Let’s face it, I’m a rocker, not a clubber. But, that don’t mean I don’t like to dance. Heck, I can boogie just as good as the blue wind-up robot on my desk. I just need something with some meat to it. Some drive, some crunch and muscle. And for that perfect combination of metal and maven, we have industrial.
Industrial fills that middle ground between me and the Mrs. A place where we can both feel the groove and embarrass ourselves in front of our kid. And with two industrial legends releasing new albums simultaneously, I thought now would be the perfect time to fire up our dangling crystal ball, hit the strobe lights and party at Ripple north.
One band that clearly falls into the category of “legendary” in industrial circles, is Front Line Assembly. Cranking out mind-boggling juggernauts of dance mayhem since the late ‘80’s, Improvised. Electronic. Device is just as explosive as the name hints. Roaring on like a super-charged Rammstein-megalith,FLA comes out of the smoke and haze with all guitars crunching and lays waste to all imitators in their path. FLA’s not getting older, they’re totally hyper-fueled.
“I.E.D.”” chugs along with a metallic, sonic fury that could easily be the blueprint for what Industrial Metal is supposed to sound be. “Release” is a guitar-heavy, cranium-shattering, darkwave assault of dancefloor theatrics. “Pressure Wave,” is about as feverishly punk as Industrial gets. But these killer cuts don’t mean FLA has totally embraced metal. “Shifting through the Lens,” is a synth-mad, pulsating rave, while “Hostage,” is a hyper club killer.
But one thing that FLA does so well is nuance. Bring in the ambient tones of the opening to “Angriff.” Bring in some bubbling bass, throbbing in a pre-sex rant. Let the tension build, the foreplay heat up, the sweat begin. Then finally layer in those massive, chugging guitars, crunching and pulverizing all subtlety. Vocals are dark and heavy, as ominous as a dance club for the Cylons. This is metal. Strob-light inducing, XTC ingesting metal.
Despite the mechanized nature of everything, the synths, programmed beats, effect-layered guitars, FLA manages to keep a warm human heart front and center throughout. Some industrial music is so dissonant, so cyborg-ly robotic that it’s off putting. Not here. Warm tones keep me drawn in. Breathy vocals remind us of the humanity behind this mechanized monster.
Nothing to fear here. FLA is back. And the world makes sense once again.
Buy here: Improvised. Electronic. Device.
mp3: Improvised.Electronic.Device. (Deluxe)
And in the other corner of legendary Industrial bands, we got My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. As the first in a series of retrospective compilations, The “Wax Trax” Years finds the dance legends revisiting their early industrial roots and breathing new life into the cuts with fresh remixes and sparkle.
And when it comes to industrial dance, few did it as well as the Thrill Kill Kult. Here we get some energized remixes of some classics like “And this is What the Devil Does,” “Burning Dirt,” “A Daisy Chain for Satan,” and “The Days of Swine and Roses.”
Ugly, brutal, lurid, and totally intoxicating. Plug this one in. Prepare thy ass to boogie.
Buy here: Sinister Whisperz Wax Trax Years (1987-1991) Limited Box
www.mylifewiththethrillkillkult.com