Artist: FGFC820
Album: Homeland Insecurities
Review by: Outsider (aka Adrian Onsen)

I must admit that FGFC820 is new to me.The only thing I knew of FGFC820 was the performances I saw at Kinetik for the past 2 years (when I attended). My impression was that Rexx Arkana had a military and political message to convey (through the military beats, uniform that he wears on stage, and political commentary between the songs) but never really connected with it. Musically I enjoyed the stompy beats and harsh vocals, but that was the extent of it.

Until the other day when Rexx offered me a copy of his latest album Homeland Insecurity to do a review of. I accepted it but to be honest, I felt a little awkward as I didn’t know how I was going to write about the music I had only heard so little of.  (continue reading…)

Six years ago Saltillo released their debut album. In 2012 they return with another brilliant masterpiece; Monocyte.

It could be the clever combination of  the ‘old english’ sound samples interspersed throughout pounding beats or the wonderful female vocals that surface on select tracks. Or it could be the distinct eerie string melodies mixed with beats, synths and electronics that crafty weave themselves through out the album. Whatever it is, the combination of presented aural elements consistently paints a very dark and moody atmosphere. To me this is certainly not a happy go lucky album. Pretty much every track manages to elaborate further on the dark feel, which flows very smoothly from beginning to end of the album. Incredibly well done.

All in all I’d say this album is a must have in your collection, for nothing else will tickle your soul the way this album does.

Buy Saltillo’s album Monocyte on Storming The Base,  Amazon Mp3 or Amazon CD.

Artist: Mangadrive
Album: Artifice
Label: Cyberninja.Digital
Review by: Outsider (aka Adrian Onsen)

Industrial Techno at its finest.

There. That’s the short version of the review. Though I need to scratch the itch to express in a little more detail how I feel about this album.
I have heard tracks off prior albums from the Mangadrive collection (including the early free albums) but none had me convinced to write something about it up until this point. Don’t get me wrong, they were great and offered great value (especially the free album Dreamcore is dead).

There were many things that swept me off my feet with this release including the awesome album cover design. The wide range of BPMs, the evolving and progressive melodies, the coherence and consistency of the quality of material, to name a few, were refreshing. Through and through I can’t say there is a ‘bad’ track on this album. Sure I like some more then others, but for different reasons on each track but no track stands out as one I’d skip every time I listen to the album.
The intelligent base lines and unique melodies on this album are carefully sculpted and give the tracks depth and volume which complement the rhythm and beats perfectly.  The album overall is very well crafted with a lot of attention to detail and layered sounds.
Even though the album has obvious elements of both trance/tencho and industrial, the blending of the two genres is performed with such surgical scalpel precision as to make the result difficult to place in one tribe or the other. However that is not what you’ll be concerned with when listening to it. Your main concearn will likely be how not to attract attention from your neighboring cubicle buddies while shaking you various body parts at the office, in time with the beat.
And this is not a short album either, clocking in at around 70min of music with a couple of epically 8-9 minute long tracks this album gives you a lot of listening time for your money.

Give the album a listen (for free) and you’ll see what I mean. The Mangadrive bandcamp page gives the option to listen before you buy.

Artist: Cellmod
Album: Re-Evolved
Label: Sector 9 Studios
Review by: Outsider (aka Adrian Onsen)

Re-Evolved is a remix album of Cellmod’s 2010 release Adevolve. This EP showcases some excellent remixes,  that take Cellmod’s tracks through a variety of tempos, beats and rhythms. There are remixes by Distraub, Ien Oblique, You Shriek, Mangadrive, Dragonfly Lingo, Deviant as well as Cellmod themselves. Overall a solid album, this release has a varied  feel to it that ranges from downtempo to electro, and at times even touching on synthpop and trance.

An easy album to listen to and one that grows on you with subsequent visits. I have been discovering new subtle nuances with most tracks with each time I re-listen to the album. I highly recommend picking up this album and submerging your senses in the battery of genres this remix album has to throw at you.

Buy Cellmod’s Re-Evolved 9 track album as an Mp3 download on their website or get the 4 track sampler for free.

Artist: Various
Album: Kod.eX Electronic Compilation
Label: Kod.eX
Review by: Synescape

Featuring artists like Imminent (formerly Imminent Starvation), Empusae, Detritus, and Iszoloscope the Kod.ex Compilation is an absolute delight for the discerning IDM and noise listener. This album is a quintessential anthology of distortion and crunchy power electronics, interspersed with melodic dark ambient that warrants listening down to the last byte.

Kod.ex is a collection of exceptional acoustic stylings spanning numerous genres. It flawlessly incorporates industrial, breakbeat, glitchcore and rhythmic noise tracks that invoke images of surreal dystopian worlds. The digital assault of Asche and Roger Rotor is perfectly complemented by the calculated minimalism and understated groove of artists such as Mlada Fronta and Sonic Area.

