Industrial music reviews

It is SO incredbily hard to rock the house with a tribute album--every fan knows the disappointment of listening to a bland and flaccid compilation. Yet HOT HANDS more than successfully blends the many ways musicians have been influenced by the dark, raw power of THROWING MUSES/Hersh/et al. into a heady, exhilarating stylistic trip through 17 interpretations of MUSES tunes: it also RAWKS!

True to the spirit and variety of the independent music scene and the way in which influence crosses across musical categories, the disc brings together a truly awesome variety of styles, everything from folk-tinged guitar ballads to synth-heavy dance tracks. Favorites: The Blood Group's 'Buzz,' Dirty Power's 'Hate My Way,' Phil Locke's 'Uncle June and Aunt Kiyoti,' Flare's 'Dizzy,' Taikonaut's 'Night Driving,' and John Ashfield's 'Portia.'

A tribute CD is a tricky thing. On the one hand, fans of a particular band want to see their beloved artist treated with the respect they deserve, yet the contributors need to show how the band has influenced their own sound which can lead to radical reinterpretations of the songs. Tribute CDs also expose the fans of contributing artists to (sometimes) an entirely new band, so the songs need to stand on their own to create any kind of cohesive, listenable work. Hot Hands succeeds on all fronts. Although I was vaguely familiar with the Muses from my college rock days, I didn't really know any of their songs. Likewise, I was familiar with a couple of the contributing artists but the bulk of them were unknown to me.

The styles here range from very heavy (industiral's rising young star HypoFixx, the skull-crushing metal of Dirty Power), to largely acoustic (Taikonaut, Kuma-chan co-founder Phil Locke, for whom this tribute CD was a labor of love), to pop (the incredible John Ashfield), to experimental (Washington DC sonic terrorist BLK w/BEAR), and a smattering of current indie favorites (The Blood Group, Xiu Xiu, Flare).

The songwriting of Kristin Hersh (and to a lesser extent Tanya Donelly) takes center stage in these songs about love and madness. Hersh has made it a habit to exorcise her demons through her material and the effect here filtered through the sounds of others is like the soundtrack to a really great film you'd like to see.

I own a lot of tribute albums to "legendary" bands but few of them are as repeatedly enjoyable as Hot Hands, which has lived in my CD player since I got it a few weeks ago. It's not only an educational resource for today's bands who want to see how self-referrential alt-rock came to the fore, it's also just a really satisfying listen. Recommended!

Being only an early-period Muses fan and a Kristen Hirsh NON-fan, I was skeptical about the quality of this disc when I received it as a gift, especially after buying so many tribute CDs that don't do justice to music in general, let alone the artists they're trying to celebrate. BOY WAS I MISTAKEN ABOUT HOT HANDS!! There's such a wide variety of sounds on here, none of which mimic The Muses or Hersh, that it holds up on its own merits and makes me want to pick up some of the original material!

...or the "kiss of shame", was, in medieval times, the act by which the devotee of the Devil would kiss the hind quarters of said Devil (in guise of a black goat) thereby sealing their allegiance to Satan and His evil. The Electric Hellfire Club are a (sometimes)no-nonsense, up-front, unapologetic Satanic band who shirk not their affiliation with Dr. Anton LaVey's notorious Church of Satan; Front demon/Lead vocalist/founder/chief sorceror/song-writer/programmer Thomas Thorn is an ordained "Reverend" in the Diabolical Diocese known as the Church of $atan. His henchmen include such mainstays as Six-string sorceror Herr Ricktor Ravensbruck and Goddess of Thunder Sabrina Satana on bass guitar and backing (and occasionally lead) vocals, forming the nucleus of the band which sounds the apocalyptic air-raid sirens for the new Satanic Age. I've chosen Kiss the Goat as the quintessential EHC work to date because it represents the most prolific page in Hellfire History due in part to songs dedicated to Kali (the Indian Goddess of Sex and Death!!), (...)
Forget....no....DELETE the imposters. The Electric Hellfire Club are the real deal America! Hail the Dawning of the Age of Fire!!! Hail Hellfire!!!

