Although I have a whole lot of new releases waiting there to be listen and eventually to get a review at the bottom line, still, there are many treasures left undiscovered from the previous year. Blue Stahli are definitively one of them and released on March 2, 2011, this self-titled album it’s the first not only instrumental album by the artist, but the second under the Blue Stahli moniker.
We’ve got 10 tracks, 43 minutes of ravishing fury and sensual emotions. Blue Stahli managed to merged anthematic rock hooks with smoothly cinematic sensitivity and epic electronic sound. Aggressive riffing, melodic hooks, bloody screams and contorted electronic layers are working in perfect harmony here to create the most efficient construction of gothic punk with industrial metal outfit. Probably most of the people will think of Nine Inch Nails and well, there are some obvious similarities, but still, this is something quite different. And highly addictive. Read more Blue Stahli – Blue Stahli (2011)
industrial rock
32crash – Y2112Y (2011)
“Earth, year 2107. …. The average temperature at the surface of the planet raised by 8°C during the ten last decades. Because of its unsustainable heat, he equatorial belt today is improper for inhabitation…”
Picking up where their debut, 2007’s “Weird news from an uncertain future” left off, “Y2112Y” is another twisted journey into the future as Jean-Luc De Meyer see it. “I could have died at three of a unknown malignant virus / I could have died at five of a missile fired by mistake / I almost died at ten during the floodings on Pluto/ At twenty I survived the bombings of the cosmic war / I should have died at thirty when a meteor struck the earth / I nearly died at forty when my spaceship crashed on Mars / But I’m alive today to start my second century”.
And if 32crash doesn’t ring the bell, the name of Jean-Luc De Meyer (the voice of the legendary Belgian EBM band Front 242, but also of several other projects) should. At least if you’re interested in the electro-industrial are of music. Read more 32crash – Y2112Y (2011)
PORN – From the Void to the Infinite (2011)
“Love Like War”, the free download and leading track of the new album, “From the Void to the Infinite” was released last month and back than I introduced the band of Phil D. from Lyon, France, find the whole story HERE . Still can grab the free track. 🙂 Or buy the entire new album on-line HERE. 10 tracks, plus one bonus, the new album by PORN scheduled for a 10th October, 2011 release juggling between the vivid sound of the 80’s dark electro and the pulsing breath of the nowadays post-industrial rock and it’s an excellent soundtrack to set the night on fire down in the club dancing with the death. By duty. 😀 Read more PORN – From the Void to the Infinite (2011)
Pop Will Eat Itself – New Noise Designed by a Sadist (2011)
I wrote about PWEI just a few weeks back, reminding of their album “Dos Dedos Mis Amigos” and announcing the good news: on 3rd October 2011, after a 17 years gap, PWEI will release their sixth studio album entitled “New Noise Designed By A Sadist”. And time’s up, here we go again. 11 tracks, the guys sounds fresh and still kicking like two decades ago and they bring us a little bit of chaos & mayhem, some old-school (cool 🙂 ) noises and anti-plastic anthems. It feels like yesterday, but it’s so now and eventually looking into the future.
In few words: they are back to business! Dig out your dancing shoes, grab your air guitar and bang your head: you’re so wasted! Read more Pop Will Eat Itself – New Noise Designed by a Sadist (2011)
Gary Numan – Dead Son Rising (2011)
The wizard is back and only after a few moments of listening to “Dead Son Rising” it was pretty obvious this will be one of the finest albums of the year and definitively one favorite. Surprisingly – or not quite – Numan sounds a little bit “Reznorish”, the blueprint of Nine Inch Nails are present all over the album and the (good) student have now some influence on his master, but all those elements are melt into the typical Numan’s constructions and sounds.
Five years after the brilliant “Jagged”, on “Dead Son Rising” Numan collaborate with the same Ade Fenton – producer and co-written. The title track is a reworked version of “What Have I Become” and “We Are The Lost” is a reworked version of “Mercy” and both are from the 2006 “Jagged” sessions, “For The Rest Of My Life” is a reworked version of “Always” and “The Fall” is a reworked version of “Look”, both from the 2000 “Pure” sessions. “Big Noise Transmission” was previously played live under the working title “Captured Underground Noise Transmission” and “Zulu” while “When The Sky Bleeds, He Will Come” had the live working title of “Dragging Loop”. Read more Gary Numan – Dead Son Rising (2011)
Tanzwut – White Nights (2011)
What results from the mixture of bagpipes, medieval and folk elements and industrial metal? Tanzwut. Originated as a sideproject of Corvus Corax-members, a German band playing Neo-Medieval music using an abundance of authentic instruments which often uses bagpipes as the solo instrument, and in 1996 they released the EP “Tanzwut” which combined the elements of metal music with their brand sound of bagpipes. The CD turned out to be a commercially successful experiment and the band decided to continue the tradition of that album in a separate musical project called Tanzwut and became part of the Neue Deutsche Härte movement. In few words: Rammstein with bagpipes.
