Industrial

Birthday Massacre are back to massacre your dreams with 'Imaginary Monsters'

7/21/2011
Eilene Rogers
Artist: 
Birthday Masacre
The industrial album you've all been waiting for

From the band who brought you the haunting song, “Happy Birthday,” The Birthday Massacre is releasing a new EP, Imaginary Monsters. Few bands of the industrial genre really know how to make themselves standout with the likes of the genre’s grandfathers, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, but this Canadian band does exactly that.

Cellout EP 01

3/3/2011
Anthony Feole
Artist: 
Celldweller

Celldweller is a Detroit, Michigan-based industrial metal solo project started by multi-instrumentalist Klayton. His proficiency and creativity in the electronic realm has caused him to produce a number of remixes. Cellout EP 01 was released early last month and it includes three masterfully constructed remixes of famous Celldweller songs.

Broken

8/3/2009
Josh Brachfeld
Artist: 
Nine Inch Nails

Every band has its ups and downs, both commercially and artistically. When Nine Inch Nails released the "Broken" EP, it was pretty much trashed by every respectable critic, and it fared about as well commercially. At the time, Reznor had fallen out with his record label, and had nearly finished his contract with them. This resulted in a theme that can be heard most prominently on "Happiness in Slavery," and in the whiny lyrical content of the album. Although this album failed commercially and critically, it was an important album in the evolution of the Nine Inch Nails sound.

Reviewer Rating: 
3.50Stars

Further Down the Spiral

7/26/2009
Adam Rowan
Artist: 
Nine Inch Nails

In several of the reinterpretations of "Mr. Self Destruct" (the lead track from the acclaimed Nine Inch Nails album "The Downward Spiral") featured on "Further Down the Spiral," a line from David Bowie's song "Time" is repeatedly sampled: "Falls wanking to the floor."

Reviewer Rating: 
3.00Stars

Year Zero

6/3/2009
Josh Brachfeld
Artist: 
Nine Inch Nails

Tanks rumble through the streets. The government oppresses the populace, the water is drugged, and Nine Inch Nails sings about it. "Year Zero," Trent Reznor's 2007 album, is nothing short of a breakthrough album, both in its marketing and its creation.

The songs mostly leave behind the heavy clanking industrial-metal of Reznor's earlier career and are some of the best and most accessible of Reznor's career.

Reviewer Rating: 
5.00Stars

Vampire Weekend

3/18/2009
Laura Anderson
Artist: 
Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend is remarkably trendy and tremendously fresh. Their fast fun sound will keep you content on the drabbest of days.

This indie pop/rock band formed in New York just three years ago. Their music has an afrobeat infusion that adds layers of jazz, funk, and Yoruba music (known for its extremely advanced drumming tradition) to this sensational composition. Some have even compared their sound to Paul Simon's "Graceland."

These guys are offering the public something truly brilliant.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

Big Science

7/23/2007
Sari N. Kent
Artist: 
Laurie Anderson

Big Science by Laurie Anderson is an illogical album filled with odd sounding melodies and even weirder lyrics. Fans of anomalous messages in songs will be intrigued by this experiment by Anderson.

"From the Air" has rhythmic drum work along with unintelligible sounds as Anderson talks as if she is a stewardess on an airplane. In a strangely calm voice she instructs the passengers on the usual procedures involved during an aerial collision. "Good evening. This is your Captain. We are about to attempt a crash landing. Please extinguish all cigarettes.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

Datarock Datarock

5/19/2007
Sari N. Kent
Artist: 
Datarock

Datarock's album, Datarock Datarock, has opaque lyrics peppered by even more bewildering instrument work. Many of the songs one can envision hearing at a retro nightclub with psychedelic lights beaming, as hoards of dancers rush the floor. The vocalist's timbre goes from solemn to bouncy in a heartbeat, which could intrigue some listeners and turn others off.

"Bulldozer" has guitar work from Fredrik Saroea and pulsing drum play from Tarjei Strom. The beat made by these two instruments is repetitive and will stick in listeners' minds long after the song has culminated.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.00Stars

Hudson River Wind Meditations

5/5/2007
Sari N. Kent
Artist: 
Lou Reed

Hudson River Wind Meditations, by Lou Reed, is the follow-up to his 1975 album, Metal Machine Music. Although this album is light-years different than his previous effort, the sounds are still quite odd, yet somehow effective.

"Move Your Heart" seems to mimic the sound of a heart beating, but in a distorted fashion. For some listeners, the tempo and feeling might give them the creeps, but for others it might be soothing.

"Find Your Note" begins with a high-pitched noise, then as the note progresses, its timbre lessens and lessens.

Reviewer Rating: 
4.50Stars

Strange House

4/21/2007
Courtney Thompson
Artist: 
The Horrors

Sure, at first look, The Horrors look like a cross between the Beatles and Marilyn Manson; shaggy haircuts with English accents clad in tight black pants and make up applied better than any woman. If Sid and Nancy had a posse, it would surely resemble The Horrors. But this band is certainly not a prissy group. According to the band's website, their music can be described as "psychotic sounds for freaks and weirdos."

A run through of their latest album, Strange House, confirms that.

Reviewer Rating: 
3.50Stars
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