OK. At first glance and with the name of the tracks, I thought that Marc had sent me a black metal band by mistake. Come on – tell me that if you only read the song titles, things like "My Name is Legion for we are Many", "Dirge of the Crucified", and "Forging the Gates of Gehenna" you wouldn’t come to the same conclusion! So I put it in prepared the worst. I’m not a fan of black metal, but I was willing to take one for the team. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this has more in common with Lustmord than with Emperor. In fact, track 8 (Of Empires Burning) sort of reminds me of a track off of Heresy. It wasn’t until after I had listened to the album all the way through that I noticed that the email was for Steel Hook Prosthesis. I wasn’t familiar with this side project. This is nice noisy ambient that never really threatens to get out of control. It’s a good illustration that noise can be pleasant to listen to and that subdued can sometimes be much better. I can’t really think of too many comparisons at the moment because there are not a lot of people who do this kind of work. The low points of the album are tracks 2 (My Name is Legion for we are Many) and track 9 (Cerebus) because of the inclusion of heavily distorted voice / samples that intrude on the soundscape like an unwanted house guest. The voice is so distorted in track 9 that you cannot even try to make it out. Track 2 seems like a sample that just doesn’t work. That said, the rest of the disc makes up for this weakness. This is good music to put on for reading. It doesn’t demand too much attention from the listener, but occasionally gets noisy just when you’ve begun to ignore it. If you think that dark ambient lacks complexity and is a bit boring but think that most noise albums are out to kill you, this is your happy medium. Unfortunately, this is already sold out from the label, but if you happen to find it, pick it up. This is a good one to take a chance on.

First, I must disclose my bias. I am a heavy fan of Current 93. I would guess that Orbit Service are also fans because it has a similar feel at times. So I should like this, right? This is a weird combination of the acoustic guitar music of Current 93 and In Gowan Ring with elements of psychedelic rock and college indy rock thrown in. Those who have spent any time listening to or working at a college radio station know what I mean by college rock - it’s hard to explain. I don’t know what it is, but this CD just doesn’t really do anything for me. Of course there really is no accounting for taste at times, but it doesn’t really seem to be the kind of release I would expect to review here. It doesn’t really fit well into any of the categories I have available to me to choose from. At times, the music seems to have a kind of psychedelic feel reminiscent of Pink Floyd (track 8, Thought You Should Know) while some, like track 5 (The Seven Rays), is pretty much straight slow college rock. For me, the high point of the disc was track 10 (Sad Syrup), an instrumental. I would say that this album is adequately executed. Probably a good band to see live but not really an outstanding album. CMJ would probably love this album. If you're looking for college rock with a bit darker edge this may be your thing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly impressed.

The only other disc by this band that I have is Spite. On Deconstruction of the World, the bombastic military orchestrations are present and accounted for. However, this seems a bit less noisy than Spite and a bit darker. What’s it sound like? Sort of like Bjärgö and Eriksson’s other project, Arcana (although much more aggressive) as well as bands like In Slaughter Natives. One of the things that I liked about this album was the fact that it is not just straight military percussion and orchestration all the way through. For example, track 7 (Severed) is really nice drone and ambience and track 4 (Condescension) is a track of pulsing bass and barely understandable voices. In an interview, Heathen Harvest (http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050123135619212) asked Bjärgö what inspired this album. He responded that "When you look at the TV or read the newspaper, you see only war, greed, hate, and destruction. I get very depressed and feel that maybe it is time to "deconstruct" the world and start fresh again. And yes, absolutely! I see it is as self destructing, just watch the environmental destruction, people know it is there, and people know that the world will not survive it, and still we do nothing about it." This is some dark, yet beautiful, music. Fans of neoclassical militaristic music probably already have this, but if you don’t, you should get this.

As an added bonus, there is a video for the song Depravity. It consists mainly of archival footage of range of motion tests and people wearing weird eyewear/blindfolds interspersed with what appears to be images of a side of beef interspersed. The music is good, but the video is a bit boring.

By now, I’m sure that those of you who have heard about this disc have heard the inevitable comparisons to Navicon Torture Technologies, but honestly, I think that this is a mistake. Although they are very similar in style, this disc is much more engaging than much of the NTT stuff I have. Perhaps part of it is that the overall feel of the disc is dark, yet the darkness does not completely overpower it. Simply the fact that Loss pulled this off when the disc was mastered by Thomas Garrison of Control (who seems to specialize in oppressive darkness) is a feat in itself! I never thought I would use the word "beauty" in a review of a power electronics disc, but here it is. This is beautiful. It has been a long time since something blew me away like this. The only problem that I can see with this disc is that it’s only 16:47 long. The disc comes packaged in a nifty red velveteen bag with a Loss pin attached. I’m looking forward to more from Loss. Let’s look at the individual tracks. 1. All the World’s a Stage (But I Just Work the Lights): Starts off a bit noisy with incomprehensible lyrics. Halfway through the track, the synth kicks in, providing a melodic counterpoint to the noise and percussion that had materialized without me even recognizing it. To me, this is the standout track on the disc. 2. A Letter that will Never Be Sent: This track continues much where track one left off. More of the same synth atmosphere and distorted vocals. Another good track. 3. Repose: This track begins a bit quieter, a bit more atmospheric and almost peaceful. Halfway through, the distorted vocals and rhythm kicks in again. It is almost like it is two tracks.