First off, this album is better than their last release. I've been dreading doing this review because I don't know how I can be nice about some of what I have to say. However, there is something about The Chaos Engine that I have a hard time getting past. It's as if they are trying to be both pop and underground at the same time and thus becoming part of the very media garbage they seem to be against. With statements like "the only thing for sure is that each and every song will have more pop hooks than Britney Spears entire recorded output and yet still pack enough finely honed rage to give your parents nightmares for months" are such contradictions that one can only look at them as being as pretentious as Sigue Sigue Sputnik. With that being said "Me & My Army" really does sound like a pop song with a bit more aggressive electronics and guitars than would be the norm. They combine elements of Industrial, Techno, and Rock with pop-like hooks to create their main song structure. A bizarre combination indeed but one that I don't believe would ever entice true underground music fans. Maybe pop culture fans of bands like Korn, Stained, etc.. but not the industrial crowd. Sadly(?), they won't get the pop crowd either because of the heavy use of electronics. Basically they are a group that tries to be both Punk and Pop at the same time - like P.I.L.
Now, I said this album is better than the last and it is true that it is much easier to listen to but is not the sort of thing that would sit on my preferred listening shelf. However, anything that does not have an industrial-techno cover of the fucking "Barbie Girl" song has to be better than the last album! The bands singer has a voice which reminds me of Howard Jones, of whom I do like, mixed with elements of industrial and other electronic music plus sampled guitar hooks and songs like "Nerve Opera" are very listenable and not bad at all. It's the overall product of the band that grates my nerves. If some of the songs on this album were taken and put somewhere else not associated with the pretentiousness of The Chaos Engine and given another name then it would be a good product to sell and a decent album to listen to and people might actually get into it. Instead the combination and media statement made for promotional purposes on behalf of the project come off as nothing short of cheesy, pretentious, crap!
Maybe it's just me but the band simply needs a new image or they need to boost up the level of cheese and pretentiousness to make it very catty instead. Sigue Sigue Sputnik were at least interesting and they didn't play half as well as The Chaos Engine. This band comes off too much as hypocritical in my book but maybe I'm just not getting the joke somewhere. In order to pull off something like that you better sound damn great! I've tried to find the witty or humourous side to this band and I just can't find it. Maybe it's just a type of humour I don't get or maybe they really are seriously pretentious hypocritical twits!