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I've already been familiar with Neurotech via a few later songs and several of those long Symphonies. And now it's time for me to explore further back into the discography of one of the most underrated acts of one of the most underrated subgenres of all, cyber metal. Blue Screen Planet is a two-track EP with the first track being a 10-minute epic and the other being a laid-back instrumental of almost the same length.

Similarly to Mechina's Conqueror, Blue Screen Planet marks Neurotech's transition from a standard industrial/cyber metal band to one that's more symphonic and setting up a conceptual universe. Also similarly to that Mechina album, it doesn't entirely pay off as it should...

"Part I - Axiom" is a bombastic journey of symphonic cyber metal... Well, too bombastic. Some parts are overdone, which very much exemplifies the paraphrased adage, "Too many ingredients spoil the broth." While this epic is still solid, his 10-minute explorations are better explored in the later symphonies. Interesting how I like the instrumental "Part II - Revelation" more. Most metalheads and more upbeat music listeners can't go past the first half of this serene Hans Zimmer-like composition, but I can! It's amazing how magical this piece sounds as it transports you out of the harsh reality of Earth into the astral plane. It works well with the video game No Man's Sky. So instead of unleashing metal in maximum power, let the cool ambience move you into this different dimension. By the 5th minute, you'll already be one with the multiverse.

The origin of Wulf expanding the soundscapes within his Neurotech project is all in this EP. Lots of great ideas from calm to blasting, from soothing piano to crushing guitar! Though the instrumental is more balanced than the epic. As beautiful and intriguing as this EP is, it's more of a side-order than a main dish....

Favorites: Both tracks, though I like "Part II - Revelation" more.

From 2011 to 2015, Disturbed was on hiatus. During then, vocalist David Draiman decided to form his own temporary project, Device. If you'd like me to give you a hint at what Device, it's like Disturbed with a more industrial edge...

People already knew Draiman's plan to make more industrial material from some teasers. The industrial side comes from the other member of the project, Geno Lenardo, ex-guitarist of Filter. The heaviness Disturbed fans have expected is blended with electronics for some decent results. It should be noted though that Lenardo was replaced by Will Hunt (Evanescence) and Virus (Dope) for the couple live concerts performed by the band.

Straight into heaviness is "You Think You Know" which rocks out as if Disturbed never had that hiatus, while having a bit of Nine Inch Nails. Draiman's singing is quite strong here, "You think you know but you're horribly blind, you think you know that the story's defined, you think you know, but your heart has gone cold inside." Sounding closer to Disturbed is "Penance". The drumming rhythms and vocal grunts are still around while having some electronic synths. Following this is "Vilify", the best choice for the band's first single. It's a perfect highlight of Draiman's strong vocals.

For their cover of the 80s glam ballad "Close My Eyes Forever", taking the respective places of Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne is Lzzy Hale of Halestorm and Draiman, and the song is given a modern electronic twist. "Out of Line" stands out well as another one of Black Sabbath's members, Geezer Butler performs his audible bass, while Draiman and System of a Down's Serj Tankian both sing their perfect lyrical views of the world. The haunting "Hunted" continues taking on the electronic metal fusion as they've done throughout the album so far, showing that they can do it well without relying on guests. "Opinion" rips through with searing soloing by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, having more of the spotlight than in Linkin Park's "Drawbar".

"War of Lies" has some of the nu metal riffing of early 36 Crazyfists. "Haze", which has Avenged Sevenfold vocalist M. Shadows, is another solid collab. These guest appearances really help boost the quality of the album in most cases. The last guest vocalist is Glenn Hughes, known for his solo material and his time with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, in "Through It All", a nice sentimental rock ballad. I don't really like the bonus tracks enough to mention, except for their cool cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Wish".

You just have to admit how much outer thinking Draiman has with his work. He can really expand his boundaries beyond the band he's usually known for. It works well with some solid standouts, though not so much for a lot else. And the project would stop once Disturbed was revived....

Favorites: "You Think You Know", "Vilify", "Out of Line", "Opinion", "Haze", "Wish"

By the middle of the 1990's, Chicago industrial metallers had become very much a stable inclusion in my life. From the time that I first discovered them through their 1989 breakthrough fourth album "The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste", I'd been captivated by their exciting high-tech world of future-thinking music for the coming robot apocalypse, but once Ben discovered them then things started to escalate as we explored each important release from their back catalogue together. 1988's "The Land of Rape and Honey" was very popular in our household during the first part of that decade but it was the trio of "The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste", their 1990 live album "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live)" & the incredible career-defining 1992 fifth album "ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]" that really took things to the top rung of the metal spectrum. "ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]" had quite simply changed our worlds so there was huge anticipation around the release of their follow-up during the first half of the decade. Unfortunately though, the four-year gap between albums saw my attention veering off further into extreme metal territory &, by the time 1996's "Filth Pig" finally saw the light of day, my enthusiasm had waned a touch. Ben would purchase the album on CD & it would be some months before I actually got around to hearing it as I was no longer living at home. By the time I did, I'd already had the chance to hear & read a little bit about "Filth Pig" which was generally thought to be a step down for Ministry so it's hard to say whether that left me with any internal biases or not but the album did seem to me to be a little disappointing when compared to the three that came before it. I still quite liked it but it didn't get many replays after those first few listens & I haven't returned to it since so my memory of what it contains was a little hazy going into this week's revisit. Thankfully though, I've been rewarded for the faith I've kept in band leader Al Jourgensen because "Filth Pig" is a very solid record in its own right, if not the classic that so many people would have been hoping for.

It probably would have been very easy for Ministry to pump out "Psalm 69 Part II" & continue their rise up the ranks of the commercial metal ladder but "Filth Pig" is an altogether different kettle of fish. It's a much darker, less immediate & far less accessible record than people were expecting with some major creative differences to previous works which in many ways reflect the mentality of Jourgensen at that particular point in time. There are very few up-tempo moments on "Filth Pig" & you won't find many goth club anthems like "NWO", "Just One Fix" or "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" either. Instead we get a slower, druggier & more introspective record with much less of a reliance on electronics & samples. The use of dissonance in the guitar work often borrows from genres like sludge metal & noise rock & you'll struggle to identify anything that touches on the thrash-inspired riffs of "Psalm 69". In fact, this is a much less riff-based record in general. Jourgensen's signature heavily-effected gurgly vocals are still there & are a feature of the album but his lyrics reek of someone that's in quite a lot of pain, who holds a fairly negative view of the world & who is struggling with their own infamy to an extent. The brief touches of tongue-in-cheek humour & a fair chunk of the brightness & excitement had been sucked out of Ministry, at least from a surface level, so "Filth Pig" requires a deeper investigation if you're to uncover its value which can be found in the fact that this is indeed some dark & heavy shit at times.

The tracklisting kicks off in very strong fashion with the first two tracks (industrial metal opener "Reload" & the slower sludge metal dirge that is the title track) both being very solid indeed. In fact, I'd suggest that the title track is a genuine Ministry classic that sits comfortably alongside the band's best work but things drop off a touch for the remainder of the A side. "Lava" & "Useless" are both pretty decent but I really struggle with "Crumbs" which has a very loose song structure & sounds completely underdone. Things pick up significantly for the start of the B side with a string of three excellent pieces in a row, ending with the brilliant industrial metal anthem "The Fall" which is the other clear highlight of the album for me. As with the A side though, things descend back to a merely acceptable level for the closure of the album with the last two rockier tracks (including the popular cover version of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay") failing to meet the same sort of standard as the more captivating first part of each side. When viewed holistically, the stronger material clearly outweighs the less essential stuff but I do think that the tracklisting could have been evened out a bit to ensure a more even spread of the better songs rather than bulking out the start of each side with the back end feeling a little less vital.

I've noticed that "Filth Pig" seems to be tagged as an industrial sludge metal record on some competitors websites & I can kinda see where they're coming from but that's not entirely accurate as the sludge component isn't regular enough to warrant a primary tag. Despite the fact that this is a less electronically reliant record than we'd come to expect from Ministry over the years, "Filth Pig" is still first & foremost an industrial metal release with the sludge & industrial rock components playing more of a supporting role. It's a very good one too & it's made me reassess my position on its merits. While it may not compete with the classic trio of releases I mentioned previously & is undeniably a step down from the lofty heights that Ministry were playing during their peak creative period from 1989-1992, I do think that "Filth Pig" should still be regarded as an essential release for those with a penchant for their particular brand of heavy music. Yes, it's probably the least impressive thing they'd done since their early synth pop & EBM records of the mid-80's but that's not to say that it's won't still be a quality inclusion in your collection that offers a point of difference from Ministry's previous work. I don't believe I've heard anything Ministry have released since this record (at least not the full releases anyway) but I'm led to believe that there's not a lot of meat on them bones so I'd suggest that this gives "Filth Pig" even more value for fans who may be desperately trying to revisit the band's heyday. This is a largely overlooked & mildly underrated release in the band's back catalogue that deserves a little more attention in 2024 than it generally receives so I'd encourage you to check it out.

For fans of White Zombie, Prong & Godflesh.

Ministry have made it big in pioneering the American side of industrial metal, with their 3 albums from 1988 to 1992 being commercially successful. With their 1996 album Filth Pig, the band's sound became darker and heavier than before, almost reaching sludge territory. According to founder Al Jourgensen, people hated the album. They wanted the humor and electronics of Psalm 69, but the album doesn't have much of those. I still like the heaviness though.

Darkness is often what I look for when I want to take a break from the brighter reality. And sometimes, darkness can be a bit intimidating. It can also have a bit of humor, from the literally meat-headed young American politician in the album cover. A whole lot you can find in the dark...

"Reload" is a short violent introductory song practically picking up where Psalm 69 left off. I was hoping for that kind of excitement in the title track, but it goes for a little too long and has almost given me brain damage. "Lava" is equally as long as the previous track, but it flows well in the riffs and vocals, almost like a march to a Southern battle. "Crumbs" is OK, but crumby in some places.

"Useless" fits well with its name, being far too weird for its own good. "Dead Guy" has awesome lyrics and nice groove. "Game Show" is the long 8-minute epic of this album. I wouldn't say it's bad in any way, but it's still a little weird and not something I would listen to on the daily.

"The Fall" seems to fall in quality but can stand back up for some time. Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" has been given the cover treatment here. It has a more alternative edge, a bit like Killing Joke at that time. No wonder it easily became a radio single! Really cool psychedelia there. Finally, "Brick Windows" brings back some earlier experimentation. Fantastic lyrics in this one!

Other things to mention about Filth Pig include the solid production and instrumentation. Those help keep the general quality stable, even in the lower half. There's nothing with switching gears to a heavier sound. A lot of us here are up for something like that. I just think a few of the songs in the album could've had better execution....

Favorites: "Reload", "Lava", "Dead Guy", "Lay Lady Lay", "Brick Windows"

I’ve never been a fan of Godflesh’s style of repetitive and simple Sludge Metal focusing on textures, nor was I very much on board for their overly rhythmic and still simple Industrial Metal. The issue is, none of the instruments are ever doing enough. Drums are slow, simple, and often play the same beat an entire song. Guitars scarcely compose something that could be considered a riff, usually opting to add fuzzy heaviness without much direction. Vocals always a bit too monotonous and occupying an unflattering middle ground between aggressive and lethargic. Industrial sound effects were, once more, too repetitive and too few to have much impact on the music.

Well, one of those things changed on Us and Them. The band adopted a very significant Drum and Bass influence for this album. Because of this, the rhythm section picked up a ton in intensity and complexity on many of the tracks. Sure, it’s still repetitive as all hell, but a faster paced, energetic and powerful beat backing their miserable tracks does wonders for entertainment. It’s all machines, but their previous drummers did everything in their power to sound like soulless robots anyway, so that’s no loss.

The unfortunate thing is, none of the other weaknesses were alleviated. Guitars are incredibly boring and minimal. The bass actually has some really cool moments, which is awesome! It finds itself playing lead more often than not, which just does more to highlight the rhythm section as the ultimate strength to this album. As cool as the rhythm section is here, it can’t offset the other incredibly boring aspects of the album. The band has incorporated more Industrial sound effects here, and this is a blessing and a curse: at best, the minimalistic songs gain some much-needed layers of density and intrigue; at worst, an incredibly annoying sound clip will repeat 30 times over, doing everything it can to ruin the song for you.

Special mention to the final tracks “The Internal” and “Live to Lose,” which show them building atmosphere and mood to great effect. Closer in sound to the Cold World EP material, which was the band at my absolute favorite. These songs are awesome and appeal to my tastes so much more. When the band builds atmosphere in addition to their trademark texture and rhythm, it elevates their music exponentially. Unfortunately, they rarely ever do this, and texture by itself proves something that will never appeal to me.

My cyber metal journey is full of surprises. Either they turn out well or they don't. With a more melodic, futuristic sound than industrial metal, how tempting can it be for a Sphere member like me? Quite a lot, thanks to killer albums like this one...

Taking on a hardcore-ish melodeath/cyber metal path, The Interbeing have existed for nearly two decades and has made an interesting light in the practically unknown cyber realm. Album #3, Icon of the Hopeless shows us what modern metal is like, complete with electronic atmosphere. And it's so fresh, keeping you aware of the future brought upon us. Whether good or bad, you have to be prepared for what lies ahead.

