus One--vocals on this track are really nice, the lyrics are, of course, biting

Educated Hate--creepy song about school shootings

Shocking--this song is really intriguing..I can't really explain it.

Wicked Within--bunch of bass and a woman with a New York accent ranting. It's fun to listen to, and it ends before it gets too drawn out.

Satan--good song, but it really could've just stayed on Unclean

Gridlock--nothing spectacular, I usually skip over this track

Spent--for some reason Amazon skipped over this in their listing. It's my 2nd favorite song on the CD...fast singing verse leading into some screaming and the chorus which isn't amazing, but the verse makes up for it

Fornicator--This is the best song on the CD...pretty heavy, and also somewhat funny to hear him say "That's why they call me FORNICATOR" a bunch

Rollercoaster--see gridlock

Slaves--my 3rd favorite song. Lyrics are really good too "everyone wants to make somebody cry and bring flowers at their funeral" and "id rather be a murderer--than to be a murder victim" screamed a couple times

The Most Horrible Word Every Spoken--some screaming, a little singing...nothing exciting

Come--This song is pretty interesting. Best ending song I've ever heard.

What happened to this band? Both this album and unclean are set for stardom!

I bought this CD after hearing the title-track on Music Choice TV. While I listened to it, my mind was ripped to shreds. Rorschach Test hit me with some of the most powerfull, pounding industrial sounds I've heard in a long time, while still providing a depth and substance to the songs which is so hard to find in most modern music. I've listened to my "Peace Minus One" CD several dozen times, I'll probably wear it out and have to buy a new one before too long. I also bought their major label debut "Unclean" shortly after, which is also a great listen. I think "Peace" is probably the best of the two, in my opinion, but it's a tough call. Standout tracks include the title cut, the pounding intensity of "Rollercoaster", "Satan" remastered from the first CD, and the thrashing beat of "Spent" This is really one of favorite CD's, and since Rorschach Test isn't flying across MTV all day, I doubt I'll get sick of it anytime soon. I think any fan of industrial groups like Static-X or Fear Factory, as well as good old metalheads like yours truly, would be proud to have this disc as part of their personal music arsenal.

This TKK album is one of my faves along with 13 above the night and confessions of a knife. I like the dance tracks the best like "temptation serenade", "radio silicon", and "flesh playhouse". This is definitely the strongest album TKK's put out in awhile. The last couple of albums had a lot of good songs, but quite a few stinkers too, while luna is solid the whole way through.

if you love the cult and you don't own this disc you are SERIOUSLY MISSING OUT.

my favorite album used to be 13 above the night.
(primarily because it mixed up all of their styles on one disc)

anyway,
the reincarnation of luna, pretty much takes 13 above the night, throws it on the ground, and urinates on it.

GET THIS ALBUM NOW!!!

Well, I wasn't sure this album would ever see the light of day. Their first studio creation in 5 years, alotta water's passed under the bridge. Whatta relief! This disc is sensational in every sense of the word. The production is seamless, the clarity of sound surrounds you. While still a little slim on the out-of-context, dialogue-bytes for my taste, there's more of 'em here than on "CrimeForAllSeasons". An element that I consider part of their definative signature.

To me, THE REINCARNATION OF LUNA is TKK's most musically accomplished work. McCoy's instrumentation is impeccable, and references most of his strongest muses, namely goth/industrial, lounge/jazz, techno/disco, and cowpunk/metal! Mann's vocalizing is also taking some interesting new turns here. Variations abound. Just having seen them on tour, I can attest to the fact that the BombGangGirl featured on this record: Lady Cherrie Blue is as effective a singer as she is a dancer. Similar to Cinderella Pussy.

The highlights here: "Hour Of Zero". Shockingly relaxed, but dark and cryptic. Mann's delivery is new, and refreshingly pure on this hip hop hybrid. Blue's soulsister backups are top notch here. Great melodies. Melodies!!!

"Untouchable Class" takes up where "SexOnWheels" & "The Golden Strip" left off. Guitar-heavy bump&grind deluxe. Great nasty lyric.

"Temptation Serenade" and "Flesh Playhouse" are dansefloor anthems at TKK's kinetic best. Hypnotic and multi-coloured.

"Girl Without A Planet", and "Heelz Afire": Dark, sleazoid, lounge-lizard, extravaganzas. Symphonic in density, maudlin AND hysterical simultaneously!

"Bettie" - Jazz in hells waiting room.

A spectacular comeback, and consolidation of their strengths.

Get THE REINCARNATION OF LUNA. You'll be glad you did.

Starts out exceptionally strong and slowly loses steam. After half the album you want to skip the rest. Certainly not as good as their previous CD Burn. Only worth the effort for the first 4 songs. "Carbon Copy Man" is a strong radio friendly hit and that is the only thing that will save this album from sale bins everywhere.

Chris Randell began to explore new and exciting sounds with the album BURN which was the first he produced on his own. With the next release he created a modern masterwork of pure rock and industrial dance grooves.

