I got this compilation sent to me by the guys from Cyanotic – it is a sampler, effectively, for their label Glitch Mode Recordings, 16 tracks of industrial, drum’n’bass and electro. Many of the tracks are mixed in together, but not in a way that hinders using them for DJing, and the variety on here makes for one hell of an interesting CD. There are some undisputed highlights on the CD, but I’ll run through the entire thing first.

Modern Destruction
Label: Glitch Mode
Catalog#: none
Buy from: No longer available
8/10

Cyanotic | Order Out of Chaos – you already know about this, surely, if you have been reading my journal or reviews over the past year or so. The lead track on my album of the year for 2005, it really is only a matter of time before this becomes better known.
ManufraQture | Ready To Face | Violent Machine Mix – absolutely storming track. The veins of this one coursing with industrial fury, with some fanastic processed guitar work rippling over a muscular rhythm.
Encephalon | Teenage Hitman – something of a Skinny Puppy-vibe here, and perhaps too much of it. A great song, but just feels somewhat derivative.
Censor | Grey Line Reality – thumping dark drum’n’noise, think Panacea and Needle Sharing meeting you down a dark alley and you’re not going to be far off…
Which brings me nicely onto Psyborg | Already Dead – more in a similar vein to Censor, using samples that will be familiar to White Zombie fans, but in a very different context!
Cyanotic | Sensory Deprivation | ucnx Mix – a very different feel to this version, darker, more forbidding, and somewhat less anger. Different, but not neccesarily better…
Foil Conduit | I Broke Them In – strange, disjointed track, with much of the vocals and effects hidden beneath the beats. Doesn’t really feel that it goes anywhere, some good ideas but they end too quickly!
Rabbit Junk | Orange Laces – this is fucking mental. Think a cross between Mindless Self Indulgence and ATR on a sugar-fuelled rampage and you would be halfway there. I will fill dancefloors with this track by the end of 2006 if it kills me 🙂
v01d | Retrograde – nothing retro about this, astonishingly intense electro-industrial, the vocals are in there somewhere but it the production is so dense they are difficult to make out. No matter, you’d be on the dancefloor to this anyway…
genCAB | Expired Inside – A little respite from the mayhem, goth-tinged electro. It’s not bad, just not all that interesting. And on an album like this with so many hidden gems, that is not enough, I’m afraid…
Cyanotic | Deface – need I really say much more about this? Another of the best tracks from the Transhuman album
LiD | Light – more industrial-electro that is kinda eclipsed by neighbouring tracks…
Endif | Sleeper Cell – Much better. Bordering on the verge of noise, but unusually with vocals and a tune, somewhere…
T-Faktor | K9 – an odd one, this – a Terrorfakt side-project, it seems, although somewhat different to their normal output. Not quite as thunderously heavy, and with a vague drum’n’bass feel to it.
DJ? Acucrack | Send More Paramedics – a slightly (and only slightly!) more subdued track than the usual mental fare from DJ? Acucrack, but still top-notch drum’n’noise.
Cyanotic | Suspension of Disbelief | Ad-ver-sary Vs. The Glitch Mode Squad – originally one of the slower and calmer tracks on the still astounding Transhuman album, it has here been turned into a drum’n’bass monster! Best heard very, very loud.

All told, as a sampler this is fantastic. Ignoring the Cyanotic tracks for a moment, the top tracks from the album are ManufraQture, Censor, v01d, and then a special mention for the madness that is Rabbit Junk. All bands I will be keeping a close eye on – and anyone interested in mainly US-based industrial really should too, as there are a number of great prospects that will be making a big splash soon.

The album can be purchased here, and is well worth it’s low price.