The intro "Revive" has that futuristic industrial vibe as the story begins in a dystopia of withering humanity. "Perplexion" kick-starts the heaviness like an upgrade from Fear Factory and Mnemic in the riffing while making room for the epic melodic chorus. Often the riffing takes a turn from industrial metal to leaning close to metalcore, which actually opens up more outer dimensions in the music-verse. The aggressive "Black Halo" has more of the metalcore-ish riffing, sounding like it's taken from both the early 2010s and 2020s era of Architects and Bring Me the Horizon. "Lies of Descent" gets you hooked with melodic sections and massive breakdowns to light up a retro skyline.

"Synthetic Bloodline" is filled with vicious perfection. "Lifeless Decoy" is packed with unpredictable heaviness. "Ruin" crashes through with more of the pulverizing verses and emotional choruses. That highlight can almost surpass Breach the Void's song "Ruins"!

Single "Depressor" combines polyrhythms with synths the way Fear Factory can, though the chorus is a little lousy. "Eternal Eclipse" branches out a lot more, heading into a bit of progressive groove metal that will take you through space and back. Once we reach the title outro, you know this exciting journey is about to end. The intense ambience rises and then quickly fades out, leaving you wondering what's next for the band.

Well-focused without repetition, The Interbeing has given each song many different twists so none are highly alike. I don't know if anyone had ever predicted decades ago how futuristic metal would end up becoming, but if something like this dynamic album was their prediction, they f***ing nailed it. And here's to a more epic future of metal....

Favorites: "Perplexion", "Black Halo", "Synthetic Bloodline", "Ruin", "Eternal Eclipse"

Sybreed wasn't the only Swiss cyber metal band around. When the drummer for their debut Slave Design, Alex Anxionaz left the band, he formed his own. His band started out as a deathly industrial metal band called Etna, but then changed into Breach the Void with a sound closer to his former band. Sadly, both Sybreed and Breach the Void split up in late 2013, which is a shame because of how solid both band's debuts are, including The Monochromatic Era...

I'm not the most experienced in cyber metal right now, considering I've only heard a few other Sybreed songs besides their debut in The Sphere monthly playlists. Breach the Void is a clear continuation of the direction Alex Anxionaz wanted to take on Slave Design, with its toolkit of crushing rhythms, clean/unclean vocals, and cyber synths.

"Propagate" is a good start to this cyber metal adventure, though a bit strained. "Subversive Mind" is so f***ing destructive, though it's toned down slightly by the clean singing. "Retribution Engine" maintains the Sybreed-like direction right from the intro. "Customized Genotype" hits hard with stronger synths and rhythms. We head deeper into the futuristic city stricken by the apocalypse.

The lyrics in "Falling" are totally understandable, especially in the first verse, "Simulated happiness is my everyday, f***ed up life". How can I not love cyberpunk melodeath track?! Well the harsh vocals could've been much better... "Digital Structure" reaches the top with those golden drums and vocals! As much as I would consider this song a pinnacle of modern industrial/cyber metal, the only slight problem is when the clean vocals sound a bit inferior to the guttural ones. Nonetheless, the band has some original talent there! "EC-10" is OK, but trying to add swearing to futuristic lyrics is a bit frustrating, "I cannot see my own f***ing immortality. Frustration of something I cannot see."

"Ruins" is slower, though the second half has more energy from the complex rhythms and soloing. "Spirals" has a more lively pace that makes up for the speed bumps some of the previous tracks had. "System Failure" is a beautiful two and a half minute outro, just a clean yet glitchy techno outro with choir samples. It's nice and all, but wouldn't it be nicer if we had one more song to make the album more complete?

All in all, the sole album by Breach the Void, The Monochromatic Era is a solid offering with many tracks to enjoy. Lots of tight rhythms here without having to go technical. Small issues aside, this is for anyone up for cyber metal with some pieces of djent and melodeath....

Favorites: "Subversive Mind", "Customized Genotype", "Digital Structure", "Ruins", "Spirals"

The title of this EP and its title track reference the suicide of R. Budd Dwyer during a live press conference. He pulled out a gun from a manila envelope, and when people tried to stop him, he shouted "Don't, don't, don't, this will hurt someone!" and shot himself dead. Needless to say, that tragic event would later be depicted in the cover art of 1994 vinyl re-release of Neurosis' Pain of Mind and the original edition of CKY Volume 1.

Those samples aside, this EP is not really worth it. Most of the tracks have poor structure and rely too much on samples. The only good track is the radio edit of "The Machine" from its eponymous 1993 album, though obviously I still prefer the 8-minute original. Generally I'm only checking out this EP to complete my Dead World journey, and this is exactly how I wanted to end that journey, but there's nothing else left. Never before had I rated an industrial metal release this low, but that's all this f***ing sh*tter can get. At least the band had done their sound much better in their full albums....

Favorites (only song I even slightly like): "The Machine" (radio edit)

By 1995, Ben & I could count ourselves as being pretty big fans of Swiss black metallers Samael. We were both well across all three of Samael's albums to the time, all of which I consider to be essential listening for the black metal afficionado. I'd also gone so far as to secure myself dubbed copies of a couple of the band's early demo tapes through the tape trading scene in 1987's "Into the Infernal Storm of Evil" & 1988's "Medieval Prophecy", neither of which l'd say added much to my life if I'm being honest. But the point I'm trying to make is that there was a level of anticipation for Samael's next release after they'd improved on each & every recording to the time with 1994's "Ceremony of Opposites" third album being the finest work of the band's career still to this day. Coming off the back of such a successful effort, Ben & I went into 1995's stop-gap "Rebellion" E.P. with great confidence in the Swiss four-piece's ability to create a compelling musical soundscape so, when Ben brought home a CD copy of the brand-new E.P., we wasted no time in blasting it loudly from his bedroom stereo. Strangely though, I haven't given "Rebellion" much attention over the many years since which is a little bit telling. I wasn't able to remember exactly why though so I thought it was about time I gave it another crack.

"Rebellion" fits very much into your classic E.P. model as it's clearly a collection of disparate pieces that didn't fit into the full-length album concept. You get one brand new metal number in the title track, a couple of re-recordings of early works (see "After the Sepulture" & "Into the Pentagram"), a cover version of Alice Cooper's "I Love the Dead" & a few instrumental electro-industrial pieces, two of which are essentially the same with the exception of some German lyrics having been placed over the top of one. So, if you're looking for a cohesive & singular creative vision then you might want to look elsewhere. But what "Rebellion" does do successfully is create a transitional stepping-stone between the dark black metal of Samael's first three albums & their more industrially focused later material. It's here that you can first start to see Samael embracing the electronic component of the sound they're known for today although it's fair to say that it was still used a little more subtly which leaves the sound the band are pushing here in somewhat of a limbo between the two genres, not really feeling like either. It's mainly the use of spacey synthesizers that draws "Rebellion" into industrial metal territory although they're not over the top with a much greater emphasis being placed on that element for 1996's "Passage" album which pushed all the way out into fully-fledged symphonic metal territory.

The production job on "Rebellion" is thick & chunky & gives the material real clout, the riffs possessing a weight that comes more from the industrial metal side than the black metal one. The opening title track is the one that benefits the most from it with its groovy mid-paced riffage making it by far the most significant piece on the record. In fact, it's a little strange that it wasn't considered for inclusion on Samael's upcoming full-length albums to be honest as it's easily good enough & wouldn't have sounded out of place. The two re-recordings happen to be of my favourite tracks from each of Samael's first two albums which was a pleasant surprise but the reality is that neither can compete with the dark atmosphere of the originals, despite the heavier production techniques employed. I certainly enjoy both songs (particularly "After the Sepulture" which competes with "Rebellion" for the highlight of the E.P.) but neither added a lot to my life either to be fair. The rest of the E.P. feels more like filler than anything else in my opinion. I quite enjoy both versions of the six-minute electro-industrial piece "Static Journey" but can't see much reason for including both given that they're so similar to each other. Admittedly they do sound a little dated given the basic synthesized rhythms that have been employed. The three-minute outro piece utilizes the same creative platform but is unfortunately not as successful & I find it to be a little disappointing, as is the Alice Cooper cover version which feels more like a fairly accessible take on gothic metal than anything else & leaves me feeling like pressing the skip button a lot of the time although I've never been a skipper & likely never will be.

So, I feel that "Rebellion" was mildly successful in its quest to showcase a new sound that Samael would explore further across the remainder of their recording career but I would hardly say that it's essential listening for fans of the band. It's a professionally put together package & sounds bright & vibrant but I don't think it contains the depth that I enjoyed with Samael's first three albums.

For fans of Rotting Christ, The Kovenant & Moonspell.

As I continue my revisiting journey of Samael, we're heading down to a special EP. Rebellion marks the end of the band's black metal era and the start of their ongoing industrial metal era. Here we have two new tracks, two re-recorded tracks, and two instrumentals, one of the instrumentals having its own German vocal edition as a hidden track. Sure a few traces of their black metal era remains, such as those two re-recordings and the last bit of D-flat tuning, but mostly, a new industrial era has opened up...

So how has the sound turned out? Pretty great! Lots of catchy and heavy riffs. And the style really does live up to the fact that it's the bridge between Ceremony of Opposites and Passage. A few of these anthems I enjoyed a few years ago, and I still enjoy them today!

Case in point, the title track is a song useful for conquering doubtful situations in war and rebellion. "I know how little is the value of that which has a price." Then "After the Sepulture" is a more industrial remake of the best song of Blood Ritual and perhaps their black metal era, but I prefer the crushing original more. With evil slow riffing and vicious vocals by Vorph, it's a destructive highlight.

I have a problem with the Alice Cooper cover "I Love the Dead". It would've been great, but Vorph's attempt at singing it makes it a stinker. Don't worry, everything else is better. Well, not entirely better, "Static Journey" is a mediocre instrumental that's a little overlong.

Oh, when I say two re-recordings, I meant in the CD edition; a rare re-recording of "To Our Martyrs" appears in the cassette edition, and it rules! For the "Into the Pentagram" remake, I love it more than the original! The guitars and beats are greatly paced. Excellent! Then comes the untitled outro, a strange electro-techno instrumental slightly better than "Static Journey". Speaking of "Static Journey", that's the track that has its German vocal hidden track after 4 minutes of silence. A little better, JUST a little.

I would certainly recommend Rebellion to any fan of Samael and blackened industrial metal, though mostly for the awesome title track and re-recordings. The average instrumentals are better experienced by fans of electro-industrial. And that Alice Cooper cover? NAH....

Favorites: "Rebellion", "After the Sepulture", "To Our Martyrs", "Into the Pentagram"

‘Skills in Pills’ in the 2015 debut album of Lindemann, the self-titled project of Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann. Teaming up with Peter Tägtgren of the band Pain, this album feels like a heavier, more keyboard-driven and overall more ridiculous version of the aforementioned Rammstein.

The most noticeable element on ‘Skills…’ is, not only the outrageously ludicrous lyrics, but the fact that Lindemann is singing in English. Something he only did a brief few times with his main band. But the lyrics… oh my! Clearly Lindemann was somewhat filtered in his main project, because here, it’s like anything goes. Literally, there are no filters here. From drugs to abortion, and sexual fetishes involving obesity to being urinated on, absolutely nothing is off-limits.

The thing is though, I like it. It’s ridiculous and shouldn’t work, but it does. Lindemann can pull this kind of thing off, and with some incredibly heavy and ballsy music backing him, it just kind of works for him. And the musical side, all covered by Tägtgren, is incredible. Heavy and atmospheric, with some proper pumping and energetic performances, it suits the lyrics and baritone voice of his partner in crime perfectly.

With highlights including the pounding ‘Fish On’, ‘Ladyboy’ and ‘Cowboy’, the disgustingly offensive ‘Fat’, ‘Praise Abort’ and ‘Golden Shower’, or the hauntingly beautiful ‘Home Sweet Home’, this album is a flurry of utter nonsense, but well-written and down-right brilliant nonsense. Obviously this won’t appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy Rammstein and aren’t easily squeamish or offended, then this is most certainly an album worth checking out!

With industrial metal being one of the least listened to sub-genres for me, this month’s feature release risked passing me by like most others often do. Two things drew me to Revelator in the end. Firstly, the strange looking album artwork. Secondly, Daniel’s high praise for the band (borne out in his excellent review). Now, clearly, I have no reference point for Revelator in terms of a comparison to other The Amenta releases and as such, I can judge it solely on its merits as a standalone release. After several listens, I am not totally sold on it still but that is not to say that this about to open into a negative review, more that I have a lot learn still about this record.

Since my first listen through to the album, I have been unable to get Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise by Emperor out of my head. The cleaner vocals remind me so much of that record that I had to play it again to make sure I was not making it up. Stylistically, two different sub-genres, yet (having listened through the Emperor album in piecing this review together), some definite comparators beyond even the vocals. Revelator is an explosive album. One of those that is seemingly written with eruptions of power that blast through more tempered sections. Add this sense of density in terms of the layers to each record and my early comparison holds some firm standings.

Given I have an odd affiliation with that Emperor album, I have found that my enjoyment of Revelator has grown very easily. The progressive elements to the Australians 2021 release help the record play as almost a macabre celebration of metal music when you get the occasional bit of death metal thrown in for good measure and even some ambient work to boot. I do need more time with the more post-metal moments and do find the flow of the album interrupted by this.