Techno-Goth from Hell! These synthesized minstrels certainly possess the Command to Look, & the artwork is impressive as well. The cover shows two loving & lustful Satanic Witches planting wet-ones on the Black Satanic Goat, with Baphomet on His forehead. Within, a scene of nocturnal Sabbatic debauchery.

There are thirteen songs in KISS THE GOAT, which makes for about an hour of evil entertainment. Is this the sound of the Sabbath of the future? Every tune has a complimentary picture with it, which makes it a feast for the eyes.

There are male {Thomas Thorn} & female {Sabrina Satana} voices herein, which is always a delightful combination, the different pitches compliment eachother nicely.

There's a gret little song called "Bitchcraft" about a Satanic Witch using her "hex-appeal" to obtain her desires, a-la THE SATANIC WITCH by Dr. LaVey. All the while bringing "sacrifices" to her main-man, Satanas. What a woman!

Also enjoyable, was the title song, & its repetetive chanting of "Pray To Satan". Very useful to play in the deep, dark night. "Creepy Crawler" is courtesy of The Partridge Family Temple. The Electric Hellfire Club spans the globe of grim subject matter, & sound effects.

KISS THE GOAT is dedicated to Dr. LaVey's son, Satan Xerxes Carnacki LaVey, born on Halloween of XXVIII A.S. Special thanks are given to Magister Peter Gilmore & Magistra Peggy Nadramia of COS, publishers of The Black Flame, which tells you something about The Club's solid affiliations.

The Electric Hellfire Club lead the way in their respective music genre, & I expect to see many other bands following suit.

I love this band. This is one of their best CDs. Buy this CD! It really smokes! Heavy metal. Acid rock. Gothic music. Black occult. Industral music. Totally Pagan. Fascist! Anti-Christian rock. Satanic images. Spooky tunes. Funny as hell. The sound track of the Littleton revolution. Creating a new youth for the Satanic Age. Party like it is 1969!
Wyatt Kaldenberg

Dismantled's "Postnuclear" is the most surprisingly genius album in Metropolis' spring line up. At times, it's brilliant and punishing and I wondered if "Armed and Ready" is what the T3's listen to on their way to battle. When I was least expecting it, the album turned gentle and nurturing ("The Swarm", "Exit"-listen to that piano work in there-and "From the Coma-Swept Ruins"). There's even two dance hits here: "A Shallow Light" and "Essence." This album is so great I found myself chewing my nails and reading the lyrics as I listened to each song.

Check out these lyrics for Enforcer:

Post couldn't rise
Nuclear past all these
Surface probe sworn perimeters
scanning for and besides
life signs all the wars
all either dead were just cheap
or praying for breeding contests
the next impact and unearthed, their ripped jaws still screamed

If you want a taste of the major theme throughout the album check out these lyrics:

Survivor

Awoke to find the sky below a swollen ground as it all lifted up
I heard no voices in the storm and even as they overburned
I've never felt more alive
They built me well against this dawn until
they led me through their righteous armoured gears
and as they grinded on I realized that I've swallowed whole
the corpse of my belief...

At times brutal to the ears, at times medicine for the soul, frontman Gary Zon is the next Trent Reznor. For a sophomore release, Dismantled's Post Nuclear has taken "aggro-electro" to a whole new level. Bravo, Gary!

I've been looking for some good hardcore industrial, and have been disappointed with the scene recently, that is until I stumbled across this CD. Words can't describe it, go buy it!

