I’ve written a lot of reviews over the years. This is the home of pretty much all of them since about 2003.
So yes, we have been trailing it for ages. Yes, I have played various versions of some of the tracks over the past few months. But listening to the album as a whole, it has some kind of visceral thrill to it. The big thing to note to start with, is how the band has […]
Army of Me (a cover of the old Bjork single, of course) is looking unlikely to be released officially at present, which would be a shame – seeing as it is an interesting introduction to the band if you have not heard them before.
Last night was otherwise Mastodon at Corp. Never before have a band had a more apt website name (mastodonrocks.com). Buoyed on by a packed (and enthusiastic) crowd, they seemed to start sluggishly with the mammoth 14-minute epic that is Hearts Alive, sounding somewhat muddy, but as it came to an end everything just seemed to […]
Support act Apocalyptica were something of a surprise – somehow having not managed to hear them before, they were fantastic. Highlight – christ, where do I start? Seek and Destroy was incredible, the intro spiel to Bittersweet was hilarious (lets just say he wasn’t too complimentary about the vocalists on the track – Ville from […]
Can [we] Dig It? Hell yeah!
…Machines turned out to be yet another fantastic local band. Five, maybe six tracks in 45 minutes. Tool influenced, but not slavishly.
Three hugely mismatched bands, a packed Corporation and a mental crowd. We need more gigs like that in Sheffield.
Getting to the gig was no real problem – outside our hotel ran three tram routes – and amazingly enough, one route ran direct to the T-Mobile Arena! The venue is huge – the national ice hockey arena, no less – so by the time we got there most of the 10,000 people were already […]
First act Dyonisis were a pleasant surprise – two female vocalists, a guitarist and bassist – with various electronics and beats on a backing track. Crippled by what was frankly an appalling sound set-up, there were moments when they really did sound good, especially the acappella track. A demo is coming soon apparently (as is […]
Run Level Zero were…well, a bit dull really. To start with they very much reminded me of Aslan Faction, trying far too hard to ape bands like :wumpscut:, but with far less aggression and lacking in the killer songs to back it up. To be fair to them, the last couple of tracks did improve […]
Last night lived up to all its billing and far, far more: by general agreement the best gig most of us had ever been to.
The first truly new Converter album for a couple of years, this really is something else. It certainly isn’t a straight progression from Blast Furnace, but then it isn’t a total revolution either. With a few exceptions, everything has been slowed down to amazing effect, drawing you into 70 or so minutes of what can […]
VAC’s first single in a few years, and surprisingly it lives up to expectations. Perversely, he has chosen to release a slow track as the first single, and it works.
Nothing exactly anything new here, but as EBM goes this isn’t bad. Another band from the Cryonica stable, this album has a couple of good tracks and many that are just, well, ok. The first proper track (Rebirth) is probably the best, underpinned by a strong, driving beat, so would sound great in a club. […]
One of four side projects from Aslan Faction, this sounds remarkably different. The band is Lee Lauer from Aslan Faction, and Karen King, who has appeared on an AF track previously and on tour.
Hocico are back, and it is like nothing has changed. The style is still the same – slightly distorted, off kilter beats, hissed vocals, and a barely restrained sense of fury. Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Kind of amazing it came to this, really. After years without a new album, the legacy intact as simply one of the godfathers of EBM-industrial, out of nowhere comes an album. As soon as it got announced I had a copy on order, and what a disappointment.
What the…? Without a doubt one of the oddest albums I have heard in my life, this album goes from extreme noise to thrash metal to the cut-up sound of someone pissing themselves laughing within the first three minutes.
These guys were a revelation at Infest last year, all hard beats, and some great visuals. So, I’m a bit disappointed with this. It is not a full album – it is five new tracks and then seven remixes, something that usually drives me nuts. Especially when there are four versions of one track (Hell […]
[First appeared in Black Harvest issue #6 October 2003]
