Bizarre Uproar - 13/10/06 CS-45

A Äpärä
B Vyö

I received this tape a few months back but didn’t get the actual photographs that supposedly came with this release so I will specifically talk about the music. This is a live assault of Bizarre Uproar with added vocals from Pasi’s wife. You can tell this is more of a visual performance listening to the music because it is not your normal sounding BU release. I hear sporadic female vocals and what sounds like dominatrix whipping. High heel boots walking across the floor with grunts and moans, as time passes you witness the sound of metal junk colliding and trash heaps piling into an industrial collage of sound. Nothing really changes on side A, I feel this would be better accompanying a visual, perhaps a DVD or something. Side B Endless Spank Mix created at IOPS Research Laboratory. Visual evidence of 3 days process of belt & boot action and its results by Mr. & Mrs. Bizarre. Limited to an edition of 48 copies. Black chrome tape comes in a soft tape shell with J-card, packaged in a box sealable box with insert and 24 photographs.

Greymachine - Disconnected CD

01 Wolf At The Door
02 Vultures Descend
03 When Attention Just Isn't Enough
04 Wasted
05 We Are All Fucking Liars
06 Just Breathing
07 Sweatshop
08 Easy Pickings

Arranged By - Justin K Broadrick
Artwork By [Layout] - Aaron Turner
Artwork By [Video Stills] - Justin K Broadrick
Bass - Dave Cochrane
Electronics, Bass [Bowed] - Diarmuid Dalton
Guitar, Drums, Vocals, Drum Programming, Electronics - Justin K Broadrick
Guitar, Vocals, Electronics - Aaron Turner
Mixed By - Justin K Broadrick
Producer - Justin K Broadrick

When the frontmen of two of the heaviest bands get together, they are guaranteed to make something extremely fucking heavy. Jesu mastermind and former Godflesh front man Justin Broadrick and Isis leader Aaron Turner have teamed up to form Greymachine, along with fellow Jesu/Godflesh member Diarmuid Dalton and Head of David's Dave Cochrane. Broadrick and Turner have both been known to maintain a ton of side projects, so it's really no surprise that they'd eventually find each other. The surprising thing is just how annihilatingly desructive and sludged-out the result is. The sound is just filthy and fucking gross; at times you think you are listening to a power electronics release. This is very noisy and if you ask me the perfect timing if you missed the old sounds from Godflesh. Each track has thought and appeal with new forms of instrumentation involved like the bowed bass, and probably a laptop to get some of these sounds but these sounds are distorted, grimy, and brilliant in these new times of metal. This is a hard listen but after stomaching 4 listens straight I can say it is one of the best releases period for 2009. Even though I say this release is noisy, it still carries a rhythm with timing of live drums, bass, and electronics. The combinations are merely exceptional and people in the noise scene will be appalled when they realize how much better this band is then theirs.

Celan - Halo CD

01 Safety Recall Notice
02 A Thousand Charms
03 All This And Everything
04 One Minute
05 Sinking
06 Weigh Tag
07 Washing Machine
08 Train Of Thought
09 It's Low
10 Wait And See
11 Lunchbox

Finding common musical ground obviously doesn’t require musicians to have a similar background although that’s normally the way these things come together. What happens when musicians from disparate musical worlds meet and merge? That’s where true originality can often thrive. One such outfit is Celan, the brainchild of Ari Benjamin Meyers (Einstürzende Neubauten, Redux Orchestra) and Chris Spencer (Unsane, Cutthroats 9). Ari and Chris met on an Unsane tour stop in Berlin with Ari mentioning that AndereBaustelle, the famed Einstürzende Neubauten studio, might be available, after that is when the magic started as the sounds veined together to make a landmark release that changed the genre of hard core. The tracks here are very developed and thought about. Electronic elements melt with the instrumentation from the guitars, bass, and drums. This is not your normal hard core CD, this release has a different story to tell with different emotions and sound. I can say that this release is doom driven at times with slow pounding bass, and melancholic atmospheres that play key in the background. I can’t really pick a notable track because all of these are very notable with differences throughout all the recordings. At times you might here a piano peeking through the crack or a nice synth line but as you are probably thinking, what does all this have in common? Let me just say that it all works perfectly together under the Unsane type vocals Chris Spencer delivers.

