Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Genghis Tron - Cloak of Love (2005)
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"