However, The Amenta are clearly talented guys and the musicianship here is top notch. This is not very industrial sounding to me (saying that as an already declared irregular listener to this sub-genre) and has a lot more depth to it than I first expected, clearly therefore having been written by some mature artists. I find it theatrical and challenging at the same time as being a record that can appeal to my more primitive metal needs very easily. It is a solid discovery that has helped me rediscover an old favourite also.

For those that haven't been paying attention, I've been pushing underground Australian industrial death metal artist The Amenta pretty hard on the Metal Academy website since our initial inception back in 2019 & don't plan to give up on that task any time soon. Why, you may ask? Well, to put it simply, this Sydney-based outfit has not only been my favourite hometown band for that entire period but are also one of the most incredible examples of an undiscovered gem you'll find in the entire global metal marketplace. In fact, I'm continually astounded at just how underappreciated some of their releases are & I don't think that my long-time relationship with the band has anything to do with me taking that position either. I've been aware of this lot since they began life as local black metallers Crucible of Agony back in 1997, mainly due to the fact that they contained an associate of mine in Lord Kaos/Stone Wings front man Jamie Marsh who I played alongside in Sydney doom/death exponents Elysium at around that time. Fast forward through to 2021 though & you'll find that The Amenta had a completely different look & feel to them. Their style had evolved from black metal to a Morbid Angel-inspired death metal sound before slowly taking on more & more industrial metal elements, each album representing a different stage in their evolution & achieving a very different character to the last. Each of their first three full-length albums were nothing short of classic & I don't say that from a purely patriotic or nostalgic viewpoint either. 2004's "Occasus", 2008's "n0n" & 2013's "Flesh Is Heir" sit amongst my favourite extreme metal releases of all time with only the elite of the elite achieving higher echilons of metal glory. The long gap between releases may well have contributed to the quality of each release but would also seem to have been out of necessity given that the band became more of a national entity over time with the various band members sometimes residing in different states & playing in multiple other metal bands of significance. 2021's "Revelator" fourth album would end the biggest drought in The Amenta's recording career to date though & subsequently drew an enormous amount of anticipation from diehard fans like myself who have been attending the band's blistering live shows for so many years.

2013's "Flesh is Heir" record was a game-changer for me personally. It took all of the various elements that made up The Amenta sound & presented them in a fashion that saw my face being completely melted off & boy did I enjoy it. It would go on to be my Album of the Year & see me shouting its praises from the rooftops online too. The gap to the band's next album left me feeling a little bemused though & when it finally arrived I didn't quite know what to expect. By this time The Amenta had a very different look to the one that recorded a couple of crude black metal demos under their previous moniker back in the late 1990's with only guitarist Erik Miehs remaining from the Crucible of Agony days. Thankfully though, The Amenta had maintained the same lineup that devastated me with "Flesh is Heir" which certainly put them in good stead to achieve similar heights. From the promo shots released at the time, it seemed that the band had opted to push a slightly different image to before which shouldn't really have been a surprise as The Amenta had traditionally put a lot of time & effort into making the visual part of their live performances a unique experience rather than a simple reenactment of their albums. I wasn't sure if that would translate into a drastic change of musical direction or not but any fears I may have harbored were very quickly put to rest by another stunning piece of work.

"Revelator" is a wonderfully produced record that perfectly highlights The Amenta's strengths & talents. The music unceremoniously dives out of the speakers & violently grabs the listener around the throat, although on this occasion the song-writing tends to be more measured in how regularly it tightens its grip. "Revelator" once again sees The Amenta evolving on past glories, this time relying less on death metal savagery & more on the industrial side of their sound. The obvious Godflesh influence that was so apparent on "Flesh is Heir" is nowhere near as relevant this time though with the band taking you to places that you're unlikely to have trodden in the past. You see, "Revelator" is a much more moody & introspective record than we'd heard from The Amenta thus far & it draws from a wider range of influences too. There's a progressive edge to their approach that requires a little more patience but sees them challenging the listener on a more cerebral level too. This is a more mature The Amenta & one that's not afraid the show a little vulnerability rather than simply savaging their audience into a pulp. My ears pick up the influence of a disparate range artists from Mr. Bungle (particularly their deeper & more psychedelic material) to Devin Townsend/Strapping Young Lad & even a little of that twisted Arcturus sound. Don't get me wrong, "Revelator" can still thrash you to within an inch of your life but it can also lead you into some pretty dark places that will have you peering out of your eye sockets from deeper & deeper within yourself.

The tracklisting begins in the most violent fashion possible with brutal opener "An Epoch Ellipsis" (my personal favourite) being one of the finest examples of industrial death metal you're ever likely to hear. It doesn't really prepare you for the twists & turns you'll face across the remaining eight songs though as the stylist direction changes up regularly, never allowing the listener to become complacent yet still feeling cohesive throughout. The brilliant "Silent Twin" sees The Amenta experimenting with a sound that's more commonly heard on post-metal releases while "Wonderlost" dips its toes into dark ambience to great effect. Apart from "Psoriastasis", the remainder of the album sees The Amenta veering away from pure death metal but losing none of their menace. Legendary drummer Dave Haley's (Abramelin/Psycroptic/Consummation/Ruins/Werewolves/Blood Duster/Pestilence) undeniable talents behind the drum kit are brought to the forefront by a relentless machinegun double kick drum sound that sees him achieving ridiculous tempos with ultimate precision while his blast beats showcase a level of power & control that few can match. Charismatic front man Cain Cressall (Malignant Monster) not only spits out his lyrics with his trademark blackened snarl but also makes a wonderful fist of some very capable clean singing that will no doubt remind you of the impeccable metal royalty that is Mike Patton. I really love this element of the album actually & feel that it's one of the key ingredients in giving "Revelator" its own identity.

From what I can see online, "Revelator" doesn't seem to have received the accolades that some of The Amenta's previous records have & I find that a little hard to understand as this is yet another mind-blowing effort from the band. Perhaps it's simply a reflection of a modern society where young people tend not to give their music as much time as old-schoolers like myself who weren't gifted with music at the click of a button during our formative years. Make no bones about it, "Revelator" is a far less immediate record than The Amenta's earlier works & requires a little commitment to fully understand but that's not a criticism in any way. In fact, it's more of a compliment than anything as those sort of releases tend to benefit from a longer lasting appeal than those that waste little time in exposing their full wares. While I readily admit that it may not top The Amenta's first three classic albums, "Revelator" has once again seen me left dazzled by the sheer class of this wonderful Aussie metal icon, this time with a renewed commitment to creativity.

For fans of The Project Hate MCMXCIX, Red Harvest & Strapping Young Lad.

Many different artists and bands each have a massive boost of popularity in different ways. For this band Lord of the Lost (originally just called Lord, but the name had to be changed due to other bands like the Australian power metal band LORD, or Lordi, or The Lords), it was a couple things; 1. They were special guests for Iron Maiden's Legacy of the Beast tour. 2. Their performance in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. What was lost in the underground is now found more globally!

Blood & Glitter was released between those two events, much earlier than anticipated, at the end of 2022. It was a slightly late Christmas present for all the band's supportive fans. Gothic industrial metal has never sounded as pleasantly poppy as these tunes....

The title track is the band's song representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, though it could've been done better. "Leave Your Hate in the Comments" is a big "f*** you" to those who can plague the internet with negativity from the privacy of their home. I'm amazed by how brilliant this is, having the "take no sh*t" attitude the rest of the album would have. There's more of that in the aptly titled "Absolute Attitude". It's quite gentle and would work well for any 80s movie. And we have a lot more in "The Future of a Past Life", blending in that 80s sound with some growling by Marcus Bischoff of Heaven Shall Burn. So catchy while heavy enough to make even classic metalheads grin. "No Respect for Disrespect" has the retro synth-metal of Beast in Black.

"Reset the Preset" features Combichrist vocalist Andy LaPlegua, with music suitable for both the dancefloor and the moshpit. "Destruction Manual" continues the catchy industrial dance metal. "Dead End" is another highlight that's pretty much next-gen KMFDM. The ballad-ish "Leaving the Planet Earth" is the exact opposite of a love song.

Bring keyboards up front is "Forever Lost" that's almost a more electronic Moonspell. Taking on "Save Our Souls" with lovely strings is Subway to Sally violinist Ally Storch. The "important" "One Last Song" is a beautiful way to say farewell, having a bit of the recent poppy side of Avantasia in the mix. There's actually one more track here, a cover of Roxette's "The Look", featuring Jasmin Wagner, also known as German popstar Blümchen. A perfect cover, and arguably this album's true standout! RIP Marie Fredriksson

Vocalist Chris Harms believes in the long run when it comes to an album's value, "F*** the charts, playlist pitches and 1,000 pointless reviews in advance." I'm quite pleasantly surprised by how well Blood & Glitter turned out even though I'm late by a year and a half. Metal continues its modern expansion with great catchy results....

Favorites: "Leave Your Hate in the Comments", "The Future of a Past Life", "Reset the Preset", "Dead End", "Forever Lost", "One Last Song", "The Look"

A punishing force in industrial rock/metal, Killing Joke kept their comeback going since their 2003 self-titled album and 25th anniversary DVD XXV Gathering with another album. The self-titled album was more metallic than their earlier works and had Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters) as the drummer, stirring up brilliant energy. However, fans of the band's mid-80s material wanted more of what they used to have, and vocalist Jaz Coleman wasn't highly satisfied with how that album turned out. He was determined to find the right balance in their next offering...

Fast forward to the recording of Hosannas From the Basements of Hell. The sessions took place in Studio Faust, a studio in an ancient building in Prague, specifically in its deepest darkest basement, aptly named Hell. The band can battle Satan's demon horde, feast on their remains, and reign in the cavernous darkness. The album was recorded using vintage equipment from the time of the band's debut release Turn to Red, giving Hosannas the massive intensity Killing Joke fans want.

"Lift up your spirits!" Coleman shouts to begin "This Tribal Antidote", gathering around "celebrants in a state of merriment", i.e. fans of the band, as we hear the guitars slay. The title track shows Coleman taking on the perspective of one of those fans, even referencing this very band performing, "I walk down the stairs and Killing Joke waits for me". The music and lyrics sound f***ing supernatural in "Invocation". I definitely like the beat. You get to hear some of Paul Raven's last audible bass with the band before his passing the next year, RIP. There's some ominous cello to go along with the strings. It would've been cooler if the beat was more synchronized, but it's still OK.

"Implosion" has the relentless drum-work of Benny Calvert, alongside the guitar riffing of Geordie Walker (also RIP), the vocal melodies of Coleman, and the booming bass of Raven. The out-of-this-world "Majestic" has majestic guitar force. One of the two long epics, "Walking With Gods" has some riffing to remind some of the band's early 80s era.

The other epic, the nearly 10-minute "The Lightbringer" builds a bridge towards the mid-80s. That can be considered a highlight, though the ultimate highlight goes to this next track... "Judas Goat" leads you to the darkest depth of Hell with more technical drumming, guitar rhythms, and singing almost like a mantra. Then you're teleported back home in "Gratitude" as Coleman sincerely thanks you and the gatherers for that journey, "A toast for the man who loves every hour of every day."

Although Hosannas hasn't reached as much success as the 2003 self-titled album, it shows the band having more creative freedom. Almost every track ranges from 5 to 10 minutes, similarly to ZP Theart-era DragonForce albums. The band has tighter focus here than in previous albums. You know who to thank for this music....

Favorites: "Hosannas From the Basements of Hell", "Invocation", "Majestic", "The Lightbringer", "Judas Goat"

In the criminally underrated realm of cyber metal, Illidiance is here to show that the subgenre is far from dead. What's often hard to believe is, this band started off as black metal. There's absolutely none of that in this album! The sound is essentially catchy melodies, electro-industrial synths, and clean singing, side by side with groove-ish riffs and death growls, all a common definition of cyber metal. Damage Theory pulls out a lot of punches with not much room for a break. You can find lots of interesting twists and turns while sticking firmly to what they are.

The digital production can take you through different dimensions, especially when the electronics and vocals shine. Two of the band members perform vocals; the wonderful cleans of bassist Tommy Gun "Syrex" and the emotional growls of Dmitry "Xyrohn" Shkurin. We often have the typical growled verses and clean choruses, though there's some difference in the aspect to get listeners hooked.

"Hi-Tech Terror" kicks things off in a high gear as an awesome tune of cyber metal! This should've fit well in Tron Legacy. "Critical Damage" is another underrated song and I don't wanna miss out on more of this style. As great as this is, I'm not as heavily attached to this as the previous track. The most awesome part here is the final chorus that changes its key for the final repeat. Thumbs up for this greatness! "Breaking the Limit" is another great piece of modern metal history! Those drums shall unleash a dark vortex as part of the bad-a** music. "New Millennium Crushers" once again shows that they can squeeze all these perfect rhythms and epic melodies in a mere 4 minutes (the average song length for this album). This is like a more cyber take on pop-ish melodeath bands like Blood Stain Child and Scar Symmetry.

Then we slow down for the ballad-ish "I Want to Believe", clearly an X-Files reference in that title. "CyberGore Generation" can almost be considered "Cyber-core", blending together the cyber metal of Deathstars with a bit of the melodic metalcore of Memphis May Fire, The Autumn Offering, and Of Mice & Men. We end up getting more of the groove-ish melodeath side of the sound in "Cybernesis", still sounding cyber with those d*mn cool keyboards. "Infected" is another great example of letting the riffs fly free, sounding heavy while surrounded by electronic melodies.

