Industrial music reviews

Decent late '90's effort from the Ozrics.Total of seven tracks.The absolute best being the disc's closer "Meander",which is nearly worth the price of admission alone."Oolite Groove" and the eleven-minute title cut "Curious Corn" are also good.Overall,another piece of Ozric Testacles(that's TENTACLES!)giving fans some more 'new age' neo-space rock tunes to trip on.Worth checking out.

The Ozrics usually never made people wait for more than a year for a new effort, but this time they made an exception. Between 1995 when they released Become the Other (which turned out to be their final for Dovetail) and 1997 when they released Curious Corn on a new label (Madfish), there were no releases for '96. Curious Corn marks the second release with Rad and Seaweed. For me I thought the music has improved over Become the Other, the performances are more solid. It's also more techno-oriented than most of what came before (except for Strangeitude). The first four cuts are just nothing short of amazing, but the next two cuts sound like they were slacking, but they rebounded with a great electronic/ethnic piece called "Meander". The cover features more great artwork from Blim, and the CD copy I have has a pseudo-acid ink blotter (which if you look carefully is actually a psychedelic silhouette of the band performing live). If you're a fan of the Ozrics, then this will probably be in your collection, although I feel several of their other releases are better (Jurassic Shift, Arborescence, The Hidden Step, even Sliding Gliding Worlds, The Bits Between the Bits, and There is Nothing).

This band may not be well known, but they are a real treat. Lovers of psychedelic music and creative Rock should own at least some Ozric Tentacles. I own what I believe to be their best music. I have Erpland, Jurassic Shift, Strangeitude, Pungent Effulgent, Curious Corn, and the Floating Seeds Remixed album. Curious Corn is one of my favorites. But the others are great too. They utilize so many things to make their music. It is really interesting, and never offensive. Pick up some or all of the titles I just mentioned if you like their vibe. It's all good!

I got this CD during my Leeb-fascination days. I sampled a bit of everything by Leeb and thought Drill was pretty good so it lead me to this. I sold Drill shortly after buying this as I uncovered the true essence of NU. Every track on this disc is pure, hope you like it as much as I.

Decoder being the 1996 release from Noise Unitis a very well produced instrumental album that can be said to have borrowed from a plethora of genres. Leeb borrows some from trance, a bit from techno, ebm, techno and electro music. The end result could end in becoming just utter chaos but it is not. This is an extremly well produced album and one can definetly hear that they hand picked the sounds. I love the sphere on the cover and the text is cool, but the book-let has nothing but a discography and that stinks. Even so this is a very nice album and I love to listen to it.

I listen to this album constantly while in my 'workshop'. It's driving. Also has a good many layers and mood shifts throughout as well as some interesting thematic 'vocals'. Bill Leeb does it again and again, and if you are a Delerium fan but need something a little more peppy, you might want to check this one out.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only release from Error to date; a short and structured EP that presents something raw and aggressively new, despite many other bands' attempts to pull off what they've done flawlessly here.

Error has succesfully blended real punk with drill and bass, and it's intense. The vocals are filtered and destroyed but discernable, and the crunch of the synth tones and breakbeats brings the anger accross in a way that very few "electronic" groups have even come close to accomplishing.

As others have stated, Jack the Ripper is a stand out track... it's catchy and brutal. I'd also like to note that their cover of the punk song Homicide is pretty incredible. They basically took the song and made it their own, which is something that most covers fail miserably at.

All in all, it's a really affordable and worthwhile purchase, but I think (and hope) that it is a sign of great things to come. The EP is too short to really dig in and get a feel for the band, and they've practically dissapeared off the face of the planet since it was released.

I still hold out hopes of seeing them play live. If they could transfer the energy and structured brutality from this CD to the stage, that would be something to see...

I'm someone who used to love industrial..that is until it seemed that all the new stuff out tehre had the same beat and was geared toward dancing but not much else..Knowing that, understand that I think this ep is frickin awesome!
I LOVE every song on this disc..but my favorits are easily nothings working and jack the ripper..
Get this if you miss frssh sounding acts in the dance saturated industrail scene..

its such a small cd.. 5 songs.
but dont let that stop you from buying it
its hard to finda cd these days that EVERY song on it is good
and yeah, the actualy disc is really cool looking..
..youll see it after you buy it. :-)

This album is absolutely wonderful, just like all of Covenant's material. It shows a wide range of electronic music and is laced with wonderful vocals. It also contains what I would consider one of the top ten EBM songs of all time, "I Am".

