Another new artist signed to the favorite Canadian institution when it comes to service the listener with "stellar old school EBM and authentic complex, multi-layered dark electro" music - EAR (Electro Aggression Records) - presents us this time a German tank. Well, they pretend that there's actually a more in-depth hidden agenda behind this pseudonym ("Taktischer Angriff (auf’s) Nervenkostüm") but actually I like the more simplistic, evident meaning of this T.A.N.K.. And why beating a dead horse on this? It fits perfectly with the music expression of this solo effort established by Reinhard Hüber back in 2001.

Although Reinhard has made some first steps into music in the 90s with a Punk-Rock-project called Faust, he found his musically idendity under his T.A.N.K.-pseudonym and the close appearance to the slowly upcoming so-called Neo-Old-School EBM wave around Dessau and the later established Electric Tremor label (the so-called Anhalt-EBM-style), which can be seen as a counter-wave against the leading, repetitive Terrorbanana / Hellectro-formula produced by the ridiculous snap-light Cyber-kids. Actually, if you look on the historical content, it can be said that Reinhard was one of the first activists of this special neo-old-school EBM style. Luckily this all hasn't too much impact on Reinhard's music.

Back in 2003 he could release his debut album "Musica Denaturale" on the small label Ars Electrique, while in 2017 Reinhard made a first comeback after a longer break with his album "Return" released on the Electric Tremor label from Dessau. Ever since that he has ongoing produced music, played several live gigs and could gain attention by the EAR label.

T.A.N.K. isn't at all just another NEP-clone sounding project, because Reinhard always digs deeper to sqeeze out a more layered sound expression out of his mostly hardware-synthesizer-based arsenal in his studio. Especially his synthesizer pad- and lead-sounds and the attempt to add a much more dense song progression well-placed into his still biting and pummeling bassline-sequencing work deserves respect and separates him successfully from repititive-sounding colleagues. So if it comes to find acts which can be in some way compared with Reinhard's work I would call rather lesser known names like Image Transmission or IC434 as references.

So T.A.N.K. can be seen as a tradionalist with a sound design obviously inspired by the so-called second wave of EBM in the mid-90s and for this, Reinhard has a lot of sharp-sounding weapons to offer. Reinhard's mostly adament and angry-sounding voice roars mighty over his mostly danceable-produced tracks and leads often the scenario. He also often integrates counter-snare drums between the linear kick drums which adds the impression that some of the songs are faster and more compact for the listener. Dancefloor-movement is strictly allowed and notable here on most of his tracks.

"Broken Mirror" offers 13 original tracks plus you'll get 4 quality remix contributions by Reinhard's EAR-label colleagues of Pyrroline, Sleepwalk, Serpents, and Synaptic Defect. The album starts with the opener "Freedom" and the epic-sounding string- and pad-sounds invite the curious listener until the beats and Reinhard's shouts kick in to lead this track. "At War" picks this style up, pushes even harder forward with some pounding synth-basslines, and celebrates the above mentioned counter-snare works into a moving pogo inferno. No one said that classic old-school EBM isn't the field Reinhard plays in.

To pick out the highlights out of the 13 original tracks seems to be a bit challenging because it has to be said that all of them are sounding relative cohesive and united. There isn't a track which falls under the radar regarding the level of quality. It's moreover a matter of personal preferences I guess. Everyone would maybe call the nailing "Reject" with its classic EBM-basslines and the well-accented timbre of Reinhard's vocals as being a trademark track on "Broken Mirror", but personally I am quite fine with the almost catchy starting "Bloodsucker" with its nice pad layers - they finally shimmering through the whole track. And if an artist pretty much fascinated to explore all depths of the classic old-school EBM-field likes to present the listener a pure instrumental tune with "Far Away", which sounds even layered and thrilling enough for this attempt, then I have to applaude.

"Broken Mirror" is undoubtly Reinhard's most matured album so far and backed up by the label EAR was surely the right decision to keep the ball rolling for T.A.N.K.. This is a quite nice produced EBM-album which unites traditional elements of the mid-90s with a surprisingly layered sound-design. Not completely unique for sure and no stuff, which hasn't been discovered or heard anywhere else before - but Reinhard has found his very own and authentic sounding niche which he services well.