"Fading Away" I would recommend to anyone wanting something cleaner and more melancholic. Just when I thought the band was going to lose steam, "Mind Hunters" strikes on as another better deal. "Razor to the Skin" has more of the razor-sharp riffing and synths. The 2012 re-release has two bonus tracks, starting with "Neuron Electrics Inc.", a cyber metal standout to practically rival Deathstars. The other bonus track "Neon Rebels" can practically be considered Soilwork gone Black Veil Brides stylistically.

Here we have a great example of cyber metal in this Illidiance album Damage Theory, for anyone looking for the revival of this subgenre invented by The Kovenant. Apart from some slight improvement needed, this offering is what you need for a great trip into the cyber realm!

Favorites: "Hi-Tech Terror", "New Millennium Crushers", "CyberGore Generation", "Infected", "Fading Away", "Mind Hunters", "Neuron Electrics Inc."

Over the course of the past 10 years before this review, Fange has released 7 albums and 3 EPs, almost every one of which has a one-word title that starts with the letter P. Their music is best described as industrial sludge metal, sometimes heading into other genres like death-doom or crust-core. Basically a blend of some of the heaviest, most crushing metal genres around. And with this album of two 15-minute tracks, the sound has become more climatic, though also much less accessible.

I can almost consider this a more deathly and doomy Godflesh! Something similar to Godflesh is the amount of noise mixed in with the guitars, and the use of a drum machine instead of a human drummer. With all that and the underground production, what's more to add in this dark journey?

"Tombé Pour La France" (Fallen for France) is the first of the two epics, and it starts off sounding so crushing. Then things slow down for melodic riffing and hardcore shouting. They can do that without losing their crushing atmosphere, proven by the riffing becoming more industrial. The composition is so brutal and emotional, and sometimes the melody can bring their sound closer to post-sludge.

"Les Vergers De La Désolation" (The Orchards of Desolation) is the second epic, sounding more post-rock-ish, while maintaining a lot of the industrial effects. Lots of moods, melody, and textures... They can add in a slight bit of accessibility while staying in the underground.

All in all, Pantocrator is a dark mature release in which industrial and sludge collide alongside pieces of other genres to make something so diverse. Fange knows how to push the limits as much as the more popular post-sludge bands could. Although both epics stand equally between those two genres, fans of the post-sludge of Sumac might dig the first one more, and fans of the industrial noise of The Body might dig the second one more. Whichever epic you prefer, you know how harsh industrial sludge can get!

Favorites: Both, though I like "Les Vergers De La Désolation" slightly more

Two years after the release of Corrections House's debut Last City Zero, the group consisting of Scott Kelly (ex-Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (ex-Minsk) and Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod) continue pushing their dystopian industrial noise-metal to different levels. With Parker's beats, Kelly's riffing, Lamont's sax, and Williams' sick vocals, Know How to Carry a Whip maintains the greatness of the band's debut with more cohesive structures. This allows the dark despair to strike a bit more deeply...

An industrial backbone is constructed for the metal body. The mechanical music fits well for the moody concepts. The torch is often carried from one hand to another like a relay race, and when it glows, it's a darkened flame.

"Crossing My One Good Finger" has a tribal-ish beat to go with the mechanism, kicking off the dystopian industrial metal. We also have the slow crawling "Superglued Tooth" with the post-sludge riffing of Neurosis. Some background effects are added to the ritual, leading up to a closing dark dance-ish vibe. Those effects bleed into "White Man's Gonna Lose" with some perfect apocalyptic twists from the distorted sax. A true electro-industrial metal standout!

"Hopeless Moronic" is more bizarre with electronic sweeps while having some heavy groove. The lyrics seem pessimistic there. We escape into the acoustic darkness of "Visions Divide" in which even something soft can sound intense. "The Hall of Cost" is also dark but with a more chaotic attack, heading into misanthropic depths.

Switching around the structure is "When Push Comes to Shank" with moments of synth dissonance. The sax even has some emotion! Though the different twists cause the structure to be a bit unstable. "I Was Never Good at Meth" has greater structural sense when making these switches, albeit a lot more ambient. The closing track "Burn the Witness" has more of the tribal effect. The guitars are more solid and audible than most other songs here. The band have really outdone themselves by the end of it all.

If the band's debut Last City Zero was the album that showed the band what they are, Know How to Carry a Whip follows it up with another confirmation. As a result, their bleak devouring sound has made another round. Likely the final one sadly, considering the situation involving Scott Kelly....

Favorites: "Superglued Tooth", "White Man's Gonna Lose", "The Hall of Cost", "I Was Never Good at Meth", "Burn the Witness"

When I was listening to Gothminister's grand masterpiece Pandemonium, little did I know, they actually had a part 2 in the works. A few singles started coming out just a year after the release of Pandemonium, and one of them got the band into Eurovision 2024. Gothminister wasn't the only gothic industrial metal band to participate in Eurovision, with Lord of the Lost coming in last year with the title track for their own album Blood & Glitter.

And now, the Pandemonium story grows, with Pandemonium II: The Battle of the Underworlds! Bjorn Alexander Brem, Eirik Oien, Glenn Nilsen, Ketil Eggum, and Christian Svendsen are back onboard with this sequel that's worth the short one and a half year wait.

Opening with uplifting ethereal strings is the title track that becomes a true anthem of war, as the guitar/keyboard majesty is accompanied by the vocals of Bjorn and a female vocalist (Sandra Jensen?) to add to the theatricality. An epic beginning! Continuing the assault is "We Live Another Day" in which negative-sounding music battles against motivational lyrics as the drums pound hard. "Creepy Shadows" has heaviness creeping out the atmosphere while having a dance-happy chorus. "One Dark Happy Nation" continues the perfect contrast that shall work well live. Catchy melodies and simple rhythms collide with each other that sounds quite dark but at the same time happy. That kind of blend is so unique in many ways!

The angsty "I am the Devil" is another solid highlight in which the riffs march along. "The Procession" is an interlude that would fit well in a sci-fi horror film. "I Will Drink Your Blood" has explosive energy and more prominent symphonics. "Aftermath" is one more horror-filled interlude with the synth-strings of their earlier albums.

After that, "Tonight" has more violent atmosphere while still remaining a singalong composition. Keyboards are more noticeable in "We are the Heroes" while the other members have their heavy fire. "Monostereo Creature" has some more of that fury, though the music is mostly mystical. "We Come Alive" is the catchy final track, and the song the band performed in Eurovision. You'll definitely wanna sing along to this!

Mysterious keyboards and riffs and motivating lyrics make you remember Gothminister's place in the gothic industrial metal scene. Those compositions might just enhance the band's live shows, and anyone listening to them can experience this journey through the Underworlds!

Favorites: "Battle of the Underworlds", "One Dark Happy Nation", "I am the Devil", "I Will Drink Your Blood", "We are the Heroes", "We Come Alive"

The quality of cover albums depends on whether the covers follow the good technique (metalizing the songs with their own sound) or the bad technique (sticking firmly to the song's original sound with no changes). There is also the idea of following the song's original sound but it's almost exactly the same style as the band covering it, like the first half of Eighteen Visions' 1996 (another cover album following a comeback album).

So how does The Amenta's Plague of Locus strike me? Well they certainly knew how to give the songs they've covered a stylistic transformation. Of the 10 songs in this release, only two of them are original compositions.

The first original track is the eerie "Intro". Then "Sono l'Antichristo" follows. They've taken a song by avant-garde musician Diamanda Galás and turn it into a chaotic storm of synths, guitars, and drums blasting through. Their take on Killing Joke's "Asteroid" is actually more destructive than the original, becoming a truly p*ssed-off banger. "Angry Chair", originally by Alice in Chains, is given a f***ing darker treatment, sounding angrier than that chair. The deep grooves and clean singing are pulled off easily.

The title track is the second original track, this one being a full song. The brutality hits hard with heavy riffs, synths, and vocals, growing harder as the song progresses. Exploring the experimental noise of Wolf Eyes is a cover of their song "A Million Years". Then they pay tribute to fellow Sydney metal band Lord Kaos in "Crystal Lakes".

"Rise" shows The Amenta crawling through the sludge of the song's original band Halo. The somber "Totem" is another tribute to a Sydney black metal band, Nazxul, once again blasting through blackened chaos. Finally, "Black God" is an amazing cover of a My Dying Bride song to close off this cover album. Though it would be great if they could cover one of the heavier My Dying Bride songs.

You can consider any of these tracks a journey within a journey, as the covers end up stranger or heavier than the original versions, just the way I like them. Still I look forward to more of The Amenta's original music when the time comes....

Favorites: "Asteroid", "Angry Chair", "Plague of Locus", "Rise", "Black God"

The Body has a naked sound of brutal electronic drone noise that needs to be covered. Uniform has their own sound outfit of industrial noise/metal. Put a Uniform on The Body and see what happens. Well, their first collaboration is a drone metal album called Mental Wounds Not Healing. I might check out that one later, but for now, let's head into their second collaboration, the more industrial Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back!

I love heavy and catchy this offering is, in which sludgy beats are melded together with pop rhythms. The groove just stomps right through in great power. If this is what industrial metal sounds like mixed with synth-pop, we might have an interesting future of music in our hands.

Right from the start, "Gallows in Heaven" marches in with distorted beats. I love the punk-ish vocal delivery of Michael Berdan that fits well with the brutal noise from the guitars and bass. "Not Good Enough" is everything I want from this intense sound and more. It is a mighty monolith with post-punk-ish riffing. "Vacancy" has the drum machinery of late 80s Ministry leading into insanely catchy chords. Once again, the vocals by Berdan are something to love for the mighty aggression.

"Patron Saint of Regret" has the experimental noise sound left behind recently by Controlled Bleeding, structured by more of the punk-ish shouts of Berdan along with hip-hop beats. "Penance" is another interesting blend of industrial noise and synthpop with great production that can massage the brains of the strong and damage the brains of the weak. This kind of sound really is quite underrated. Though it would be greater if there were less of Chip King's screams that sound like a rooster being tortured. "All This Bleeding" has some more of the best post-punk riffing as waves of bass drum programming slice through.

"Day of Atonement" has that hip-hop pace again with heavier riffing and vocal effects to induce some chills. "Waiting for the End of the World" has some electronic ambience backed up by a different voice that's sinister all the same. The end that you're waiting for hasn't arrived yet until one final track... "Contempt" is pretty much the soundtrack to the final moments of Earth before total destruction with the massive sludgy riffing and percussion of Godflesh and 90s Ministry. It can't end more brutally than this!

I'm a little surprised by how much I love this collab. Industrial noise-metal had never sounded this amazing before. This would've been perfect, but what's blocking out the remaining half-star is Chip King "tortured rooster" screams. They're not bad, but they could've been improved. Still this is the kind of style with the potential to stun the Earth!

Favorites: "Not Good Enough", "Vacancy", "Penance", "All This Bleeding", "Contempt"

Originality sometimes spawns from ONE MAN... Tristan Shone has his one-man project Author & Punisher in which he is both them musician and engineer. He even has his own instruments made by himself! Cohesive music is formulated from Tristan's machine beasts of Hell.

I wouldn't say Beastland is the best industrial noise/metal album I've heard, but it's a d*mn excellent unique offering. It's not just adding 8-bit beeps and screams to the sounds of apocalypse. I'm talking about greatness that can be heard from the instruments Tristan created using his hands and tools. The writing and atmosphere are quite memorable, considering its vibe of bleakness and disarray.

Noise overpowers the music in the dark opening track "Pharmacide". The more electrifying "Nihil Strength" has some great emotion. The instrumentation in "Ode to Bedlam" is heavier and more disturbing, reach beyond industrial boundaries.

"The Speaker is Systematically Blown" drags you back and forth until you're in a daze. The melodic "Nazarene" sounds quite cool, but it ends abruptly. A bit disappointing, and the album would've been perfect if that didn't happen and instead went on for another minute. "Apparition" combines the melody of the previous track with more of the earlier heavy noise, and that's the kind of blend I like.

Then we come into two 6-minute epics, starting with "Night Terror" which has a lot of what the album has so far. It's only surpassed by the other epic, the closing title track, which ends it all in beastly destruction.

So the abrupt ending of one of the songs is the only truly fatal mistake. Tell that to those who think industrial noise/metal can cause headaches and brain aneurysms. Well sure it's not pleasant for many people, but it is for me. You need to have lots of experience with extreme genres from both industrial and metal to appreciate this outstanding writing. If you can survive sitting through this entire album that is practically noise pollution if played without headphones, then congrats. You have conquered the beast!

Favorites: "Nihil Strength", "Ode to Bedlam", "Apparition", "Beastland"

Shortly before Rammstein's hiatus, vocalist Till Lindemann invited Pain/Hypocrisy mastermind Peter Tagtgren to one of their concerts in Sweden. They previously met in the year 2000. After doing one of two songs, Tagtgren felt like making an entire album. The band wasn't originally going to be named after Lindemann, but every other band name they thought of was already in use. Still I think of this band as kind of Lindemann's solo project, and that includes his solo album Zunge.

Lindemann and Tagtgren make one h*ll of a storytelling duo. Tagtgren also handles all the music, though it would've been cool to hear some contributions from Rammstein members. Skills in Pills is one of the only Lindemann-led albums to be in English instead of German, making the themes of pills, drugs, booze, and sex more... well, naked.