If EBM is good future-pop is best!

In a world where the humdrum sounds of voices without messages and music without meaning seems to mesh hand in hand with the tastes of the listening population, there are other things, diamonds buried beneath a fragile Earth, that many people either don't hear or simply fail to recognize. I'm not certain why that is or why messages with meaning find themselves slighted in this age of pop glamorization and industry fads, but one thing is for certain. We, the listeners, are forced to peer and prod at the scene more and more, scoping out the icons that birth nations of thoughts within their outstretched hands. In their early releases, Covenant can be found as one such band, giving many things that are unique to audiences trained to feast on the simplistic diets that other EBM acts have tried to force into people's minds. Its within their lyrical workings, their beats that seem to flow, and the way that their music meshes together that makes it such an impactual force, and something I find myself listening to years after the fact.

In Europa, many heartfelt spectrums are touched upon in the conveyance of that emotional rainbow, drawing forth beats bathed in the blood of hardship and pain, love and remembrance, and especially that manufactured in defiance. These are all set to beats that keep the body sounding off without a slowdown in their inner workings, and feeding the audience that cares nothing for the message behind the motivation. Still, for the people that do, there are other factors present as well. Within the contents of "Tension," there is a cry that tells you that you aren't alone in noticing that something is amiss in the social wreckage lying about you. In "Leviathan," one of my favored tracks listened herein, there is almost an account that states that everything runs in cycles, that kingdoms rise and crumble only to be born again. In "Walls of Sound," perhaps one the best songs I've heard in quite some time, there is a notation about how we are all diamonds in the ground simply waiting to be found but that we are captives in this wailing wall of sound. Still, this is only an inkling of what is contained herein.

If you want something that has the means to captivate the mind and make the body move within the same motions, I would suggest Covenant as a band worth looking into and Europa as a wonderful starting point for the inquisitive eye. It has a little bit of everything within its nature, all of its adornments leading toward one point in space that seems to define humanity and its social spectrum, and does so in quite an array of fashions. Recommended.

Ok people don't be mis lead. I popped this cd into my cd drive of my computer and listened to it, a little stunned that Amy didn't sing the ENTIRE TIME.. thinking ok, weird. but when i ripped it, the information said that the ARTIST was SCORN and the ALBUM was EVANESCENCE. to all of those EVANESCENCE fans, do not buy this cd, its by the artist SCORN not EVANESCENCE. just a heads up.

At first I thought that I was getting an Evanescene album, but realized that it was not Evanescene after listening to it. I really do enjoy this band's music, a band which I have never heard of before. Talk about an interesting way to find a new band!

This is by far the best release from Scorn,I highly recommend it.I have listened to this cd countless times over the years and never tire from hearing it.A note to the review by "computer boy",it's not bad labeling,it's you not paying attention to what you were getting.Scorn existed years before the band Evanescence ever did,and the Scorn release of Evanescence came out at least a decade before the band was heard of.

There is so much better music out there to discover and enjoy. Don't waste your time with this double album. Try Ethereal Melodic Trance instead, for one.

psygone and the ozone songs just absolutely kick ass, and i guess there are others out there, now its hard for me to respect this cd cuz my tastes have been changed quite a bit, and funny its because of the songs by those two artists, they are great trance house tunes and i will always love em, its hard now for me to like comps, cuz i hate trippy techno or commercialized crap like the gravy train song or whatever it is, and the cars song was boring redundant and a horrible addition to the wonderful world of techno, i dont understand some peoples taste when it comes to preferences, when they claim that something is complex and stunning i think its boring and obnoxious, sorry people but im an oakenfold fan or van dyke or bt or christopher lawrence

I actually found this cd at Savers (ValuVillage) for about $5 while dredging for something exactly like this; a techno mix cd (or cds, as the case may be) with some people i actually know! (The Crystal Method, Underworld, Armand van Helden...)

i stuck the bonus disc in the cranky cd player of my friend's car only to find out that the player thought the cd had an 'ERR'.

