Genghis Tron - Cloak of Love (2005)^{Release ID: 3196}

Sometimes you can compare a metal album to a PB&J sandwich. The peanut butter, which I like, is any kind of metal that focus on extreme rather than experimental. When it's smooth, the heaviness is pleasant. When it's chunky, the heaviness is very bumpy. The jelly, which I'm not a huge fan of, is the overused experimental aspects like cyber synths. This EP shows that I'm more of a "smooth peanut butter" guy than a "chunky PB&J" fellow...

The debut EP from Genghis Tron, Cloak of Love, has the chunky peanut butter of grindcore mixed with avant-grade synth-metal jelly to make a new genre sandwich known as cybergrind. It's pretty good, but not something I would return to.

"Rock Candy" has ambient synth jelly as sweet as actual rock candy, while adding the chunky grindcore peanut butter that gets in your teeth. That combination is cavity central! There's some more stellar electro-synth jelly in "Arms". The mathy chunky grindcore is mixed together with Daft Punk-like synths and Polysics-like ambient rock guitar, while the grindcore screeches still interrupt out of nowhere.

"Ride the Steambolt" has the most of the chunky grindcore cacophony while fused with the poppy jelly. Next track "Laser B***h" starts with synth-dance jelly, a bit like New Order. The sweet-as-candy jelly only lasts for a minute before the chunky grindcore mayhem continues again, as if a nightclub dance keeps turning into moshing. By then the poppy elements are more like extra oil add to the chunky PB&J. Still the heaviness remains stable, and the changes don't sound forced. Unlike in "Sing Disorder", in which everything's out or order, making a disorganized mess.

There are a few things to praise about this EP, yet it only lasts 12 minutes with different styles stirred up into a messy joke. Still a couple songs are quite interesting and make their sound quite genuine. I don't plan on taking on more of this band's releases though. One chunky PB&J sandwich is enough for me, thank you very much....

Favorites: "Arms", "Ride the Steambolt"

I really enjoyed Genghis Tron's 2006 debut album "Dead Mountain Mouth" when I nominated it as a feature release for The Horde back in 2006. It sounded so fresh & original at the time (not to mention well produced) however I do remember questioning it's credentials for the clan & those feelings have stayed with me ever since, only being further exacerbated by my experiences in programming cybergrind material into the monthly The Horde playlists. It only makes sense then that I would begin my cybergrind deep dive by exploring Genghis Tron's debut release in 2005's "Cloak of Love" E.P.

This little record offers more of a taste than a meal with it's run time flying by in just twelve minutes but I get the feeling that these sort of releases are better off not overstaying their welcome with the risk of their novelty value wearing off being rather high. There are five short tracks on offer here & things start off rather well with the first three tracks all being pretty interesting & generally rewarding. Unfortunately though, the remaining two see Genghis Tron's quirky silliness being pushed a little too far & see the overall result being tainted for me.

So, is this cybergrind? Well, "Ride The Steambolt" certainly is as it uses grindcore as it's basic building blocks but I'd suggest that the other four tracks use it more as a tool than a core component. Those four tracks have more electronica & downtempo than metal & when the blast-beats come in they're often sporadic & rarely overstay their welcome. The atmosphere these songs create is really quite bizarre too & I feel that they're far better suited to an Avant-Garde Metal tag as you'll rarely find a stranger sounding metal record. And this is a metal record. Let's be clear about that because despite the strong electronic focus the blast-beats & screaming vocals work to completely alienate anyone that's not already associated with those techniques so I can't see too many fans of EDM coming in for a casual listen.

As with "Dead Mountain Mouth", it's the smooth downtempo moments that really shine here & I even enjoy the more quirky electronica more than I do most of the metal too. I can't help but feel that perhaps Genghis Tron would have been better suited to creating some more serious electronic releases than going for an off-the-wall approach like they have here. But, in saying that, they seem to have found somewhat of a niche in the market & are doing pretty well for themselves so what would I know.