This release by the independent Sector19 features industrial musicians from the US, UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium and France. It opens with a track from the French group Jailbird which sounds amazingly like The Young Gods. The second track is by the industrial rap group SMP which have gained quite a bit of notoriety on the Net of late and have had music featured in various public spots as well. Projeria is more of a hard driving beat heavy industrial pounding with a bit of Noise influence. Aiboforcen has been featured on many indie comps lately and it's easy to see why. They combine elements of Industrial, Synthpop and EBM into a sort of futuristic pop sound. Six Past Seven combines some heavy Noise influences with Industrial throb and repition. Mouth of Indifference combines Industrial with a sort of trip-hop and ambient feel. Chaos Engine, a mainstay of Wasp Factory Recordings, is an Industrial rock group which sometimes reminds me of Sex Gang Children with their dark and nearly punk elements. System 81 creates a sort of cyber-noise ambient texture. Arkam Asylum, also on Wasp Factory, is also industrial rock but having more of a sound that reflects what might happen if you combined Alien Sex Fiend with Marilyn Manson. Mneumonic takes into a more Front Line Assembly like territory with "Human Fragments" which combines elements of the cyber sound with drum-n-bass and other elements known to the FLA sound like the dark whispery vocals. Tin.RP is ambient Noise. Mind Flux is metal industrial with grovelly vocals and caustic overtones. St. John's Eve is also a Noise track with lots of distorted vocals and an overall mellow and very dark tone. Monoid is the side project of Martin Steinebach also known for his industrial ritual project Conscientia Peccati. However, Monoid deals more with the hard beat and distortion aspects of Industrial music but also contains some tonal and atmospheric elements. The song by AutoCad is very digitalia and Kraftwerkian in it's overall structure. Reminds me somewhat of Trans Europe Express for some reason. Silencer is anything but, it is Noise - loud and chaotic. This second track by Jailbird is very different from the first and is more Gothic in general overtone.

Alec Empire is or was (since I don't know if his main band disbanded) Atari Teenage Riot's singer. He for sure gathered a lot of experience with his main band as performer as well as sonic/noise manipulator. This new CD is a double one and contains two different CDs: the first one similar to the ideas he carried on with ATR and the second one as he says is "electronic music without any vocals, a cycle that never ends". To give you an idea about how he conceived his music, read the band's members that played with him at their first big shows at Japan?s Fuji Rock Festival: Charlie Clouser from Nine Inch Nails on synths, famous Japanese noise legend MERZBOW on drums, Gabe Serbian from The Locust on a second kit, and ATR?s NIC ENDO on synths/keyboards. Nic is also a permanent member in the band and is responsible for all the special effects, sounds, noises, and the "Third World War" 14 minute apocalyptic finale of the last song "New World Order". All the tracks of the first CD are like a sonic assault and tracks like "The Ride" or "Addicted To You" are really immediate. A CYCLE THAT NEVER ENDS is the subtitle of the second CD and musically it recalls me the first Cabaret Voltaire experiments but played with digital instruments and hip hop breaks. This CD has been a sort of surprise as well as "2641998", the twentynine minutes long track which opens the CD, is really particular and based on a sequenced loop (do you remember DAF's tracks?). With this one you can taste the most experimental side of the man and I assure you that it's really enjoyable.

Is three years that Ross W. Beall creates is own music so it was time for him to reach the "maturity" of the first album release. ENTER THE UNKNOWN is a particular release, mainly because for the peculiarity of the project (Ross creates instrumental dark synthpop tracks)and also because the emotions his music made me feel. As a composer he has got many influences: 80's synthpop (if you listen to the only two sung tracks "Divided" and "The Ghost Of You" they'll make you remember Depeche Mode of the "Speak And Spell" era), ebm and late 70's early 80's electronic music. Sometimes his tracks made me recall Jean Michel Jarre's music but with a darker vein. You know releasing an instrumental album based on melody and electronic sounds isn't that simple and the risk is to annoy the audience. Fortunately this isn't the case! As bonus tracks you can find the sung versions of "Revelation" and "Regression" (the first one with Frank J. Freda of Brand New Idol as guest vocals as for the previous ones and the second one has got Rachel Cicci on vocals and has been produced by George and Rachel Cicci of Evaluna) Last note: just to underline the value of Simulator's music please note that both the instrumental and vocal version of the tracks are catchy and are complete on their own, you won't feel something missing even if "it's just" instrumental music... Got it? ;)

From the start it is easy to see why Icon of Coil is becoming more well known in the EBM scene. Their music combines elements of earlier versions of the genre like the heavy Technophile F242 sound of "Thrill Capsule" to the more VNV-like "In Absence" or the very Synthpop "Access and Amplify" or "Other Half of Me" which are restructured from the typical synthpop sound into a very IOC brand.

Strangely enough you'll even find some more urban influence on "Everything Is Real" which utilizes a heavy hip-hop beat distorted and industrialized and also incorporates piano into the mix.

If I had to pick any favorites for this album though it would have to be the last two tracks. "Disconnect" could readily be an anthem for anyone living in our modern high stress society while "Simulated" sounds like something that should be in The Matrix II. With lyrics like the following I really hope this one does NOT get missed!

We're alive and we're among you. We breed and we conceive you. You live because we allow you to live and you breath because we allow you to breath. You're incapable to think or breath for yourself. We pull the strings, cut of the wings. We're in charge of all the peace and of all the noise. You think there is a God, you are only toys.

Overall this album contains track after track of heavy EBM club beats. Excellent!

Over the last few years, Puertorican musician Jorge Castro has offered, as part of the Cornucopia duo, some of the most brutal and intense harsh noise in the (overcrowded?) international scene. But he has also developed a very interesting solo project of ambient guitar sounds. This cd-r (which must have been issued in early 2001) features four long and homogeneous tracks of drones and gulfs of sound which manage to be both abstract and emotional, constantly shifting (the title is indicative, but there IS change within the pieces as well) from lighter, serene atmospheres to hypnotizing echoes and darker moments. If you've had the chance of listening to Steve Roach's recent "Strems & Currents", you can find a similar style here, only even more pushed towards abstractness and impalpability. Definitely worth listening to many times. As usual, Public Eyesore design and packaging are minimal but very elegant and eye-catching, and fit well with the contents of the record. The label has also issued a more recent collection of Castro's works, I'll try to talk about that in the next future.