*psh*
so i put in the first cd instead.

the sequence the mix goes in gets kind of weird come the middle of the cd, but the first track "Get Bizzy Time" (which samples The Crystal Method's 'Busy Child') is a great start off track, and most of the tracks are only WAAAY better than that one. (with the exception of A P H.P.'s Advice on the second disc. i didn't care for that one very much)

as 'cars' closes, which is, yes, a techno mix of the 80's song, i'll close too: if you're looking for a good techno cd, or one that exposes (seeming) small groups, check this cd out!
- Henry

This is probably the most addictive album I've listened to, ever. "The Killing Game" is probably one of the most haunting and beautiful songs I know. The sheer emotion behind Ogre's vocals is a disturbing accompaniment to a sad melody overwhelmed in the end by a grating electronic noise. "Inquisition" is also a favorite track, especially with the pop sample added during the verses in an almost ironic fashion. I can't give it five stars because of "Download," which to me was an unfortunate addition to the CD. Otherwise, great CD.

When I first got this album, I didn't know what to expect. So I did what I do with all my CD's the first time I want to hear them, I put them into my stereo and lie down. What I was hearing was not quite music but art. I didn't know what to make of it, but I know I loved it. Killing Game is the most hauntingly beautiful song in the history of industrial music. Although, the music I was familiar with at the time, had simple lyrics, the Skinny Puppy lyrics seemed to strand together in amazing pharses. I didn't know anything about industrial music at the time expect for a couple Nine Inch Nails albums. It was so different and experimental that there was nothing to do but listen. I will grant anyone that their are kind of useless tracks, but the good outways the bad by leaps and bounds. Give your hears to track such as Killing Game, Mirror Saw, Inquistion, Scrapyard, Riverz End, but the others are just as good.

As I said, this isn't really music, it is art.

Yes, it's hard to like this album when you first give it a spin. But it grew on me, like all great albums tend to do. My favorite songs are Knowhere ? (3) and Mirrorsaw (4). I love how they blend into one another seamlessly, making it seem like one song. While I never quite have figured out what Knowhere is about (and please don't tell me if you know), I think Mirrorsaw is about Ogre's struggle writing lyrics, and how it affected his relationship with cEvin Key. Pretty moving stuff IMHO. This album is what Shakespeare would sound like if he wrote industrial music.

kinda cool. didn't know what i was getting into. but after giving it a good once though....then another....and i'm on it again, it's hittin'. it has a bit of everything. a little more trip hoppy than i'm used to, but good use of the synth held me and still is holding me. and as i'm writting this review there is a possiblity i may have graded this disc a little lower than i could have. we're now looking at a 4.5 to a possible 5.

if you like autechre, boards of canada, or gimmik you may quite possibly be down with trs-80.

nice grooves.

I was....and thats a hard thing. Subtract number one and you have yourself a great little abstract album. TRS-80 keeps the bass strong. Number 3 is fantastic, a mellow melody that keeps you wanting more. But number 11 is by far the best song. Take aphex twin, add a drop of dj dieselboy and throw in some early atari teenage riot...you have yourself TRS-80.

Anyone into trip-industrial-electric type music will love this CD. A great band out of Chicago that a good friend turned me onto. Have opened for Siouxsie and Sisters of Mercy among others. Take a listen, you won't be disappointed.

i BELIEVE THAT MANSON IS THE MOST WONDERFUL, ORIGINAL,MOST UNIQUE AND INTELLEGENT PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!! HIS MUSIC IS A SYMBOL OF HIS VIEW ON LIFE AND IF i CAN UNDERSTAND IT, WHY CAN'T EVERYONE ELES?!? hE SHOW'S WHAT THE WORLD HASN'T HEARD OF YET AND SHOULDN'T BE JUDGED BECAUSE OF HIS WILL OF BEING HIMSELF AND NOT JUST THE SIDE EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE!!! OUT OF 5 STARS, I GIVE HIM 25 'CAUSE HE DISERVES MORE FOR HE IS ABOVE AVERAGE TO ME!!!hIS MUSIC IS SOOO REAL AND HE SPEAKS OF THE THINGS THAT MOST PEOPLE TRY TO HIDE AND HE TAKES ACTIONS FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES IS TRUE!!nOW THAT IS WHAT i CALL A TRUE MAN(SON)!!!! ROCK ON BABE!!!!!! LOVE IN MANSON, ALWAYS!!! FOR HE IS ME!!! -HIS OTHER HALF(C.M.)

Give him a break. All of his songs are full of a deep and unfortunately rare meaning that I have been searching for all of my life. He is not evil just because he is dirfferent. If you want to understand him, read The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn himself. You can't judge a book by it's cover, and that is what Americans have a problem with. That is sad.