The former 3 lyrical themes are covered the most in the interesting opening title highlight. The lyrics in "Ladyboy" has more deadpan delivery while having a bit of humor, "Dressed for fun, no romance. Two in one, I'll take my chance." And again in "Fat" which can shock the easily offended and get anyone with a sense of humor laughing, "Your flappy butthole, a soggy cave. I put in my parts, and let them bathe."

"Fish On" takes on a Devo-like style in a hot story of mermaid sex. Heading down into the earlier sounds of Rammstein, "Children of the Sun" seems fresh out of the Reise Reise sessions. "Home Sweet Home" goes further down into the Mutter era as an orchestral power ballad with lyrics not too far off from the fairytale that is the music video for the ultimate Rammstein classic "Sonne". Stomping through is "Cowboy", relatable to those dreaming of being a cowboy getting his chicks on Route 66(6). The song itself is a true highlight sounding close to Turmion Katilot.

The ultimate highlight goes to "Golden Shower". The lyrics are so ridiculous and potentially offensive, and yet I'm so intrigued, "Golden shower, let it fly, from your pretty c*nt!" "C*nt, c*nt, your pretty c*nt!" Absolutely Rammstein! Whispers and bells creep in on "Yukon". Even a song like "Praise Abort" can take on a controversial topic without causing a storm of conservative protesters. "That's My Heart" is a bonus track in the special edition with orchestration and additional vocals by Clemens Wijers of Carach Angren.

Skills in Pills is a pretty good start for Lindemann's duo with Tagtgren that made the wait for Rammstein's next album worth it for fans of the band. The duo have really added some kinky kinks to the sound Lindemann does best. Fun for the family, while not really being family-friendly....

Favorites: "Skills in Pills", "Fat", "Children of the Sun", "Cowboy", "Golden Shower"

Ooh, look at that! Another sludgy industrial metal supergroup. This one consists of members from bands Neurosis, Eyehategod, Minsk, and Yakuza. They were active for 8 years and two albums until splitting up in 2020. I'm guessing the split is related to guitarist/vocalist Scott Kelly getting fired from Neurosis for abusing his family, which didn't come to light until 2022. Anyway, their debut Last City Zero doesn't reach the perfection of Greymachine, but it still reaches a solid level of greatness...

You can practically hear what the members have in store from their respective bands including apocalyptic heaviness and nihilistic themes. The industrial side of the sound stems from the guitar distortion, drum programming, and keyboard usage.

Opening the album is "Serve or Survive" with some ambient drone. Kelly's gloomy vocals definitely throw back to Neurosis, before main vocalist Mike Williams starts shouting through the heavy doomy industrial metal music. "Bullets and Graves" is a shorter industrial track that sounds like Neurosis and Skinny Puppy collaborated with each other in the year 1990. "Party Leg and Three Fingers" has more of that apocalyptic vibe.

Taking on a different while still dark sound, "Run Through the Night" is more of a folk-ish tune. "Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill" has chanting vocals while still making room for Williams' rage. Soon the lyrics become more poetic, especially in the spoken bridge.

"Hallows of the Stream" has mysterious jazz that would fit well for a crime noir film. The more poetic lyrics continue on in the title track, albeit in a spoken story over quiet guitar strums. Prophets and madmen seem to be the main theme there along with human suffering. The most unforgiving music and lyrics come straight with the closing "Drapes Hung by Jesus". An ambient intro leads into industrial metal that gradually becomes heavier, plus some eerie sax, before the last bit of lyrical poetry at the end.

Last City Zero allows you experience destruction and withering hope pleasantly from the comfort of your home. The experimentation blended with steel-strong heaviness is not something you would find in every supergroup. It fits well for a world reduced to ruin by climate change and carbon footprints....

Favorites: "Serve of Survive", "Party Leg and Three Fingers", "Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill", "Drapes Hung by Jesus"

What would happen if Godflesh's Justin Broadrick and Isis' Aaron Turner collaborate in a different experimental project? You get pretty much the best of both worlds in the perfect sole album by Greymachine, Disconnected!

Despite the project's short-lived existence, a lot of interest has spawned from it, thanks to the members' other bands like the aforementioned Godflesh and Isis, and Jesu (pronounced "yay-zoo", like when you're taking your kids to the zoo and they're like "YAY, ZOO!!!"). Disconnected is all about the journey of sound as the band takes you through music that's heavier and more pummeling than anything the band members have done before.

Different layers of instrumentation cover "Wolf at the Door", a song that really lurks like a wolf, including brutal bass, pummeling percussion, and vicious vocals in the background. The strange catchy "Vultures Descend" has more danceable industrial metal. Almost like a popstar zombie apocalypse, which is an odd analysis when talking about a song so heavy and bleak. We have some electronic fuzz in "When Attention Just Isn’t Enough" that evolved into merciless droning. This may very well be the pleasant soundtrack to a slow painful death experienced via electric chair.

I would be surprised if the rhythms in "Wasted" don't make you want to drum along. "We Are All F***ing Liars" is f***ing brutal in the guitar rhythms and vicious vocals. There's also a demo version that appears in the Japanese edition as a bonus track. Storming through is the dissonant aura of "Just Breathing" with hypnotic bass rhythms followed by warped guitar sounds to infect your mind.

"Sweatshop" is the best track for me here. It's like Godflesh but slower and more mesmerizing! The rhythms and feedback never cease to amaze me. Final track "Easy Pickings" is basically some small sections assimilated into one for a fulfilling experience.

The day I start listening to Disconnected is a day my ears will never forget. Greymachine has blown me away with nothing but bleak destruction. Disconnected is one of the heaviest albums I've heard in the Fallen side of metal. While it's certainly not for the inexperienced, fans of industrial/drone metal should not miss out on this. This is the perfect pinnacle of slow-crawling noise to make your ears bleed and then get them healed!

Favorites: "Wolf at the Door", "When Attention Just Isn’t Enough", "We Are All F***ing Liars", "Sweatshop"

Cyber metal was originally developed by bands like The Kovenant and Deathstars as a more melodic electronic sibling of industrial metal. With that kind of underrated sound, why that subgenre isn't as popular as it should've been is far beyond me. And of course, we can't forget about the more epic new wave of cyber metal in bands like Mechina and Neurotech. But in between those eras is one band that would push the subgenre's development further, Sybreed.

If I were to think of what their debut Slave Design sounds like, I say it's like a continuation of Fear Factory's sound in Demanufacture with a bit of the melody of The Kovenant and the mechanism of Godflesh. While the album doesn't necessarily copy those bands, it can't really sweep the globe as much as those bands despite how great it is...

Already blasting forward is the first and best song of the album, "Bioactive". Right there, you get to hear the members drive through sonic cyber/industrial metal without relying too much on electronics. Here we have the powerful drumming of Alex Anxionaz, showing a bit of Fear Factory influence, the gloomy vocals of Benjamin Nominet ranging from clean to harsh, the heavy guitar grooves of Drop, and the burning bass of Burn. "ReEvolution" is another cool cyber metal highlight with audibility in Burn's heavy bass. "Decoy" has less balance though, but the delivery appeals well to me when the music and vocals shine in the clean sections. The otherwise crushing riffing in "Synthetic Breed" seems to implode, which makes the song fall f***ing flat. And that's tough when it's a song named after both this band and another band named Synthetic Breed.

The industrial machinery powers up better in "Next Day Will Never Come", another strong tune. We actually get some djent-ish groove that isn't as needlessly repetitive as some of the later modern djent bands out there. Now that's some catchy cyber/industrial metal to get you the f*** moving! "Machine Gun Messiah" continues the band's heavier side. "Take the Red Pill" has some more cyber metal action. The title even references the movie The Matrix. The heavy instrumentation and screamed vocals shall keep you awake from beginning to end.

"Rusted" has some decent atmosphere and experimentation. "Static Currents" starts off with some neat electronics, but when the metallic groove comes in, things sound a bit worn out. "Critical Mass" is an interesting closing track. It starts off sounding almost like the second Embodyment album The Narrow Scope of Things, but it slowly rises into the usual cyber metal that Illidiance would later have. Epic! There are also a couple bonus radio edits, for "ReEvolution" and "Decoy", which we'll just ignore.

Slave Design shows how well the band can bring the sounds of earlier bands like Fear Factory and The Kovenant into a cool soundtrack to technological resistance, though it's not entirely fresh. Still this is really great for the cyber/industrial part of my metal heart, and it might just grow on you too....

Favorites: "Bioactive", "ReEvolution", "Next Day Will Never Come", "Take the Red Pill", "Critical Mass"

It has only been during the past couple years when I started hearing of Killing Joke. I'm not too surprised since I've only been into industrial metal for a few years now and only a few of their albums are metal. But once I began my dive into some of their albums, I encountered some songs I wish I wasn't missing out on, and Killing Joke's self-titled 2003 comeback album (their second self-titled album after their 1980 debut) has a lot of them.

You can expect the usual industrial rock/metal action from the lineup of vocalist Jaz Coleman, guitarist Kevin "Geordie" Walker, and bassists Martin "Youth" Glover and Paul Raven (RIP Geordie and Raven). But who's the drummer for this album? Dave Grohl from Nirvana and Foo Fighters! I'm guessing the incident of Nirvana copying the riff from Killing Joke's song "Eighties" for their own "Come as You Are" has gone past both bands. Grohl thunders through with his drumming intensity, enhanced by producer Andy Gill (also RIP). Coleman and Walker have their typical vocal/guitar alternation.

"The Death & Resurrection Show" is the perfect album opener. Coleman encourages you to "put on your masks, and animal skins" before the powerful instrumentation rolls in. I heard this song is featured in the soundtrack for Need For Speed Underground 2. People following this band since their late 70s formation would have their minds blown. Then "Total Invasion" has some more lyrics poured out from the voice of Coleman, alongside Walker's guitar mayhem. This also occurs in the destructive highlight "Asteroid".

"Implant" is where the vocals seem to be more voice-threatening than metalcore screamers, especially with Coleman continues to scream even at times when the music has come to a halt. "Blood on Your Hands" is one of two groovy back-to-back highlights. The next one being "Loose Cannon", sounding both inspired and inspiring.

Up next, "You'll Never Get to Me" tackles different angles in newfound melody. We begin "Seeing Red" with some politically themed lyrics leftover from Democracy, "They're dropping bombs again, and they’re doing it in your name." Then "Dark Forces" has darker symphonics, though everything else sounds a bit forced. The finale "The House That Pain Built" is a cathartic standout within the mid-90s Metallica-like riffing and the chorus, "And when you need catharsis, because that’s how you’re made, you know."

After two pretty good industrial rock/metal albums and a long hiatus, Killing Joke strike back with a slight improvement in their furious self-titled comeback. Maybe one day I can check out their 2006 follow-up Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, but for now, let's savor the beauty and chaos of their return....

Favorites: "The Death & Resurrection Show", "Asteroid", "Blood on Your Hands", "Loose Cannon", "The House That Pain Built"

OK, what have I heard so far from Rammstein? I've listened to the albums Reise Reise and Zeit, and a dozen tracks used for the Sphere playlists. I hadn't entirely heard this breakthrough album Mutter yet, so why not? And this turned out to be really great for both an NDH album and an album with a singles-filled first half...

Mutter has been considered by many this popular German band's 3rd-time charm. You can hear a lot in the riffs and drums, along with some samples and the bass vocals of Till Lindemann. This band isn't one to take seriously, with their over-the-top lyrics, though they are quite meaningful. You'll know what I mean if you read the translations. And you can enjoy the catchy music whether or not you can understand the German lyrics.

"Mein Herz Brennt" ("My Heart Burns") opens the album beautiful with quiet singing by Lindemann. Then the solid verses kick off with guitar riffing side by side with string melody. The themes of angst and heartache are just beginning... "Links 2 3 4" (Left 2 3 4) is a more well-known single with political lyrics by the band to brush aside the earlier Nazi allegations, "They want my heart in the right place, but then I look below, it beats to the left." The music marches through, especially in the chorus with a more choral vibe. Not really enough to be a standout despite its goodness. "Sonne" (Sun) is the album's first single. The song was written for boxer Vitali Klitschko, but he never used it. After doing a boxing match referee-like count to 9 then "out". The catchiest riffing can be found here, followed by a melodic chorus, "Here comes the sun." Probably the best song of the album and by the band! Up next, "Ich Will" (I Want) is a great single as well. The keyboard/guitar rhythm is so catchy though can get tiring after many listens. This song of desire for fame has made a fantastic live staple.

When the sirens go off at the 40-second point of "Feuer Frei!" (Open Fire!), you're in for a ride. Actually this song would cause driving to be quite a challenge if you put it on your car stereo. It doesn't have much fire as I'm hoping for though. That intro is quite sick though. I could imagine Pitbull remixing this song, which is quite odd to imagine. And don't forget, that song was also in that Vin Diesel film xXx along with one of Hatebreed's songs, and in an earlier CSI episode. The title track is one more single, a sad ballad with a deep lyrical concept. A baby was born without a mother via an experiment and grows up lonely. The powerful chorus with its somber guitar melody and the repeated shouts of "Mother!" give the song more life. "Spieluhr" (Music Box) has a deeper baby-related lyrical concept. A stillborn baby that was buried in a music box (dug out and photographed for the album cover) is brought back to life. It both begins and ends with a music box melody, and the chorus features the distorted voice of one of Lindemann's children, to add more eeriness to the story. Plus, the solid verses have audible bass. So beautiful yet haunting! "Zwitter" (Hermaphrodite) is a heavier song to love. It has more furious riffing and some of the best and most bizarre lyrics of androgynous self-pleasure, "I'm not discouraged, when someone says 'f*** you' to me."

