Artist: [:SITD:]

Album: Icon:Koru

Genre: Industrial, EBM

Label: Metropolis Records

 

This is my second [:SITD:] record that I’ve listened to now and I’m still on the fence on whether or not I like them.  I will freely admit that I’m kind of old school with my industrial and I’m not always really into this new stuff they call EBM.  My biggest compliant with this is that it all starts to sound the same after awhile.  You aren’t sure who is who in the genre.  [:SITD:] falls victim to that too many times.  They don’t very it up enough to make it sound more interesting than anyone else doing what they are doing.  That is really my biggest complaint on the whole thing.  From a production and musician standpoint these three are on solid ground.  It’s well mixed and has some really nice melodies that contrast the harsh vocals.  Speaking of the vocals they are mixed squarely in the front of the music, and sung in a combination of both German and English.  Again not really a complaint for me since I’m used to listening to music sung in many different languages!

What we have here is a solid release in the EBM genre but it doesn’t really have a lot of meat on it’s bones.  I’m not much of a lyric guy and honestly when they are singing in German most of the lyrics are lost on me so whether or not this record possess some deeper meaning is beyond me, but musically I just wish it had more teeth and less repetitious sounds and themes.  After awhile it feels like this is beating a dead horse, or a one trick pony.  Maybe next time they will expand their sound a bit more.

I recommend this for fans of the genre and bands like Front 242.

2.5 Stars out of 5

 

I was given this MP3 download from Metropolis Records.

Posted under Album Review

This morning I got a message in my inbox from a friend of mine.  Mr. Boom Paige of the band Society Burning and in it he asked me if I could spread the news that Society Burning is giving away their latest record for free.  No I get lots of messages like that so what’s different about this one?  Well for one.  Society Burning are one of the bands that really inspired me in my late teens and early 20′s (I can’t believe how old I am…).  They write really good coldwave songs about the world we live in and the society we are in.

 

Back when I was just a youngster one of my favorite labels out there was ReConstriction Records.  Chase at ReConstriction was the bomb.  So much great music came out of there including the Operation Beatbox compilation that had coldwave/machine rock/industrial bands on it doing covers of hip hop songs.  MTV even mentioned it playing a bit of Numb’s cover of Salt N Peppa’s Push It.  If you haven’t heard Don Gordon’s version of it you should probably check it out cause it rules beyond all rules.

 

Any who, I got off point, so here’s the deal.  I want you to go to Society Burning dot Com and get yourself a copy of the rekkit.  Then head on over to their facebook page and like it.  Tell them I sent you.

 

So lastly why am I supporting this record?  Well the biggest reason is cause I’ve had it for awhile, I actually bought it the day it came out.  Yes, despite the fact that I get tons of promos all the time I do buy music when I believe in it and I believe in Society Burning.  So get yourself a copy today, absolutely free and tell Twitch, Boom and Daveoramma that you believe in them too.

Posted under FREE STUFF, Music

Artist: Hate Squad

Genre: Metal

Album: Katharsis

Recommended if you like: Napalm Death, Machine Head

Explicit Lyrics

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5

 

One of my New Years Resolutions is to review material as soon as it comes across my desk and so this morning this came across my desk via me email inbox so I sat down with it and gave it a spin.

 

So 2012 is starting out pretty swell actually.  Katharsis is the sixth album by one of Germany’s underground metal heroes.  They’ve shared the stage with some of the top names in metal and played some of the biggest festivals while keeping themselves truly independent.  They recently signed to Massacre Records and are getting ready to unleash their latest assault of metal meets hardcore.

With guttural vocals and slashing guitars I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t just a one trick pony out of the gate.  The production on this is top notch and kept my interest through out the run time of the record.  Although the run time did get a bit long in the tooth for music of this nature.  Although the final song was different enough from the rest of the album to really inspire the listener to finish it out.  What I liked best about Hate Squad’s newest album was how it reminded me of other bands that I really like.  You could easily hear the influences from Napalm Death in there and even at moments it felt like I could hear bits of Monster Voodoo Machine (now there’s a blast from my musical past).

While the album does tend to get a little bit stagnant with the same kind of tones and lack of real dynamics from song to song, that shouldn’t let listeners of this kind of music to be put it off by it.  There is enough here to keep most metal fans happy while treading on a little new ground here and there.  I was pleasantly surprised by this release and I look forward to what these metal maniacs bring for the audience in the future, I’d also like to get my hands on their remix EP as well. 

 

Posted under Album Review, Music