The young and upcoming Static Sky label celebrates its first anniversary with this limited to only 500 exemplars full length compilation. Next to most of the signed acts of this label like FAKE, SMP or CAUSTIC, they present a wide and musically very diverse collection of more or lesser known acts which service all kinds of Electro/EBM, Industrial and the Gothic genre. 17 tracks in all and most of them are previously unreleased, unreleased remix works or rare to get pieces. The most skilful tracks are offered here by the SYSTEM SYN side-project FAKE with an system critically track "I Voted and it Didn’t Count", which is another nice example of more straightness and a rougher mood to Clint Carney’s main project. SYSTEM SYN are also present here and offer their cover of MENTALLO & THE FIXER’s track "Ruthless". Well – you won’t come to the idea that this track is really a cover version, it sounds more like a typical SYSTEM SYN track. Apropos MENTALLO & THE FIXER: here they are back with a new and unreleased track called "Signaljammer"!!! I have to admit that I played this track five times in advance before listening to all other tracks here. It marks the return of this US legend and it is the best piece since their "Burned Beyond Recognition" album. Now signed to Static Sky, this is an excellent appetizer for a glorious return in 2006 for this band. The Metropolis recording artist BATTERY CAGE offer a remix of their track "Caged" done by the talented Estonian band CYCLONE B, which is of course without any guitar sounds and pretty much placed into a classical old-school EBM design. PREEMPTIVE STRIKE 0.1 from Greece get also a new comp appearance with their strong "Lethal Defense Systems" track, although I hope that this band will have several more and different tracks in stock, because this track can also be heard on the quadruple compilation "Endzeit Bunkertracks" out on Alfa Matrix. They are now signed to the German Infacted-Recordings label and work hard to get their debut out soon. Another fine surprise is the Dark Electro track "Our hatred" done by Static Sky’s own INFINTY MACHINE. This act is leaded by Mark Stagliano, who is the label chief behind Static Sky, and he gets a helping hand of SYSTEM SYN’s Clint Carney on the production of this track. The duo BRAINCLAW returns here and give us one of their best ever done tracks named "Fallen (Terminal Velocity Remix)", which totally grabs my attention with the strong melodic synth layer line. REAPER, another act licensed from Infacted-Recordings, can satisfy here with the SOMAN remix work on their track "Angst" – strong pulsating EBM with some noisy undertones. Check the track list below – you’ll see there are several more acts which I could mention here and this comp is for sure worth any investment to get purchased. It is designed to be an ongoing comp series – after this first nice experience I can’t hardly await the second volume out anytime in 2006. Good stuff here – get it!

Tracklist:

1. Stromkern - Stand Up (Army of Darkness Remix)
2. Fake - I Voted and it Didn't Count
3. Penal Colony - Anomalous
4. Ikon - Psychic Vampire (Full Moon Mix)
5. Mentallo & the Fixer - Signaljammer (unreleased demo)
6. Battery Cage - Caged (Cyclone-B Remix)
7. Infinity Machine - Our Hatred
8. SMP - Beta Male
9. System Syn - Ruthless (Mentallo & the Fixer cover)
10. Preemptive Strike 0.1 - Lethal Defense Systems
11. Doomsday Virus - Catastrophic Error
12. Brainclaw - Fallen (Terminal Velocity Remix)
13. Caustic - Drag Show Gone Wrong
14. Stochastic Theory - In Time
15. The Flying Buttresses - Song 13
16. Reaper - Angst (Soman Remix)
17. Fektion Fekler - Addict's Lullaby