"Rein Raus" ("In Out") is never something I would enjoy lyrically, with the band's typical graphic sex-filled lyrics. The "Farther!" bridge is rather unsettling. The techno-ish intro leading into heavy riffing is pretty good. Despite that, not much of that song stands out for me. "Adios" (Goodbye) is an awesome song that should've been a single. There's interesting rhythm from the bass and drums. The guitar can really drive through. That song would've been made the best ending for the album, if not for... "Nebel" ("Fog"), a weak love ballad. I mean, I don't mind a metal album ending with a ballad, but it doesn't have the melancholic power of the title track. A poor letdown but it's still tolerable. "Hallelujah" is a bonus track in the Japanese edition, a slightly better way to head out than the previous track. Apparently, it's about a priest inappropriately touching an altar boy. Definitely too brutal for the more conservative/religious market. And the boy singing "Hallelujah" in the chorus once again makes things more eerie. 

Mutter can certainly be the ultimate starting point for anyone wanting to hear Rammstein for the first time. Any fan of Rammstein and NDH should give it a listen, maybe even follow it up with the more experimental Reise Reise....

Favorites: "Mein Herz Brennt", "Sonne", "Ich Will", "Spieluhr", "Zwitter", "Adios"

AAHHH Smells like a classic. Can't you smell it? When you read the titles? See the album art? Hear the screaming? the pounding repition of the snare in the track Pulp while the guitar wails behind it? Smells like dirty streets, burnt out garbage cans, and Disatissfaction.  Love it. The imagery is very strong when listening to this album.  Broaderick is very powerful in his delivery and messaging. Long hailed a pioneer of this sound, this album stands up as being just as heavy and enjoyable to listen to today which for something recorded in 89 is saying something considering how many artists these days continue to try and 'push the envelope'. Pack it in guys, Justin Broaderick basically invented the envelope decades ago and it remains unmatched by many sounds. Life is Easy is like the industrial version of a funeral doom dredge, just ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh   for 5 minutes ( bonus if you go ahhhhhh with it)  Then Streetclear picks up  with some more dynamic drum beats and to keep you hooked in.  Dead Head and  Suction finish the album with what I feel are very bass heavy tracks, as the vocal becomes more dissonant and pushed further away while the bass takes a more prominant roll in the mix to round out the album. While there are tracks on here that stand out as ' singles' ( Pulp, Locust Furnace)  I do think it is best enjoyed as a singluar listen start to finish. 

If you're at industrial bands with big names, Fear Factory is one of the first to be mentioned in many conversations. They're a group that if you look at their discography really has a solid sense of what they are about and have followed that path.  With the industrial sound really kind of brushing at the heels of pop culture at the time, Zero Signal getting to appear in the Mortal Kombat movie back then in the 90's was really an excellent oppurtunity for Fear Factory and honestly whats more fun than throwing on album like this an then crushing some noobs to a few rounds of MK? but I digress. The concept of this album, fighting back against the oppressive machines in control, really coming through with Herrara's POUNDING drums. The speed and precision of his beats absolutely annihilate you as the listener. The band was in fact accused of using a drum machine becuase of Herrara's precision, which is a back handed compliment if I ever heard one. The guitar is fine but honestly is second fiddle to the rhythm section ( which is fine by me, its what I want in industial music, excellent rhythm and drumming).  The Synth on this album adds to the athmosphere instead of becoming the centerpiece, or detracting from the brutality which is appreciated as a fan of heavy music. The vocals of Burton Bell are raw emotion fueled to drive thier message home, and the effects they have in the background only add the ambience. While I personally don't think this is their #1 album if I was ranking them( their follow up album Obselete is probably the favorite here) , its definately up there and worth the praise. Without the sucess of this album there would not be an Obselete, so there is that as well. If you don't have time for a full album listen to the tracks H-K (Hunter Killer), Body Hammer, and Pisschrist those I think were my top 3. 

OH BOY . What an album, what a journey.  You know, I started this listen very optimistic, the first track, I thought, hey, this isn't too bad, kinda rough production, underground sounding, experimental, lets keep going......but...it got worse not better, or even the same... The kazoo sounds in Body Horror  were a brave choice really but honestly were far better executed Frank Zappa when he used them. ( yes I know its actually a clarinet but its recording or technique or something left much to be desired) and then whatever followed in Lazarus that sounded sort of like a bad didgeridoo. The only piece after the opener that I didn't cringe during was Bloodstream ( before the minute and a half of heartbeat over violin pulls). As I continued to listen I had to wonder, " Is there only one  bass riff on this album?" Maybe, it felt like it. There was so little variation of it when it was featured that  i can still here the do do- do do do. pattern . ON driving the demons out I happened to exclaim outloud " OH BONGOS"  and my husband replied " Whats astonishing is no matter how many instruments you play, if you play them badly, its still bad and it doesn't matter if they keep adding more" honestly. That really resonated with me as I pondered what was happening. That sentence ties together this album pretty well as a thought. I actually LIKE noise, in general, but the composition of a lot of these tracks did not work for me as it felt forced and kind of pretentous when I listened to it. The sound was raw in a way like you didn't bake your chicken long enough, not in a way that made me feel any real emotion which was dissapointing for something that had so many people worked on in this outfit. After this album the only thing this band produced were some live albums. I looked into it becuase I had to see what was going on with them. Most of the band members don't even have wiki pages. or if they do they say " This person worked with Martin on God and maybe one of his other projects". Aside from Broaderick who is well known in his own right for Godflesh ( which is a much better outfit) and Martin himself who unfortunately went on to continue making music, although he shifted into calling himself The Bug and focused on becoming more of an electric/ dubstep guy. I gave this one star for really going for something here in the way that an elementry teacher gives all the students a gold star for trying their best. Good effort there boys. Go ahead though and keep the day jobs.

This was a very enjoyable album. This is the type of industrial album you can just throw on when you want to kick back with the boys and hang out which is what ultimately I did as I listened to this as  our friend biked over and my husband and he sat out on the patio with me jamming out to this album.  Front Line Assembly has a LARGE catalouge but this is really their  first foray into actual METAL if I recall and the array of sampling of the guitar riffs used throughout the album are excellent, from Sepultura to Pantera, the riffs  selected to be used by the duo help carry the heavy metallic sounds of their electronic instrumentation and vocals. This album is very danceable which is super fun, I love when the rivets pound out in a way that lets me get up and move. While the whole album is good I believe the stand out tracks are the title track -Millenium and Division of Mind. The rap track, Victim of a Criminal is also excellent  IMO and whle some may protest its place as I told my listening companions yesterday who were confused and thought the album changed , this is an industrial album what would it be without a singular track somewhere in the middle that doesn't seem to fit in with any of the others sonically as a statement piece? And if you don't like this album? Give it another try, because I'm an American and you're a sick asshole ;)

You simply couldn’t ignore Los Angeles industrial death metallers Fear Factory when they exploded onto the scene with their 1992 debut album “Soul of a New Machine”. Although their sound wasn’t ideally suited to my personal taste, I still found myself purchasing the CD & attending the shows with all of my metal-loving mates & quite enjoying myself along the way. Metal radio was all over Fear Factory so you almost had no choice but to become exposed to them & their unique combination of precision, melody & extremity sounded really fresh at the time. As an album, I don’t mind “Soul of a New Machine” but feel that the band would comfortably eclipse it with their next album “Demanufacture” which is still the benchmark for Fear Factory to this day in my opinion. Somewhere in between those two albums though, we find this little remix E.P. which drew a somewhat shocked response from a teenage me. The very gall of an extreme metal band to attempt EDM-infused versions of their more popular songs! It certainly sounded like an awful idea to me on paper so I don’t think I went into it with a lot of hope to be honest & that may well have played a role in me eventually dismissing “Fear is the Mindkiller” as a release that was categorically not for me. However, by the end of the 1990’s I’d been sucked up by the exciting techno juggernaut & spent the next decade spinning tunes in dark, underground clubs so I’m hoping that now I might be better predisposed to enjoying this record. Let’s find out, shall we?

“Fear is the Mindkiller” contains six songs & clocks in at around the 32 minute mark. Five of those pieces are electronica/electro-industrial remixes of tracks taken from the debut album with the album version of “Self Immolation” also being tossed in for good measure. I honestly think that “Self Immolation” was a strange track to nominate to fill out the run time given that a) it’s not one of the better tracks from “Soul of a New Machine” & b) there are already two remixed versions of that track included on the E.P. which leads to repetition. Thankfully though, there is some quality to be found in this material, even for those of you that might only be open to metal music. None of the original tracks are indecipherable in these remixes with all five of them offering regular snippets at the very least. Interesingly though, it’s the pieces that take Fear Factory the furthest away from their original works that work best with “Self Immolation (Vein Tap Mix)” & “Scumgrief” (Deep Dub Trauma Mix)” being comfortably my pick of the bunch. The one failure actually lines up with the heaviest of the songs in the Pig Fuck Mix of “Scapegoat” which is essentially just a misguided attempt to place a dance beat behind the original & fails to connect on anywhere near the same level.

I’ve found myself quite liking “Fear is the Mindkiller” for the most part. The electronic component isn’t done to an elite level but (apart from “Scapegoat”) it’s executed reasonably well &, on most occasions, brings something a bit different to the originals. I can’t say that I regard the E.P. as being essential but, then again, I don’t consider “Soul of a New Machine” to be either. This is certainly an underrated release, perhaps receiving undue criticism from a metal community that can at times be fairly closed-minded when it comes to electronic music.

For fans of HEALTH, Front Line Assembly & Ministry's "Rio Grande Dub Ya".

I've totally forgotten about this one-off side-project by MC Raaka Pee of Turmion Katilot. He continues his vocal talents here with co-vocalist HC CSD (Linda Karhu), and several different vocalists with their own contributions...

2 Times Terror continues the techno-industrial metal of Turmion Katilot. While many of the lyrics are in Finnish, some English lyrics are added to the writing. They have the skills to appeal to fans of dance music or metal or both. It is the vocal aggression of MC Raaka Pee that makes it clear that listeners are hearing the dance-y sounds of Turmion Katilot in a different side-project.

Already making use of Turmion Katilot's roots in the opening "D.E.A.D." They know how to make electronic rhythms like The Berzerker but without any speed-grind. What's different compared to Turmion Katilot is the use of female vocals. All in all, we have an excellent piece of electro-metal with both male and female vocals. A well-done example of opposites attract! "Lust" sounds like it has some leftover electronics from Waltari's Space Avenue. The Finnish lyrics in "Kuoleman Kehdossa" (In the Cradle of Death) are a bit unclear, though they work out fine. "Forever Mine" sounds so cool with the drop C tuned riffing of metalcore bands like Atreyu, Of Mice & Men, Phinehas, and Shadows Fall, while strictly being the album's usual techno-industrial metal.

The title track has slower melody. "Maailman Tuomari" (Judge of the World) is less melodic in the chorus, though it has intriguing Rammstein vibes. Next up, "Metalorgy" is a great standout. The riffing from USCH! is mixed together with higher screamed vocals to add more uniqueness to the vocal stylings of MC Raaka Pee with catchy surprises. The only song to surpass that is "Ikävässä Paikassa" (In a Bad Place) which is a high-quality climatic piece of dance-metal. The keyboards and guitars are in perfect union. It may be too accessible for pure metalheads, but it absolutely rules!

"Vaateet" (Clothing) is a dance-y cover of a song by Finnish punk rocker Maukka Perusjätkä, helped out by Maukka himself. "Vielä Joskus" (Sometimes Again) is a great track that should've ended up in a Turmion Katilot album. I probably would love this track more if the lyrics were in English and they did not have the bridge with the baby noises before the final chorus. The bonus remix of "Forever Mine" is pretty nice, though it can't beat the original.

All in all, the sole album by 2 Times Terror is filled with catchy accessible techno-industrial metal for anyone wanting to hear metal mixed with EDM. As great as it is though, this is around the time when Turmion Katilot are at a lower quality than their many of their surrounding albums, as you can hear in Perstechnique from the following year....

Favorites: "D.E.A.D.", "Forever Mine", "Metalorgy", "Ikävässä Paikassa", "Vielä Joskus"

Bad Omens was rocket-launched into popularity with their 3rd album The Death of Peace of Mind, mainly due to one of its singles "Just Pretend" being used a lot in TikTok. Their next album, Concrete Jungle [The OST] continues what they have in that album with more experimentation than before...

Since there are people who often compare the band's self-titled debut with Bring Me the Horizon's Sempiternal, if we continue that comparison path, this would make the Concrete Jungle release Bad Omens' very own Music to Listen to, a remix album based on their previous one (Think we'll get a concept EP and album later?). Anyway, one third of the album has new tracks, the second third has remixes, and the final third has live versions. I'm just gonna go with the new tracks, which I consider the main meat.