Dismantled is the musical outlet for Gary Zon. He released his first album "Dismantled" in 2002 on Metropolis-Records. It spun off the single "Dystopia". Which took dance floors by force. Giving recognition enough to build a Dismantled cult following. Now Gary returns to deliver his sophmore release "Post Nuclear" in 2004. Also on Metropolis.
With this album Dismantled evolved. Upon just one listen you can tell this record is more personal. The formula has only been tweeked slightly. Many tracks like "Armed and Ready","Backwards",And "the Swarm" Stick to the basic structure. With Chopped harsh vocals,Breaks,and noise a plenty. Then tracks like "Had a Life","Exit","Cornered",And "from the Coma-swept Ruins" use more of acoustics to build up tention, and there are actually bits of untreated vocals. No distorted screams here. I was very impressed with this new turn of direction.
Anyone who likes Electro/Noise would love this album. Anyone who owns the first record would also. I recomend this album to everyone. Support the artist who actually deserve it. And Dismantled is 100% deserving. For more info check out the official website.

KGS

Beautiful, just beautiful. An album with substance. Dark with passion. After listening to some of that mainstream kid crap like Avril or Goo-goo dolls (if you're ever at a six year old's birthday party or something) then this is exactly the type of good music you need to get that crap out of your head. A typical Mentallo & the Fixer album has to be listened to from beginning to end. Not the type of album you just pick out a couple of songs you like and skip the rest. Every song is essential in the flow of the album. Unlike many other groups, M&tF doesn't put out one song on an album that sticks out above the rest. That's not their style. Each album has it's own unique sound. Some may catch you right away, others may not really affect you. As on Algorythym I didn't really feel much from that one. It didn't really grasp me. Where Angels Fear to Tread on the other hand is probably my favorite.

If you're a fan of Wumpscut, Leather Strip, Imperative Reaction etc. then this may be just what you need. And yes, they are from Texas. Who would expect this type of music to come from there? But hey we got grapefruit, hot sauce and presidents from there, so who knows what we'll get next.

the state of Texas is probably the last place you'd expect Industrial music to spring forth from, considering how several Industrial acts hail from either Chicago (Ministry), Vancouver (Skinny Puppy), or any major city in Germany (practically every band on the Zoth Ommog or Metropolis label). but this Dallas-based duo consisting of brothers Gary and Dwayne Dassing demonstrates that you don't need to hail from Europe to write music that sounds as though the apocalypse is dawning. they have taken their influences of Gary Numan, OMD, and The Cars and created a monstrous concoction of aggressive beats on tracks like 'Decomposed' and 'Virtually Hopeless', but they have also created a wonderfully beautiful soundscape in the form of 'Battered States Of Euphoria.' of all their releases, this one seems to loosen up on the rage factor more than any other album. but Mentallo And The Fixer has no intention of ever going soft. and that fills me with euphoria.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this album. A few years ago, I heard Burnt Beyond Recognition, and did not enjoy it, even after many listens. But, Where Angels Fear to Tread is FANTASTIC. It is a rich and varied collection of music, some of it immediately and obviously beautiful (e.g., "Battered States of Euphoria"), some of it thunderously violent (e.g., the awesome "Bring to a Boil"). It is very melodic, but at the same time has heavy beats and complex noise arrangements. The recording is not as crisp as modern pop music, but that is not a significant problem. One song, Atom Smasher, is ruined by movie sample overuse. But, the bottom line is that this is excellent music, well worth owning.

I kind of see this as an early greatest hits remix album. You'll find alot of the early classic's remixed on here. Most of the remixes on this album do infact turn out to be better than the originals. My personal favorite on this CD is "The Choke". The spooky horns are really intense on this one. There is also a cool "Testure" remix on this album that is really good. Its a bit longer than the original, but the changes sound better. "Assimilate" is awesome on this album. This version is the best no question. Very powerful. The only thing I would have done different if I were them would be to only do 1 Stairs and Flowers remix and take another song off of ViviSectVI and put it in its place.
This CD really is a must have for the true Puppy heads. The songs that they chose to remix are all good ones. If you don't have this one get it....I think you'll like it.

Skinny puppy.....real music for real people.

