Front Line Assembly - Millennium (1994)^{Release ID: 3266}

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"