"C:\Projects\CJOST\BEATDEATH" is an odd intro, but it works well for the game's main menu. Then the actual album with "V.A.N.", a kick-A collab with Poppy. To paraphrase part of the first verse, it gets more powerful every minute. Although Poppy's vocals are both beautiful and wicked, it would've been nice to hear from Bad Omens vocalist Noah Sebastian as well, but the song is still perfect. The lyrics are so disturbing yet intriguing ("Isn't it strange to create something that hates you?" "I AM DEATH AND I AM NOT ALONE!!!!"). "The Drain" features Health and Swarm. The cyber sound of Health lets Noah flow through fittingly. Dark disco metal???? Sure seems like it!

Turning things around with rapping is "Terms & Conditions", led through by Bob Vylan (anyone here almost misread his name as Bob Dylan?), "Who they killing, when they making a killing". The production is quite clear, though the track doesn't really stand out well when it's just industrial hip-hop. Wargasm strikes on in "Heondist [Recharged]", packed with synths as heavy as the guitars. I've already heard of Wargasm via their remixes with Enter Shikari and Crossfaith. Milkie Way's vocals are more hyper than a sugar-buzzed cheerleader, and that's what I like there! Then we have a synthpop-ballad-ish track in "Even". Interlude "Loading Screen" is definitely what you would expect from an old-school PlayStation loading screen.

Really peaking at the height of the album is "Anything > Human", a collaboration with ERRA. The guest appearances by that progressive metalcore band's two vocalists shine as beautiful as Noah's vocals. An absolute favorite of mine that should be heard by future generations! We then have the long instrumental "Digital Footprint" that can once again be the music for a video game's loading screen. Still it doesn't harm the album's quality so much. Finally, iRis.EXE lends her vocal beauty to "Nervous System" with some of the strongest lyrics to go with a steady beat, "You want to hurt me?"

Again, the remixes and live performances are a separate thing from the main album, so I don't plan on going into that. Even then, Concrete Jungle is quite strange while worth having your heart and mind embrace its material. The guests are well-chosen without a doubt. Poppy, Health, Wargasm, ERRA, iRis.EXE... How can they not be liked? If the Death of Peace and Mind era really ends with this album, it's a pretty solid ending. Though the long-time fans may be uncertain of the band's possible future direction....

Favorites: "V.A.N", "The Drain", "Heondist [Recharged]", "Anything > Human", "Nervous System"

Meh - Basic. Not a fan of the ton choices. Mix is fairly muddy, Angsty teens probably like it. 
The problem with modern tech is that most anyone can cut a record and release it now. A good 20 years into it and we get flooded with mediocrity like this.
This would be much better with better ton choices and arranging. As it stands... Meh, decent, but not worth a second listen  

I liked this. It was kinda weird. I'd never listened to  Dodheimsgard before this and so I had to do my research while I was listening to find this was thier first foray into industrial/avant-garde type music while being only black metal before this, and while I have not at this point listened to their earlier stuff, I'm going to guess that was a good move. I am quite the enjoyer of what what some may call 'noise' music and so this had enough elements of that to tickle my fancy. While some songs went on a bit long ( and could have had a greater impact i think slightly shorter) Shiva Interfere, Carpet Bombing, and Completion were all lovely listens and with my research the glazing of  thier most recent album by others online, Black Medium Current,  landed it on my list to check out to see if they further developed thier industrial sound that they delved into on this album here. While many songs may seem disjointed both sonically and theme ( my husband asked my multiple times if I was listening to the same album from across the room throughout not believeing I was as it kept shifting so drastically if that is any indication of the tonal changes) - I really like that kind of change up and will check out more of thiei work to see if they polished this (lack of) formula.

This is not an album you listen to to get pumped. That being said, Author and Punisher is a band that I will say I have seen live, and far prefer in a live setting. I saw Tristan several years ago now in a pretty small and intimate venue setting and quite enjoyed the whole set, I was enraptured by the music as in a live setting this type of droning music is able to fully encapsulate your senses and you are able to see Tristan's wizardry with his self created  instrumentation tools on stage.  Seriously, if you ever get the chance, go check it out. That said, a lot of that charm is lost in a recording and while I find this to be above average drone and nice to listen to as I took a lie back and relaxed, many of the pieces on the album do not stand out to me. The introduction piece isn't catching, and really, after O'er Skies, which I found to be the most singularly memerable of the individual tracks,  the instrumentals are fine. Tristan does amazing things with this set up but honestly, go find yourself a video recording of him play or better yet, if you can catch a live show . If you're looking for some decent background music or something to relax to then this is a pretty good number, but in my opinion knowing what this music can sound like, this album feels a bit lackluster to really get me o'er the precipice.

Fear Is the Mindkiller is an EP of remixes of tracks from the FF's debut, Soul of a New Machine, with three of the six tracks being various versions of Self Immolation, one of which is the original album version. To be honest, the first two tracks sound fucking horrible to my ears, bringing to mind images from second-rate post-apocalyptic movies where tribes of rejects from Mad Max 2 dance round huge bonfires before setting off to harass the movie's main characters. Industrial metal mixed with electronic dance music and exactly the sort of thing that overloads my auditory sense mechanism, verging on the unbearable. For me personally, Hell sounds like this.

Things do improve after that and, in fairness, the remixes of Scapegoat and Scumgrief aren't quite that bad, but Scapegoat sounds poorly put together (the clean singing sections just sound right out of place) with Scumgrief (Deep Dub Trauma Mix) probably coming out on top of the remixed tracks. The Liquid Sky Mix of Self Immolation also has it's moments, but it does tend to drag on a bit. I know the fact that I have never been part of the EDM scene massively affects my opinion here, but it is what it is. Obviously, for me, the original version of Self Immolation is the best track here by a long way and even that is well short of FF's best work.

For 8 years, The Amenta was in the silent void after a perfect trilogy of albums that started with their debut Occasus. Those albums showed how futuristic extremeness can be with such a heavy timeless sound. Revelator marks the band's comeback with more of the earlier brutal violence while exploring something dark and more dreadful. This is the darkened future of industrial death metal!

Aside from the usual blasts of technicality of the band's industrial blackened death metal sound, there's a bit of atmospheric doom in the mix. The destruction isn't just straight-on brutal anymore, but also having interesting variety in darker depths.

Opening track "An Epoch Ellipsis" crashes through like a less symphonic Septicflesh with rapid drumming machinery to slay anything in its way. "Sere Money" is more rock-ish than anything the band has done, as the vocals of Cain Cressall range from clean to harsh, and both sides alternate between each other like an all-out war. "Silent Twin" is more chilling with acoustic ambience and Cressall's lurking vocals.

"Psoriastasis" is a punishing blaster with a relentless breakdown halfway through. "Twined Towers" is the band's longest song at 8 minutes and might remind some of a more brutal take on Ministry's mid-90s material. "Parasight Lost" shows the band's industrial side more in the vocals and guitars, like Godflesh gone early 90s Paradise Lost.

"Wonderlost" is a little repetitive but still quite a fascinating interlude. "Overpast" has more relentless drumming turbulence that keeps the band at the right direction. Another absolutely intense standout! Finally, "Parse Over" is one of the best songs ever of industrial death metal! There's even some more of the ambient doom throughout to add to the bleakness. That's the kind of album ending I need here!

The Amenta's killer evolution is displayed quite well, though it doesn't reach the perfect heights of their initial trilogy. I recommend Revelator for anyone wanting a darker follow-up to the Flesh is Heir album. More industrial brutality awaits!

Favorites: "An Epoch Ellipsis", "Psoriastasis", "Parasight Lost", "Overpast", "Parse Over"

I love this album as much as the rest of the album trilogy in The Amenta's initial run. No one can deny the masterful industrial death metal brutality. Not many bands can make such an achievement in sound. Expect a lot of industrial twists and turns! The band can bring the extremeness up to intense levels, though it's not as much of a completely devastating assault as their debut Occasus. This is because with their second album n0n, the samples and noises are more apparent after being hinted in the debut. This somewhat different sound is the best definition of a futuristic Hell. The blend of industrial machinery and metal destruction hits hard like a motherf***er, and h*ll, even Fear Factory's debut Soul of a New Machine can't reach that height.

Earlier on, the debut was just straight-up brutal. Here we have more of the f***ing eerie keys of Timothy Pope that sound so haunting and noise-ridden. Holy sh*t, he's good! He and the other band members are responsible for making n0n the monstrous masterpiece it is. The music is so well-constructed, with not much melodic harmony to let extreme dissonance shine. The keyboards actually bring more impact to the sound, and without it, the destruction would be unbalanced. It's all about the atmosphere to go with the heaviness for a killer blend.

"On" turns the album on with an ambient noise intro. "Junky" begins the inhuman variety of deathly dissonance and occasional doomy atmosphere, transforming from one side to another. F***ing h*ll, the guitars are top-notch and out of this world! "Vermin" is another f***ing monster. It takes some time to patience to actually dig this kind of chaos, and when you do, it's all worth the experience. The vicious vocals ranging between growls, screams, and whispers are so haunting! "Entropy" is a short interlude.

The perfect "Slave" has some killer guest vocals by Nergal of Behemoth. Then we have "Wh*re" and more of the insane atmosphere. "Spine" continues the powerful variety. "Skin" is another interlude with some spoken word, and the music is f***ing insane as always.

"Dirt" levels up the keyboard focus a bit and even has some melody. That's the kind of atmosphere that isn't highly present in the band's debut. One more interlude with more of Timothy's synths is "Atrophy". The haunting atmosphere reaches its peak in "Cancer". So horrifically awesome! Then we have the most twists in the oddly titled final epic "Rape", which starts chaotic in the first 3 minutes, then quiets down before some doomy melancholy in the heavy riffs and melody. D*mn, what a soothing yet brutal way out!

Is there anything more extreme than this band's industrial blackened death metal sound? Probably, but the point is, you haven't heard the most experimental twists around until your ears meet this brutal offering that is n0n. The underrated saga of The Amenta continues!

Favorites: "Junky", "Vermin", "Slave", "Spine", "Cancer", "Rape"

When I saw no one on this site had rated, much less reviewed, this album, I said , shoot, thats the next one I've got to listen to , it could be a hidden jem! And I was sonically rewarded for this experiment. Do you want to listen to something HEAVY?  This is HEAVY. You will feel its WEIGHT  thrown at you as you listen to it. I was thankful that this album was heavy on the industrial side of Industrial metal and on the "light dusting of machine sound used"  The vocal loopings, the screeching sounds, the beating of drums the mechanical poundings all coming together across the  heavy tracks in a variety of ways as each track was distinct enough from each other that they felt different and did not get boring as some lesser industrial offerings can. This Album took me on a journey as I listened and I felt like I was watching a story unfold. After uplift of sorts it brings on Run Through the Night,  The absolute brutal hit you will take in  Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill is delicious. 10/10.  The spoken word poetry bits by Williams may not be for everyone. I personally enjoy them as a juxatoposition against heavy tracks in between and the story that this album tells.  The final track is the only one that doesn't seem to go with the rest of the ' story of the album as I listened to it' in my opininon, and at nearly 10 minutes long, it was lost on it me a bit,  butoverall I hope that others will see this and give this album a listen too, it deserves more ears.

The opening  of this album for me was like stepping into a cold swimming pool. I was kind of hesitant, and it took me a few minutes to warm up through the opening track. I thought that it would be a perfectly servicable, mid level album trying to use idustrial elements, nothing too offensive but noththing to really write home about.  However the third track, Tears Have No Name, is an absolute banger, and worthy of any playlist save, this ignited my excitement to listen through the rest of the album as I begun headbanging to the track and it continued through , as Espirit de Corps continues to pick up the pace  I couldn't help but grin, at hopfully  finding a great album to add to the rotation. As I finished my listen this was only confirmed as I enjoyed myself throughout although I know that may be a bit controversal considering the major shift with the last 3 songs. If you have not given ....And Oceans  A.M.G.O.D a listen yet, do yourself a favor, and do it. Now. Its an up tempo headbanging good time for most of the album that takes the industrial influence and melds it  so well with forceful driving Heavy Metal Riffs, while I will admit that the ending of the album, does do that thing that sometimes industrial bands do where they get a little happy with the umm tss bumm instrumentals when it came to the end of the album, you still should give a majority of the tracks a listen and even so, it doesn't hurt to just let it play out

While I wouldn't ever suggest that industrial metal is one of my favourite genres, there are plenty of artists from within that realm that appeal to me but none of them come close to the sheer class & inventiveness of Birmingham's Godflesh who were at least partially responsible for birthing the genre in the first place. I fell hopelessly in love with Godflesh through their classic 1989 debut album "Streetcleaner" which saw me quickly investigating their seminal 1988 self-titled E.P., a release that soon proved itself to contain some similarly masterful material. I'd subsequently get onboard with 1991's stunning "Slavestate" & very solid "Cold World" E.P.'s as soon as they hit the streets as well as Godflesh's brilliant "Slateman" single in what was an imposing initial run of amazing releases that saw Ben & I thoroughly obsessing over Godflesh during the first half of the 1990's. 1992's "Pure" sophomore album would play a large role in that obsession too after I picked it up on cassette shortly after release.

"Pure" sees band leader Justin Broadrick (Jesu/Fall of Because/Napalm Death) embracing his experimental side by further incorporating elements he'd hinted at in the past to create a record that very much owns its own unique identity. It's calling cards come in the form of its repetitive, draw-out song-structures & abrasive layers of guitar work, both of which would provide the inspiration for the post-metal genre that would be developed in the coming years. The heavily hip hop-inspired drum programming & crushingly heavy basslines of G.C. Green (Fall of Because) are perhaps even further accentuated than on past releases with the atmosphere reflecting the coldness of the magnificent cover artwork beautifully. Broadrick's vocals now alternate between a hardcore-ish bark & a wispy & intentionally pitchy clean delivery that has remained with him throughout his career.