You need this CD for the remix of Chainsaw, Assimilate, and Addiction! All very cool! AFter you hear Chainsaw, you'll know why Skinny Puppy is one of the best industrial bands ever!

I said it, and I mean it. This is their best. Even though there aren't any new songs on here, the way that it is put together... with all the songs flowing beautifully into eachother, makes this CD a better experience than any other Puppy album. If you like Skinny Puppy I would hope that this CD is in your collection, or at the top of your shopping list.

mine is the one-track version, which is safer in the car.

i saw the video first, so I guess I can't imagine what having tracks would mean. you get that sense of the video, performance and focussed presentation, especially as the songs evolve.

i think skinny puppy plays together--as a group--the best on this cd.

This is the first Puppy Cd I ever heard, and this is what got me addicted to them. After this Cd, I went out and bought all the Puppy Cds. Every song on here is great, even all the Brap. If you ever get a chance to buy the actual video recording of this perfomance, buy it, its insane. You thought Manson was crazy on stage, think again, Ogre is the greatest.

I bought this when it first came out (back in the olden days) and thought it was their first album!!! Although I was just purchasing music at that time by how the album cover looked (I lived in New Mexico so had no idea what anything really sounded like) and I really didn't listen to this album for a year after I bought it, it truly is one of their best albums ever.

Although not as poppy or fast as some of their earlier albums, this album to me defines more of what a Goth band was than any other album. It's one of those albums where you have to make yourself listen to it HARD!!! But, when you do, it rewards you.

Gothic music always lived in the shadow of early 70's glam rock of the likes of David Bowie and the Velvet Underground and aside from later industrial and punk influence that divided it into further catagorys "Ashes" is an album that ate its own cake that it baked.

The Valor/Rozz arguement is gone for now while this CD plays we are refresehed that goth can have some real soul too. A creative peak in thier career, nothing was before it or after it was done quite as well. The production work is terrific and each of the stars made of this work Rozz/Gitane/Valor all had a chance to really show.

If you buy nothing else from Chirstian Death this album will justify it. Although for some insight try "Valor's Christian Death" = "Jesus Points the Bone at You" and "Rozz's Christian Death" = "Only Theatre of Pain" both these albums are heavier versions of each mans Christian Death ...

This album is the epitome of the great things Williams and Kand acheived while they were making music together. No Christian Death record since, whether Rozz or Valor, comes close to the masterpiece that is Ashes. Valor's guitar in 'When I was Bed' is arguably his best recorded work ever. Rozz's vocals and lyrics are haunting and mysterious - poetry to read, ecstacy to listen to. If you want to hear a classic example of Christian Death, don't pass up on this record. Iron Mask? Toss it into the waste bin. Ashes will make you a beleiver.

First off: I'm not the kind of guy that spends time writing reviews for every CD in his collection.
But this SPK cd is really so damn great I couldn't resist. If you want to hear TRUE industrial - not this lame "goth" stuff of the past decade - buy SPK's Auto Da Fe. After all these years, this one still sounds amazingly powerful and inventive.

It includes their first two singles(!), some tracks from 1982 and their '83 E.P. "Dekompositiones".

Recommended tracks:

"Kontakt" - a great electropunk track. If you like Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag nag nag", you'll like this one too.

"Germanik" - those barking german vocals!

"Slogun" - the definition of 'HARSH'! It starts off with distorted moaning and screaming, kinda like a sample of a snuff movie, or someone getting electrocuted. Really disturbing. My wife gets scared when I put it on. Then suddenly there's a noisy and really intense, aggressive synth rhythm and a guy screaming 'SPK! SPK! SPK!' on top. Pure sonic terror - it'll make you want to kill everyone in sight.

"Metal field" - starts of like an early Cabaret Voltaire piece, then turns into a pretty danceable industrial/wave song with DAF/early Front 242 sequences.

"Another dark age" - great electro/wave with dark vocals, akin' to early Front 242.

This is their best release, definitely.

