Although Greece is the current European soccer champion, their team couldn’t qualify themselves for the upcoming world championships in Germany. And although that the Acropolis and the haven of Piraeus are worth to start a sight-seeing tour, this most hidden musically secret of this country has more to offer. Greece was until now a white spot on the globe regarding Electro/Industrial music, but this will change with this excellent debut. Discovered by Torny Gottberg of PROJECT-X (who is also the label chief behind Progress Productions...), this band was ready to release a CD on the now defunct Energy-Records two years before. But things have changed, Torny left Energy to built up Progress Productions, and IAMBIA are still alive and faithful at his side. This is one of the very few debut releases on which you have to make sure to own it. Straight and hard ripping EBM tunes with a lot of dedication in detailed arrangements, so could a description be. This Greek duo surprises from the from the very first tune up to the last one – a really intense assault burning its way from the brain through your body to the feet to teach you to dance! They left me breathless in front of my home entertainment! Rough and angry male vocals and always this steady beatings on a high quality level – you can’t ask for any other strong effort currently! To guarantee diversity they throw also in several instrumental tracks like "Ominous", "Sepuku" or the tough "Depressonic", which all can satisfy with well worked out arrangements. But diversity can be found on almost all tracks here, "Resurrect" surprises with a remarkable melodic content and unaffected vocals, while "Chaosmancer" turns into a hot Hellektro-like piece with sequences along the AGONOIZE direction. "Tetragon" is more evil and fills in some rough guitar sounds, a bit comparable to their label mates of RED CELL. Comes at last the hard ripping "Tyrrania" which holds all talents of this duo in stock. I should also mention that this release – like all previous releases of Progress Productions – will also released as a limited to 200 pieces DCD edition with several extra tracks and versions. This whole release is only limited to 1000 exemplars and regarding the strong quality here you should act soon to save your item.

Another fine but also very dark and scary release for the Eastern Germany X-Cem community, this time the project of Pedro Engel called ACYLUM. Kai Arnold of WYNARDTAGE is also integrated here, he offers his vocals and is responsible for the lyrical content. Musically ACYLUM differs from WYNARDTAGE, they are moving hard on the thin balance between harsh EBM and Powernoise. So you get here a lot of distorted beats, some really sick layers and a very depressive mood, somehow comparable to FEINDFLUG, INFACT, DIOXYDE or old PAIN STATION. The tempo of the tracks are pending from mid tempo up to some faster placed stuff like "Trip of Hate" or "Final Shot (Club mix)". There is a big "slap-in-ya-face" attitude behind this sound, and also the black/white cover art awakes some possible comparisons to FEINDFLUG. The used elements here are surely not designed to be called new or innovative, but the kind and talent of this act is well present here to grab some attention of friends from the above mentioned acts. Please note also the hidden extra track placed on position 77 on this release. The underground is alive and this release can be called a quality exclamation mark for the new X-Cem group. Get it!

Welcome back, Claus, back to the forefront of hard EBM/Electro/Industrial music! What has started in August/September 2005 first as a rumor placed at the popular Myspace community got finally reality, LEÆTHER STRIP strikes back now with a double CD after his pre-released appetizer EP "Suicide Bombers". More than 5 years in silence, Claus has chosen the 13th of January 2006 to be the release date of this DCD, the date which marks his 18th year active in the music business. That this new effort finally got enough stuff on board to get released as two filled CD’s is just another sign, that Claus wasn’t inactive although he hasn’t released anything new in the past years. So there is a lot of music to check out here – but nobody should really expect a new millenium masterpiece like "Solitary Confinement". No, this new CD features almost all facets of the musically development, which Claus has experienced in all highs and depths through the years. The used sounds, especially the bass lines, are still similar to his very own created style, the vocals ranging between clean and unaffected up to the hellish screams we like and enjoyed so much before. Favorite tracks are to me the ones which feature some well played synth layers and musically complexity in the given arrangements, "Death Is Walking Next To Me", "Sleep Is Only Heartbreak", "Homophobia", "This Is Where I Wanna Be" or "One For One For One" are to mention here. Also some musically surprising pieces are here, "Dying Is Easy – Live Is Harder (Daddy Please Love Me)" starts with a child-like melody and offers some heart-felting lyrics, while the very dark piece "I Was Born That Day" features some church-like organ sounds. There are also two very long instrumental pieces placed both on every last position on which Claus reaches the strong intensity of the past days, one is surprisingly "Leaether Strip Part 3 (Symphony For Kurt)", although it hasn’t to much comparable things with the classic original. Although we can’t find anything related to "Strap Me Down", "Adrenaline Rush" or "Don’t Tame Your Soul" I have with every note on this full DCD package the feeling that Claus could easily create such piece! It’s good to have this genre leader back on track and I am looking curiously out for more. Please note also that Alfa Matrix offers a lot of special editions of this release in limited conditions – just check out their website and try to get it.

Nettwerk (which seem to be reaching out to women in the industry more than ever, especially with their management company) always has an eye and an ear out for new talent, or in this case established talent. Kirsty Hawkshaw has been lending her vocal contributions to Opus III, Orbital, Sqayzak, Way out West, Hybrid and Tiesto (who co-wrote and produced a couple of tracks on this record), Mr Sam, Pole Folder and of course Delerium (why am I not surprised about that? Fulber/Leeb seem to scout out every female singer that deserves attention) and many other electronic outlets throughout the years. "Meta Message" (which features remixes and tracks written or produced by Jimmy Gomez and Dave Randall from Slovo, among others) delivers a complete and all around female voice who (thanks, in part to ther background and collaborations in eighties dance culture) leans heavily on electronic music to deliver her message and who represents a great addition to the list of women who delight this beautiful musical genre with grace, tone and heavenly subtleties. Although her voice is strong and definitely flexible, multi-faceted and versatile, I wish I could get more excited about the tracks... not that they are bad, they are very good, but (some of them) just lack that certain shine that people like Delerium know how to add... The good thing is that it is a very various album that spans from dancefloor-friendly material to chill out lounge electronica, touching base with all things electronica in between.

DISCOTHEQUE isn't really a new Stereo Total album but it is a treasure box for the people that love their attitude and the dance tunes. This new release contains some new versions of tracks released on their previous album "Do the bambi" ("Babystrich" and "Europa Neurotisch") plus a gorgeous selection of rare songs from side-projects (Motor Mark and Jacno) and remixes: the Echokrank (a crazy Berliner transvestite) reworked version of "Everybody in the Discotheque (I hate)" originally released by Motor Mark, the reggae-song "Bad news from the stars" from Brezel Göring last solo-record with Barom One, released on Gagarin Records and on CD here for the first time. On the CD version, there are also all the thracks of the "Erste Mal" EP and the "Do the Bambi" remixes, originally only available in limited vinyl pressings always on Disko B records. All this for one hour and sixteen songs that will make you move at the rhythm of the German techno pop of the Stereo Total. Try to imagine Serge Gainsbourg tracks in an electro sauce with sensual rhythms and catchy sounds and prepare yourself to dance. A treasure for your ears...