"Pure" is not an immediate release by any stretch of the imagination as it can take some time to open up, even upon return visits. It can be most closely associated with 1991's "Cold World" E.P. given that they were both recorded in the same session. There's not even anything that hints at being a weaker track on the lengthy 80-minute tracklisting with some of Godflesh's strongest material being scattered evenly across the album to reward the patient listener for their committed attention. The heavily dance music-inspired "Mothra", the post-rock infused "Don't Bring Me Flowers" & the enormous 21-minute dark ambient closer "Pure II" are simply devastating & represent my personal highlights while some of the other more significant tracks like "Predominance" & "Monotremata" also tick all of my boxes to qualify for classic status.

While 1989's "Streetcleaner" is perhaps destined to remain the pinnacle of Godflesh's illustrious back catalogue for all eternity (closely followed by the underrated "The Earache Peel Sessions" E.P. for me personally), "Pure" doesn't sit all that far behind in my opinion. In fact, I'd suggest that it slightly surpasses the self-titled & "Slavestate" E.P.'s in my esteem these days, comfortably eclipsing "Cold World" too. It's a marvelous example of what true industrial metal music can achieve. You know... music that simply sounds & feels like it's been created by layering samples of factory sounds over the top of each other to create a dark & brooding atmosphere? Godflesh did this better & far more consistently than anyone else during the first half of the 1990's &, in doing so, etched their name into my soul for a lifetime. When I return to these records every so often I feel a calmness & a warmth inside, even in the coldest & harshest of musical landscapes, & it's this achievement above all else that represents Justin Broadrick's most revering calling card. If you only ever find the time to investigate one industrial metal artist then it simply must be this one.

I used to listen to Parasite Inc. when I was still into the more melodic bands before switching to the heavier modern ones. After I made that grand move months before the release of their sophomore album Dead and Alive, I forgot all about that band. Fast forward to just a week before this review, when I found out that they switched to a cyber-ish industrial metal direction in their 3rd album. I was shocked. Shocked! ...Well, not that shocked. But I wasn't gonna put it down right away, I'm too open-minded for that.

This German band consisting of frontman Kai Bigler, guitarist Dominik Sorg, bassist Lucien Mosesku, and drummer Benjamin Stelzer, had already unleashed two melodeath offerings since forming in 2007. How well have they done in 3rd album Cyan Night Dreams despite this sudden idea of adding dreamy synthwave to their sound? Well...

The haunting intro "Lithium" already hints at those ethereal synths. Then the destructive melodeath strikes in "I Am" with solid melodies, rhythms, and vocals front and center. The violence burns through a chorus of epic melancholy and speed. The riff-wrath continues in the heavy "First Born". Hypnotic leads sound interesting when mixed together with the vicious screams. The catchy title track is where the synthwave night begins to shine. The clean singing is very effective. A fantastic example of their new direction!

"In False Light" is all about the band's earlier aggression. The wild riff rhythms are in smooth contrast with the softer sections. "Osmium" is another haunting interlude. The raging march of "Follow the Blind" has more in common with metalcore, which is actually perfect for the headbanging crowd.

"Under Broken Skies" is more modern and accessible while staying heavy. Then "Into Destruction" is a solid melodeath track with more of the devastating blasts. The anthemic choruses allow the clean vocals to make themselves at home. "When All is Said" is the album's closing track and the most synthwave-ish track here. But the modern heaviness is still around as expected and ends it all perfectly.

Who knew synthwave and melodeath can go well together in a catchy blend? I certainly didn't before encountering this album. Don't let the electronics in Cyan Night Dreams turn you off. Let them mesmerize you in your dreams....

Favorites: "I Am", "Cyan Night Dreams", "Follow the Blind", "Into Destruction", "When All is Said"

I had a lot of fun listening to Mechina's Acheron, although I probably would've enjoyed it more when I still into highly epic melodic styles of metal, and the second half could've been improved. Today we go further into the epic sci-fi cyber metal world of Mechina by taking on the band's second album, Conqueror. It is the album that expanded upon the one-off story of their 2005 debut The Assembly of Tyrants and turned it into the saga the band is known for...

I find some good material to please my ears, as Conqueror shows the welcoming signs of their evolving sound to come. I should check out the in-between albums Empyrean and Xenon some time. Though what's different from Acheron is the simpler shorter songs instead of the long complex epics. So that's one reason to knock off a half-star.

Intro "Incipient Tragoedia" has some female vocal melody floating over cinematic orchestra. Then the guitars crash in right away in "Pray to the Winds" with its heavy djenty riffing. The guitar and orchestra are never buried against each other, they are in the right balance. A true symphonic blessing! Keep that in mind before this Meshuggah-powered Sybreed-like sound goes a bit downhill. Exhibit A being "Anti-Theist" with its unbalanced atmosphere and vocalist David Holch's poor attempt at clean singing.

"Non Serviam" also has that issue, but the blend of epicness and heaviness overlooks it and makes the song a better standout. Another instrumental composition "[Error 36:48.58/Connection Lost]" has nice orchestra, yet it's easily skippable. Though not as awful as "Internecion" which is the worst, most flat-sounding sh*tter here.

However, it then goes straight to the best song here, "The Iron Law", the perfect soundtrack to a sci-fi boss battle. The lyrics are definitely worth shouting along to, "TOTAL. SYSTEM. FAILURE!!!!" The title track also stands out well, though it can't beat the previous track. Outro "Ad Astra" can almost fit well in the soundtrack to the film Ad Astra, and the melody from the album's intro is reprised.

All in all, Conqueror truly begins a saga and sound further explored in Empyrean, Xenon, Acheron, etc. It's worth some good listening though some tracks could've been improved, and there should've been a long epic (which there actually is in the Compendium edition). Still the band knows what's right when taking their music to the stars....

Favorites: "Pray to the Winds", "Non Serviam", "The Iron Law", "Conqueror"

Neurotech's symphonies can take your soul through a galactic adventure. Wulf knows how to master the art of symphonies as greatly as Hans Zimmer, and possibly also Mozart and Bach, while blending the orchestral arrangements with his usual cyber metal. It's impressive how well your creativity can take you when composing such a piece. The Halcyon Symphony should really be more popular, seriously! The speaker frequency would be greatly enhanced with its intricacy and drama. F***ing amazing!

Favorites: "The Halcyon Symphony" (of course)

After 2019’s self-titled/untitled album, Rammstein were well and truly one of the biggest metal acts on the planet, joining the elite few that made it out of the arenas and into stadiums. With their stage show known for its huge spectacle, they were on top of the world.

Then COVID happened, and the world came to a standstill, and with nothing to do but write and rehearse (socially distanced, I’m sure), it meant that the German industrialists were quick to release a follow-up to their previous album, and that brings us to 2022’s ‘Zeit’.

 With huge amounts of hype, its speculative, cryptic name and controversial music videos (so, all the usual Rammstein traits then), ‘Zeit’ is, admittedly, a pretty average affair. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad album, but it’s quite a mixed bag, with a fair number of tracks sounding like the band are just on autopilot.

But the good songs? Oh boy… When they get it right, they sound incredibly focused and on point. With their classic blend of heavy, crushing guitars, bright keyboard melodies, humorous lyrics and vocalist Till Lindemann’s deep, baritone voice, the band show that they are indeed still the same Rammstein we all know and love.

While ‘Zeit’ isn’t likely to be anyone’s favourite Rammstein record, tracks like ‘Angst’, ‘Dicke Titten’, ‘Armee Der Tristen’, ‘OK’ and the melancholic closing track, ‘Adieu’ are all good enough reasons to own this album, and ultimately, fans of the band will enjoy the album regardless.

Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy are known as two of the most well-known electro-industrial bands. In fact, founder Bill Leeb was originally a member of Skinny Puppy before he left that band and formed this one. His on-off bandmate Rhys Fulber would later produce many albums by bands like Fear Factory, Waltari, Paradise Lost, and Three Days Grace. While strictly just an electro-industrial band, there is one album where they experimented with metal...

Millennium is that album, and a great one too! Their cauldron of samples and beats has been spiced up with riffs and printed lyrics. There's even a bit of hip-hop here that actually turns out well. The guitars in a few tracks are performed by Devin Townsend who would then go on with his band Strapping Young Lad and his prolific solo career.

"Vigilante" kicks things off with some samples and Devin's heavy riffing. It's not as djenty as the riffs performed by Madder Mortem and Meshuggah in the next millennium, but it still sounds heavy as h*ll. The title track helps solidify this release's place in the mid-90s industrial metal triptych between Killing Joke's Pandemonium and Fear Factory's Demanufacture. "Liquid Separation" has some riffing that's almost like Anacrusis at that time, but the synths and beats prove otherwise.

"Search and Destroy" has syncopated riffing has planted a seed for the nu metal genre that would explode into fame shortly after. "Surface Patterns" begins the pattern of the band using samples from songs by other metal bands, with this one using that famous riff from "Walk" by Pantera, followed by "Don't Tread On Me" by Metallica. "Victim of a Criminal" samples "Dead Embryonic Cells" by Sepultura, but it is twisted by Che the Minister of Defense performed some rapping which sounds better than I thought it would be. "Division of Mind" samples another Pantera song "A New Level", and has some more of that Heavy Devy riffing.

"This Faith" doesn't have any guitars, throwing back to the electro-industrial of the band's surrounding albums. "Plasma Springs" once again has metal riffing blended with industrial synths/beats, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what ignited the spark for Annihilator's Remains. "Sex Offender" ends the album as an 8-minute ambient epic, but it's a bit long and draggy. The samples and the last bit of Devin's guitars are what keep it tolerable.

Millennium has lots of heavy aggression in the both the electronic and guitars, not to mention the occasional hip-hop beat. Any industrial/metal fan should take a stab at this and let the greatness flow in their minds....

Favorites: "Vigilante", "Millennium", "Surface Patterns", "Victim of a Criminal", "Division of Mind"

I came to London post-punk legends Killing Time pretty late in the piece with my first encounter not coming until I checked out their fourteenth full-length album in 2012's solid industrial rock effort "MMXII". I probably didn't give it enough time or attention either to be honest as I kinda let it wash over me without really digging its teeth in & I'd move on fairly quickly. It wouldn't be until I nominated Killing Joke's classic 2003 self-titled album for feature release status in March 2021 that I'd discover what the band were really capable of with it's blend of industrial & alternative metal leaving me feeling both exhilerated & thoroughly rewarded. That experience would see me tempted into nominating 2006's highly regarded "Hosannas From the Basements of Hell" album as our March 2022 feature, another high-quality industrial metal effort that only strengthened Killing Joke's case for me & led to me thoroughly enjoying 1985's seminal post-punk/gothic rock fifth album "Night Time" during a period of goth rock exploration in early 2023. All of that exposure has now led us to this point in time when I find myself having made a third Killing Joke feature release nomination in order to see whether 1994's "Pandemonium", the band's first foray into metal music, stands up to the same standard set by its illustrious company.

"Pandemonium" is a record of enormous depth. It sees Killing Joke traversing a lot of musical ground across its ten tracks & 61-minute duration & one has to wonder whether the fact that the band was without a full-time drummer at the time played into the musical & creative decisions they made here. The production job isn't perfect with some of the faster songs lacking a little bit of definition between the instruments but there's a potent energy about everything they do with front man Jaz Coleman inevitably managing to maintain your attention & drive this material through his undeniable charisma. 

"Pandemonium" kicks off with a trio of its heaviest & most aggressive songs & on first listen you could be forgiven for thinking that you were in for a total metalfest. But there's a whole bunch more to "Pandemonium" than that & by the end of the album you'll find that there's possibly more rock than there is metal. The four metal tunes are significant enough to warrant a dual tagging though with their high octane tempos & chunky riffage drawing me way back to those mid-90's goth club dance floors I used to frequent so regularly when I was still a part of the Sydney death metal scene. The opening title track is particularly effective & would have to be one of Killing Joke's finest moments. There's some interesting material to be found outside of the metal space too though with industrial goth rocker "Communion" being a real favourite of mine. "Pleasures of the Flesh" reiterates Killing Joke's goth rock potential while "Black Moon" harks back to the band's post-punk roots. Shoegaze number "Jana" is probably the most restrained inclusion & the album comes to a close following the lengthy alternative dance number "Mathematics of Chaos" whose pumping electronic beat will no doubt get your head bobbing but probably lacks a little in the focus & execution departments.

Despite the variation, there are no weak tracks included as such with every one of the ten pieces offering at least some level of entertainment. I don't think there are quite enough genuine classics here to see "Pandemonium" competing on the same level as Killing Joke's marvelous 2003 self-titled album but it's not far behind "Hosannas From The Basement of Hell" as far as rock-solid, professionally produced industrial rock & metal music goes. One gets the feeling that anything Jaz Coleman & co. touch will be successful as they just seem to possess that greater understanding of what makes visceral rock/metal music so appealing in the first place. I've thoroughly enjoyed my couple of days with "Pandemonium" & can definitely see myself returning to it at regular intervals in the future. Fans of Ministry & Nine Inch Nails should definitely check it out because there are some clear similarities on display at times.