'M6' (aka 'The Black Album') is the sixth album by Aachen, Germany's Minusheart fronted by vocalist Diver, along with guitarist Chriss Rey and the noise engineers RK and V-Nerv. The last I heard from Minushearyt was 'The Dark Side of the Sun' back in 2020, and obviously they haven't been idle since then. 'M6' is not dissimilar to that one, although obviously the songs are different, but the format remains consistent - old school EMB industrial-electro along the lines if Leaether Strip, Dive, Wumpscut, Tolchock, Nitzer Ebb, and others along those lines. Diver's distinctive vocals will likely remind you of some of them, but I think this guy is now the top voice in the genre. This stuff is bloody simple (no fancy frills, no multi-layered sequencers going at once, no elongated ambient effects), absolutely designed for the dark club dancefloors. Songs are based on simple concepts - "One Heart," "Live Together," "My Enemy," "A Catastrophe," etc, etc. Sonic variety is subtle on 'M6' and while different sounds are employed on different track there is always going to be that 4-on-the-floor big beat. Straight ahead EMB has been the unspoken punk element of electro-industrial music, and these guys are easily the Ramones of EBM, but obviously sound nothing them. (Maybe a little closer to the Stooges, if played synthesizers rather than guitars.) While there isn't much variety in the format, at lease songs have different BPMs - 130, 145, 100, 140, 120, 188...to cite a few. I did notice at least one missed opportunity - on "Haunted House" where a brief dialogue sample of somebody describing a commercial spook house attraction is the only atmospheric embellishment, and the non-spooky synth blips don't really cut it. The synth-guys could have crushed this one on some spiffy atmospherics. While the last stated track, "Be Like Water," is unlike the others being more atmospheric and less dance-oriented at 80 BPM, there is one more, "Rise and Fall" after 53 tracks of 4 seconds of silence each. Man, that's old-school. I haven't heard that done on a CD in about 20 years! Over all though, 'M6' is a really good album if you love quailty EBM like I do. If you're lucky enough to live in or near Germany, you can catch the band on tour this summer.