Artwork By - Andreas Kohl , Ari Benjamin Meyers , Chris Spencer
Bass, Vocals - Phil Roeder*
Drums - Franz Xaver*
Guitar - Nikko Wenner
Keyboards - Ari Benjamin Meyers
Mastered By - Stefan Brüggemann
Mixed By - Andrew Schneider
Photography - Alexander Laliak , Chris Spencer
Producer - Chris Spencer , Ragnar
Recorded By - Rocco Weise
Vocals, Guitar - Chris Spencer

Grunt - Petturien Rooli CD

01 Sota Ilman Pelisääntöjä
02 Raatteen Marssi
03 Kansanmurhan Kone
04 Vainoaja Lauma
05 Petturien Rooli
06 Piikkilangan Takana
07 Rotuhygienian Aikakausi
08 Pro Patria Et Lege
09 Valkoinen Voima

This is probably one of my favorite power electronic releases of 2009, different from previous Grunt releases; this CD offers more atmospheric realms at times while other tracks sound rhythmic, and trance like while still keeping that true industrial sound. All the vocals are Finnish so I don’t understand what is being said really but it just doesn’t matter when the sounds are this good. Track 02 Raatteen Marssi sets the tone with nasty abrasive metal clanging and pretty synth lines that begin the rhythmic sections of this release. This is a nice differentiation between what Grunt is known for but still very interesting to hear on this release because you can see Mikko Aspa has actually grown with all the years and releases from his huge and interesting discography. Track 03 Kansanmurhan Kone is reminiscent of old school industrial sounds from such artist as Dissecting Table, and Test Debt, the beats are the sounds of hammers pounding steel drums to develop a simple recipe of a 1986 style of work with shouted vocals that correlate with the style flawlessly. Track 04 Vainoaja lauma is what we expect when you hear the name Grunt, filthy sounds, pulsing bass, and loud shouted vocals, this is a notable track because where it rests on the CD pulls the other styles and sounds together to make this a true listening experience without getting bored of the same old straight forward power electronic release. Track 07 Rotuhygienian Aikakausi is another notable track to me because again the elements are different, the background is a rhythmic 80’s style configuration that just sounds incredible underneath today’s style and working of the genre, Grunt has pushed the envelope and it just works. I feel there were a couple of filler tracks on this CD that just help mold where the differences lay, but this is a great album, and a great new start for the Finnish project to build on. I feel as if I have just taken a breath of fresh air after listening to this, I feel the genre will change now because of this album, I feel more artists will grab a little harder to the industrial roots now that somewhere in the mix of the 90’s they all let go of and sounds started to suffer because of it.

Sick Seed - The Great Corrupter 12'' LP

A1 Irstaasta Ja Siveettömästä Elämästä
A2 Verbranntes Land
A3 A Plague Area
A4 Snow Fell
A5 Mielenkiihotustilat
B1 Luxurious Disease
B2 Huorakatu
B3 The Most Hated Crime Of Them All
B4 Peenemünde/Bug-Out Location

I got my copy of this filth when it first came out a couple of months ago and finally gave it a proper listen the past couple of nights. This slab of vinyl is nasty, gritty, and disturbing, just what you would expect coming from the cult underground label Filth & Violence. Pekka PT, (former Gelsomina) poured his heart into the arrangement and vocals on this record, you can hear it with every breath shouted. Sick Seed only having a few compilation appearances and 1 full length cassette under his belt created a landmark release with his first vinyl appearance. Verbranntes Land is my favorite track on the record, the pulses of bass and the vice sounds of Finnish vocals did it for me. The songs all revolve around a recipe of a few main sounds; a synth line, the vocals, microphone feedback, and what sounds like a guitar. This mixture may sound simple but with one listen you will agree that this is nothing simplistic but pure filth and disease. Other phenomenal tracks I really liked were the Screwdriver cover of Snow Fell and The most hated crime of them all. I really like the fact that Filth and Violence has the old school feel with Xeroxed covers but it would have been really nice to have the actual color on this release because it is so original with the burning rats. Plain black sleeve with Xeroxed front and back inserts. Limited to 250 copies.

Notes from back insert:
A3 Dedicated to the memory of J.G. Ballard
A4 Skrewdriver cover
B2 Recorded live at Private Reprisal #3

Brighter Death Now - Where Dreams Come True CD

01. Adipocere
02. Thirtyseven
03. Sperm on Your Jacket
04. Innerwar
05. American Tale
06. I Hate You
07. Happy Nation

I purchased this CD the other day from Malignant Records and I am glad I did, I was actually at this concert in Chicago Friday the 13^th 2003 and have to say that it was one of the best power electronics shows I have ever attended. This CD sounds very clear, not what I was expecting at first listen but I guess Roger Karmanik pulled the sound directly from the boards that night. The bass is amazing on this release and everything crisp and nasty. As Adipocere opens you can feel the throbbing and the vocal samples from the tape decks leading you deeper into the song and full aggression takes place with Karmaniks fanatical well planned vocals toying with your emotions until the next batch of queasy feeling samples plays out. A notable on this CD for me is Innerwar, one of my favorites from BDN completely molests your ears with the vibrations of bass, sick voiced samples, and high frequencies. There really isn’t a bad track on this CD but the only thing that I don’t like about it is the fact that you can’t witness the sound of the crowd during or between tracks. This CD rings in a ringing 60 + minutes. Cold Meat Industry and Jinx put this CD together with nice artwork and packaging consisting of a 4 panel digipak with foil embossing. Karmanik involved the crowd into the artwork of this release to give a more live feeling I assume but none the less it is an all around good purchase. Remember you’re a victim, not a survivor.