Give him a break!!! every song that he write's has a very deep meaning and if you would sit down and listen to it you may learn something from it. Thats the problem with america today they never give anything a chance!!! They judge people by the way they look, and jump to all kinds of conclusions about people before they even give them a chance!! That is why america is where it is today!!!!!

Death Cube K consists of Mr Bill Laswell, a man and bassist, and Mr Bucket Head, a man and guitarist. The impression I get is that Bill Laswell decide to work with Mr Bucket because that's the kind of thing he does; and that, having done so, he realised that Mr Bucket's talents were limited, which explains why Death Cube K aren't a going concern any more.

Like a lot of the stuff Bill Laswell breathes on, 'Disembodied' is a mixture of very good and tastelessly awful, as if the man's musical bone was in the grip of a perpetual, slow-motion epileptic fit. On this record 'Disembodied' and 'Hanging Gallows' are the high spots, the former sounding like 'Zeit'-era Tangerine Dream, the latter a lengthy guitar solo which sounds a bit like Pink Floyd's more ruminative moments. 'Terror Tram' is a bad thing to call a piece of music, because trams are not frightening. Nonetheless it is also very much like early Tangerine Dream, and makes me suspect that either Bill Laswell or Mr Bucket have heard some of Tangerine Dream's early albums, back in the early days, their albums, early ones.

'Embalmed' sounds like cheap, poor-quality horror film soundtrack music, almost a parody of mysterious 'illbient', ruined by over-the-top guitar noodling. Being the second track, it's easy to ignore it and assume that Laswell and Bucket were having a bad patch. 'Pre Hack', the final track, is worse, such that it makes one wonder if the two players are chancers who were coasting on luck and front. It's just a lot of random, hyperactive guitar noodling and I hate it. I don't come away with a favourable impression of Mr Bucket. God knows what the rest of his stuff is like. Both these tracks dare you to laugh, because they're so juvenile.

So then, the title track, 'Hanging Gallows' and 'Terror Tram' are excellent great decent in that order, 'Embalmed' and 'Pre Hack' are offensively awful in that order. If the album didn't have the latter two tracks it would be twenty-three minutes long but really good; you could play it twice in a row, perhaps, to bring it up to album length. I can recommend James Brown as well, he's really good too.

I purchased this not really knowing what to expect, since all Buckethead's projects differ greatly, and I have to say I'm impressed. There's not a whole lot to be said, this cd is about 40-50 minutes long, has only guitar and bass, and is five tracks long. Most of this is a lot of ambient noise, or creepy guitar sounds played for brief amounts of time. The guitar and bass are almost indecipherable under all the effects, but the droning creates kind of an eerie, yet relaxing feel. In fact, there's a good chance you'll fall asleep listening to this, the reason I can appreciate this is because me and my friends do a lot of recordings just like this one for fun. The most important thing is that Buck and Bill truly enjoy the music they do, such as this record. They put a lot of creativity into it, and pretty much whatever is on thier minds will show up in their work. Pure Imagination, (which Buck covers, coincidentally).So check this out, I'm sure you will enjoy it to some degree.

What a true treasure we all have found in buckethead and bill laswell's doings!who would've thought that what george clinton began so many years ago would eventually mutate into somthing so drastically voided and tragically hip?!I absoultely love putting this in my xbox or ps 1 and looking at the trippy visuals on it,and the first cube cd even has a cd extra with some dated-but still cool -visual "buisiness" for track 1.For a real hallucinatory smorgasborg buy both these cd's and splice them together onto one disc using your pc.get the dvd "begotten" along with these and play the 2 cd's while the movie is playing.It's like the alice in wonderland/dark side of the moon thing x10!!!my only gripe is that the cd's are both only about 40 minutes long each,but I gave them both 5 stars so you know that's not a problem what-so-ever!If the times are a problem for you(maybe you need like 15 hours of atmosphereric music for a long "trip")I can't say enough about steve roach's "mystic chords and sacred spaces",buckethead's"colma"and"electric tears",shakuhachi flute for meditation,robert rich "stalker",bill townsend "celestial voyage",terry riley"in c",aphex twin"ambient collection",ravi shankar,some brian eno(hard to tell the truly ambient ones though.music for airports is good),steven molpern "spectrum",micheal stearns "sacred sites",angelo badalamenti's scores for "the straight story" "the elephant man" and "the beach",etc,etc,etc.if you like chillin' out do yourself the favor of getting this opus ode to buckethead's arch nemisis-the mighty death cube k world devourer!