Buy Kod.eX Electronic Compilation on Amazon Mp3.

Artist: Encephalon
Album: The Transhuman Condition
Label: Artoffact Records
Review by: Adrian Onsen (aka Outsider)

Lately Canada has been putting out a lot of excellent industrial music. Encephalon is no exception. After their debut album in 2009 Drowner, most sat patiently and waited for the day another album would get released.

I have to admit I was waiting for this album to come out for a while, and with most thing you await, expectations develop. You know the feeling. Sometimes you are disappointed, and others you are pleased.
I was blown away after the first listen; and with each listen I get more impressed with this album. Everything is so well put together; the production is tight, the vocals rock and soundscape is diverse.

Musically the album is a cornucopia of brilliantly constructed and executed sounds. Make no mistake, through and through “The Transhuman Condition” is consistently dark and melodic (which I love), at times hitting with heavy beats and at times minimally acoustic.
The acoustic element is solidly executed and mixed throughout this album. Acoustic guitars, violins and pianos are melded seamlessly with electronic base lines, pounding beats and screaming synths. The range of sounds from track to track is refreshing and a departure from other band’s “one sound” through out the whole album, feel.

Matt Gifford’s wide vocal range can’t be ignored and it permeates this album which is partly what gives each track a unique feel. For the most part the vocals are free of heavy distortion and showcase Matt’s ability as a vocalist. It’s refreshing to hear clean vocals alongside heavy beats.

To say this album is an auditory delight would be an understatement.
Well done Encephalon.

Buy Encephalon’s The Transhuman Condition on Amazon Mp3 or Amazon CD or from Storming The Base.

Artist: How To Destroy Angels
Album: How To Destroy Angels
Lablel: Not on a label – Self Released
Review by: Adrian Onsen (aka Outsider)

Being a Trent Reznor fan from the early industrial days, I sometimes look him up to see what he’s been producing musically.

On June 1, 2010, there was a free EP released called How To Destroy Angels by the group with the same name, How to destroy Angels. The band is comprised of Trent, his wife Mariqueen Maandig-Reznor and Trent’s long-time collaborator Atticus Ross. The group is named after a 1984 Coil single of the same name.

The EP is very typical of Trent’s last few NIN albums (With Teeth, Year Zero), and many elements will be recognized throughout the 6 tracks on this EP. The mood of the album is downbeat and quite mellow for the most part. This EP pretty much sounds like another NIN album, just with a new band name and there’s no revolutionary changes with the exception of the majority of vocals being done by Mariqueen. If you enjoyed Trent’s NIN material of the past 10 years, this release will make a welcome addition to your Trent library. If you’ve been on the fence about Trent’s recent releases, this EP is unique enough that it certainly deserves a listen.

There’s a full album to be released sometime in 2011 (the fall?) which Trent refereed to as “more beat oriented” in a recent interview with Times Talk.

Download the free album from the How To Destroy Angels website or you can buy it from amazon.com for $5.94?

Artist: VNV Nation
Album: Automatic
Label: Anachron Sounds
Review by: DJ Hangedman

On a personal level, VNV Nation was one of the prime bands that helped facilitate my own return to the scene in the late nineties. As a result, I hold this band with very high esteem and maintain that these guys, the father’s of future pop, are among the most entertaining and driven artists in the industry.

With high esteem comes high expectations and I both anticipated (as I always do) and feared the release of Automatic. I say fear because I am such an uber fan, that I never want to be introduced to an album that changes my level of admiration and sometimes high expectations can do that.

When the opening track of Automatic began, I beheld a deep and energized feeling. I could almost smell the diesel fumes of the artistic mandate that VNV Nation stated before the release.

Listening to the rest of Automatic I can say that VNV Nation has once again released a solid piece of work. And those who like the poppier turn the band took with 2005’s Matter + Form, and 2007’s Judgement, will not be disappointed.

Early purists like myself might find that no one track really shines out, and yearn for perhaps one or two ground-breaking experimental tracks that the band always seems to be able to pull out with earlier releases.

The part I most enjoyed about Automatic was the slower tempo songs, and less the dance beats. One can always count on VNV to throw in a couple of thought provoking, sometimes tear evoking ballads (for lack of a better term). The faster paced pieces are growing on me slower than I’d like but I also need to check myself against the excellent lyrical narrative of the entire album. VNV Nation have sometimes been criticised, even satirized for overly dramatic lyrics, but I say bar-none, this is what VNV Nation does and does well, and this is what we come back for with every release.

In conclusion, Automatic is a really solid album. No real surprises, but that’s okay because the individual songs themselves are each top future-pop quality and that’s VNV Nation!

Buy VNV Nation’s Automatic album on CD at Amazon or buy VNV Nation’s Automatic as an Mp3 download on Amazon.