...back when Industrial culture was dangerous, cynical and determined to spread it's message. Back when Industrial culture actually existed. The time of SPK when a time when Industrial was not just a style of music, but a philosophy. Not dance music, not techno-pop, not electro goth or electro metal. Industrial was cultural, social and sometimes political propaganda. It was sonic terrorism. Industrial meant clanging machinery, scrap metal, screeching analog electronics, feedback, mutated post-punk noise, primitive ethnic rhythms, and anti-musical experimentation. If you want the true Industrial experience, rather than what MTV and magazines tell you is Industrial, this cd is a perfect place to start. It has all of the above and more.

This is the strongest release from SPK.The ear-shredding track Slogun is a benchmark Industrial track. Hatd to believe these are the same guys who went Euro-pop a few years later. A MUST OWN for fans of industrial/noize but NOT for the faint of heart.

I first heard Dargaard on a radio webcast, and although I enjoyed it (quite casually), I was convinced that it was part of the score to some random fantasy RPG. I swear, these people must play hours of Baldur's Gate, because their stuff sounds exactly like its ambient theme music.

Still, it's much better than Death Metal.

If you're interested in this type of music, I'd suggest listening to any score by Jeremy Soule.

Haunting, epic, you name it... Imagine the final battle of armageddon, good vs. evil. Lucifer, demons, angels, humans and God meet in one heck of a battle while having dargaard as the music in the background. People, this is one gem of a cd, very rare by the way. Only for the elitist who use music as a way to get tranported to other worlds or simply for those who love good music.

I bought this album along with "The Dissolution of Eternity" album, just out of blind faith. From reading the great reviews, and hearing the awesome sound clips, I thought it'd be worth the shot... was I right! This is simply put, some of the most incredible instrumental music I've ever heard. I say instrumental because the female vocalist's voice is so beautiful, it blends in so well with the smooth music that the voice in itself could be considered an instrument. It really is awesome. At some points the male vocalist comes in with his dark, creepy vocals which adds some variety. Like another reviewer said, it works great as backround music. There's nothing I love more than dark, haunting, beautiful music and this can only be described as that. You could not buy my Dargaard CD's off me for $100.

i bought this a while ago and really wasn't into it, but i've been getting more and more into lately. part of the reason why i gave it a second chance is because ian is absolutely my favorite vocalist ever. he's not the best vocalist ever, but he's f***ing awesome.

anyway, into the review part of this. this is super monotonous, but in a really good foot tapping sort of way. i was never very into ministry and i think that this sounds nothing at all like anything al has ever done. this is definately a complete about face for ian.

"man should surrender" absolutely had to have been the groundwork for QOTSA's "feel good hit of the summer" and there is nothing wrong with that as both songs are pretty damn good.

for anyone that is a fan of embrace, fugazi, ministry, queens of the stone age, etc.

it's definately not the best thing in the world, but if you let it grow on you you'll find yourself bringing it with you in the car all the time.

This is the album I pull out and lend to friends when it seems like they need some unexpected joy in their lives. The music here is EXACTLY what you'd expect from an Ian McKaye and Al Jourgeson duo. You can immediately pick out their respective offerings. Very distinct, very individual. And yet it's something entirely new. Think peanut butter and jelly. Both their own thing by their own rights, but together, they form perfection.

And, I almost never use sexual terms when describing music, but this is one of the few times that I do. "I Will Refuse" is simply ORGASMIC.

When Ian Mckay says "I'm F**kin' Ready!" at the beginning of I Will Refuse you can almost picture a slugfest in the studio where this was recorded. While I'm sure that there was no animosity between Mr McKay and Mr Jorgenson, the tension on the recording is thick enough to cut with a knife. These two are in full power on this album. Politically charged and never at a loss for good musical ideas. The fact that it is too short only makes it better; it leaves you wanting more. It is a must for any Underground/Indusrial library.

Don't Stand in Line contains the code for success in modern culture.