“Weiße Nächte” is the project’s fifth studio album released on 16th September 2011. Read more Tanzwut – White Nights (2011)
Pop Will Eat Itself – Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994)
Released on 19th September 1994, the fifth album by The Poppies, also known as PWEI, “Dos Dedos Mis Amigos” bring to the surface a more industrial face of the band. Also, PWEI’s political stance became more explicit with the release of the single “Ich Bin Ein Auslander”, a collaboration with Asian group Fun-Da-Mental, song which was based on the uprise of racial tension throughout Britain during 1994 and reached the UK Top 30.
The album peaked at #11 in the UK Albums Chart and the single “Everything’s Cool” became the band’s ninth Top 30 UK hit.
PWEI found some new popularity after signing with Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records in the US, and touring with Nine Inch Nails, as well as having their songs used on the PlayStation game Loaded. In the same year they featured on The Prodigy’s album “Music for the Jilted Generation”, on the song “Their Law”. Read more Pop Will Eat Itself – Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994)
PAIN – You Only Live Twice (2011)
Peter Tägtgren started playing drums at the age of 9 and later learned to play guitar, bass and keyboard. After he’s first band Conquest disbanded, he went to the United States where he became part of the death metal scene, participating in practice sessions with Malevolent Creation’s guitarist, Phil Fasciana. After spending three years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tägtgren moved back to Sweden in 1990, he formed the band Hypocrisy, at this time a one-man project, and played all instruments himself. Get the attention and signed a recording contract with Nuclear Blast and since released eleventh studio albums. Although Hypocrisy is his main focus, he has also worked on many other Swedish metal projects. These include PAIN (industrial metal), for which he performs all instruments and vocals and composes all songs, Lock Up (grindcore/death metal), in which he was the vocalist, The Abyss (black metal), where he performed drums, bass and vocals, War (black metal), where he performed drums, and most recently Bloodbath (death metal), also with him on vocals. He also appeared as a live guitarist for the bands Marduk and E-Type. Read more PAIN – You Only Live Twice (2011)
Dope Stars Inc. – Ultrawired (2011)
Merge Sigue Sigue Sputnik with Marilyn Manson and you will heave a pretty clear notion of what Dope Stars Inc. sounds like. Following the tradition of 80s Glam Rock, with one ear directioned to Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses and the other to Hanoi Rocks and HIM, introducing electronica and industrial resonances, Victor Love formed Dope Stars Inc. in late 2002, early 2003 in Rome, Italy. Following “//Neuromance” (2005), “Gigahearts” (2006) and “21st Century Slave” (2009), “Ultrawired”, the fourth studio album by Dope Stars Inc. released on May 30, 2011 it’s available as a free download on the band’s website and rely on fan contribution to cover recording costs, as well as they placed a doodle on the Pirate Bay homepage. Kind of showing up the middle finger to the music business, isn’t it? Read more Dope Stars Inc. – Ultrawired (2011)
Dolls Of Pain – The Last Conflict (2011)
This is the 4th album by French band Dolls Of Pain which lead us through the shady side of the contorted human soul once again. This is a wicked world made of leather and latex, conflicts and torture, sex, lies and jealousy. Musically, Dolls of Pain is a mixture of Dark Electro/EBM, resonating New Wave left-overs and reminiscences of Synth Pop and filtered Industrial textures with some rocking guitar riffs. There persist some unavoidable parallels with Front 242, the Belgian pioneers of the Dark Electronic music, but Cédric aka VDB42 – synthetic keys/2nd vocals and Olivier aka Machine – guitars/keyboards programming/composing, the two core members of the group, managed to write some interesting themes, “The Last Conflict” is a quality and absolutely correct album of the genre. Read more Dolls Of Pain – The Last Conflict (2011)