He has gone further into that groove on (R)Evolution. There are the standard rock heavy tunes like SMASH YOUR RADIO and CARBON COPY, but soon there after his interest in blues, jazz and even a little funk creep in and really begin to influence the music, and for the better I might add.

If you want music that stays in one very particular corner, never venturering to break its reigns then go elsewhere. But if you brave, soulful industrial rock, then SISTER MACHINE GUN is your ticket to ride.

Sister Machine Gun has been making quality music for a while now, and has teetered in different directions while accomplishing a balanced set of albums. The refinement of their sound can be seen in the first three works; with Sins of the Flesh kicking out a great first effort, The Torture Technique taking the band to some great heights, and then Burn getting quite a bit of acclaim. Along the way the sound changed a bit, refining into a techno-blender of vocals, blues, and beats, and I have to say I liked it. Torture Technique and Burn had just about everything one could want, and they hooked me and made me a SMG fan for life. The fourth album, Metropolis, was good but didn't continue the upward trend I had gotten accustomed to, but I thought that [R]evolution fixed that trend.

On [R]evolution, Sister Machine Gun had quite a few songs worth mentioning herein but they hit a reviewing wall because they stepped back from some of the techno-elements they're known for. They still kept the electronics, sure, but this seemed to stray more into electronic-jazz than the former releases did. Randall has always provided that anyhow, but this era of SMG strayed more and more into jazz and blues - as the side-project Micronaut showcased.

Transient One (nice, slow beat with solid - somewhat muffled vocals), Got To Be (slow, with an angry heartbeat), Closer Than Me (heavily showcasing a LOT of Jazz elements), Strange (saxaphone!), and Wrong (piano and symbol driven) are all a lot slower than previous works have been leading up to, and that's good stuff. A lot of Randall's strongest work is when he does something with regard to hurting or wanting, and these songs showcase that art. I'm really fond of Wrong because it has a cold sense in such a nice looking wrapper, with proclamations of "I've known you all along" oozing out of the lyrics. I'm also fond of "Got to Be" because I like the way Randall sounds when he does songs of that nature, almost blueprints for his vocals, and I love the sound of Transient One for the same reasons. Still, all these songs take a backseat to Vibrator. If Randall does slower themes well, then he does sensual even better and this song is probably the best of the album with regard to that. Its sexy and somewhat sultry, proclaiming that he "wants you tonight."

On the other side of the spectrum, Smash Your Radio! is one of around three "driven" songs on the album, giving the angst it has freely while spitting the may of mainstream music. The message was entertaining too, and shows how Randall really didn't like his moments in the spotlight. "It's a revolution, brothers and sisters." It just wasn't the revolution a lot of people were expecting.

and they are: 1) getting closer, 2) lightning man, and 3) fun to be had.

nitzer ebb was in the unfortunate spot of being 'industrial' before industrial really took off. in fact, i dare say trent reznor owes a nod or two to nitzer ebb. or nine or ten.

'showtime,' as others have mentioned, really is nitzer ebb's most accessible and commercial album -- and that's not a slight. the success of the three tracks mentioned above were the result of nitzer ebb building on the successes of their earlier singles, 'control, i'm here,' 'hearts and minds,' and the dance floor staple, 'join in the chant.' with 'showtime,' and particularly the three singles (much of the rest of the album really *is* filler) nitzer ebb firmly meshed industrial and dance. it wasn't aggressive other industrial bands, nor was it light enough to be anything *other* than industrial. the opener, 'getting closer' is an all out frontal assault on the senses. the stuttering baseline at the beginning builds the tension before the devouring everything in it's way. it's like a train that starts off slowly, building momentum, before chugging down the tracks. it's a brilliant track, and one that really, really gets the adrenaline pumping.

'lightning man' is an interesting song. if you have a chance to get the 'industry vs. the ebb' mix, do so. it's a more energetic version with one of the most killer synth lines you've ever heard.

'fun to be had,' rounds out the triumverate. it's a deceptive track. it's starts off rather benignly with it's bubbling bass line, and slightly sarcastic vocal (at least in tone). when the song finally does erupt, it's classic nitzer ebb:: adrenaline inducing, pulsating, mesmorizing.

it's amazing nitzer ebb didn't absolutely RULE the dance floors in the late 80s. they really should have. even an opening slot for depeche mode on the violator didn't crack them into the mainstream. fortunately, we still have their music to listen to. even if you're not a 'fan' of the 'industrial' music, you'll most likely find 'showtime' irresistable.

If you want down and dirty 'eine zwei drei vier' industrial, then this may not be the best album to buy.
I love this album. This is Nitzer Ebb in the beginning of thier 'Hey let's sell some records' phase.

Maybe it's just the nostalgia factor at play, but I love this album!!! There are so few weak tracks and the tracks all work together really well as a whole. I am of course still in love with "Lightning Man", a full fifteen years after seeing Nitzer Ebb do it live and being blown away by that particular song.

If you're a fan of older industrial music, this album must be part of your collection. It's the law.