Never heard of a band called Non Toxique Lost? If you're into industrial music you should, they put out their first record during the eighties, then 20 compact cassettes, 3 lps and a couple of cds. "/bin/med/usa" cuts it short showing these three "guys" from Ger-money are not newjacks: industrial music in the way it was meant to be...but not just that. The deutsche style you can hear while listening the "early" (not so early) Einstruerzende Neubauten is evident, but as you can read in the few lines they left at the beginning of their website: "style is irrelevant". Obsessive patterns "industrial-style", old-fashioned-drum machines, analogue synth, filters and guitars, the vocals is both martial (...deutsche speakers' emphasis, how could we live without it!!) and visceral up to the different song, I think if you're into this style of music well you'll love it 'cause it's sexy or violent as it should be. Musicwise Non Toxique Lost moves from "industrial-psychic-warfare" to "fetish-electronica" (hey they're on the same label of Front Line Assembly should I add something more?), a flavor of "eighties" and let's say it looks like they'd like to play with the listeners' secret fears. Also the recording somehow sounds old-fashioned and don't come to easy conclusions, when I say "old-fashioned" I don't mean the Berlin combo is completely "surpassed", I just mean it all sounds "retrò" and in a good way, at last on this release. "Dark landscapes and modern obsessions" if you love things like these and the way the industrial-electronica used them, I'm sure you're ready for Non Toxique Lost.

On the digipack of this release you'll get just the basic infos like, name of the band, title of the records and the tracklist on the back, if communication means something this decision says it all. I'm almost sure I've recognized the voice of Sea Warton and the sound it's almost the same but there's something different in this release. I dunno if the band has suffered any line up changes but the songs are more skeletal, everything on this record goes straight to bone, the music gets even more visceral, the most o the songs lyrics are in german language. The vocals are more controlled or I'd better say that everything on this record is more in control, more tempered. "Siga siga" is less heterogeneous than "/bin/med/usa" but in a positive way, since for the whole length of the cd it will be like being thrown into the band's dimension. If the previous release was obsessive, "Siga Siga" is confidentially/visceral obsessive, these berliners are working on your skull with a screwdriver it clear from the beginning (Kein stern). If I were psychoanalist I'd say these people have finally arrived to meet their own "self" or well, maybe it all is nothing but a trip that has gone bad. If you're not confidential with the band my suggestion is to start from "Siga Siga", nothing could be Worse/better.

Second full-length for this UK post-black metal project, after the acclaimed 2003 debut "The Ichneumon Method" on the now defunct label Rage of Achilles, and the "Physical Illucinations..." ep on Code666. While this is still most definitely "metal", industrial and dark ambient influences play a big role, not as mere samples or filler tracks, but deeply pervading the song structures and arrangements. The result is a totally oppressive and obscure work, surely closer to a hypothesis of extreme industrial doom (also for the guttural low-pitched vocals) than to black metal in a strict sense, even when it's filled with electronic influences (I'm thinking of mighty Aborym, for example). The tracks tend to indulge in mid- or slow-tempos, with fragmented or morbidly psychedelic guitar lines, rather than in breakneck assaults. Though here and there there is still too much metal riffage for my tastes, and some repetitive solutions (see the drum programming), this is a convincing, and truly suffocating, work.

Part 5 of this stellar compilation series full of hard and dark Electro/Industrial acts features some slight changes in direction, art and also the music which could surprise. While the choice of combining already known acts with some hot and promising newcomers is still the same on the highest level of quality, Interbreeding V comes this time only as a single full length CD. This seems to be also a cost-wise decision by the label BLC Productions, on the other side it is also easier to follow all remarkable acts. This been said, "Interbreeding VI: Subhuman: The Alien Agenda" which is also a single CD was also released as a companion disc to this one. Also musically this comp series has experienced a slight change in direction. Here is still included a wide range of diverse music styles based on Dark Electro/Industrial/EBM, but I can hear a growing dedication to some dark and expressive instrumental pieces as well as some Powernoise efforts offered here by one of two ENCODER (new signing of BLC, out soon with an EP named "Supernatural") tracks, KALISHNIKOV (only one example for a new Industrial wave hailing from the east...) and the Alfa Matrix female artist UNTER NULL (excellent distortions in the mix...). Other outstanding tracks are offered here by FURY 162 (brilliant Dark Techno with Powernoise undertones, seems to be a side project by the Black Flames artist RETRACTOR...), RE_AGENT ("Never Satisfied (Krzon Remix)" of Canada’s finest solo project...) and of course IMPLANT ("My Gun" remixed by French artist SKOYZ). The new signings next to the already mentioned ENCODER of the BLC label are also present, PARA NORMAL and ALIEN PRODUKT give a dense appearance and will let you ask for more. ENCODER presenting us next to their Powernoise-like effort another rollicking instrumental piece which does nevertheless not uncover too much details of their upcoming music. As usual on this comp series the artwork has some big and eye-friendly surprises to offer. A special photo session with the international renowned model Jillian Ann (www.jillianann.com) done by Jeffery Scott (www.factory1019.com), which fits totally with the main theme all Interbreeding comps has to offer, the story board from and about Aliens. And be sure to check out also Jillian Ann’s music (!!!) project ELUCIDO here available with a very cool piece aptly called "Cold" as the final track. Once again and like any other part of this compilation series, "Terrorland" is an essential release. How could you watch innocent your face in a mirror if you do not try to purchase this???

Tracklist:

1. Fury 161 : decay of time
2. Fake : blood & skin (Imperative Reaction Remix)
3. Encoder : Soulcrusher
4. Kalishnikov : Pravda (Truth is a Dream Remix)
5. Re_agent : Never Satisfied (Krzon Remix)
6. Pecadores : Priest (Come to Daddy Mix)
7. H.I.V.+/Wired Brain : Havoc 2027 (Tamtrum Remix)
8. Unter Null : The End of Sleep
9. Implant : My Gun (Skoyz Remix)
10. Schattenschlag : One Shot
11. Encoder : Illuminati
12. Alien Produkt : Detestable Envy (Simulating Peace Remix)
13. Para Normal : Under the Light
14. Neikka RPM : Storm of Hell (Broken Seal Mix)
15. Severe Illusion : Girl with Knife in Hand (Depressive.Disorder Remix)
16. Elucido -- Cold

H2S comes from Italy, his debut release was a split 3" cdr with Cassetta Dinamica. "Industrial is the thing!" and if ever anyone has been labeled as "analog-industrial": you can bet this definition fits really well with the music of H2S. Analog synthesizers, drum machines used to give an "electro" atmosphere to distorted bass almost in loop. I got the impression that Fabio Degiorgi's music is deliberately obsessive as the sound of some samples gets sometimes mechanical like in the fourth track "Vulcano 3". H2S performed and recorded everything by himself and without any doubt he did a really good job since many "official" records sound much worse. There's that "eighties" flavor here and there, I think it has to do with Fabio's taste when using keyboards and drum machines, so I'd say it all is completely intentional. Sometimes the single track may sound a bit "long" but if "obsession" is one of the main plot of the cd, "the weight of repetitions" becomes part of the ticket. Gas masks landscapes, "ordinary life" viewed as "repetition" and s&m sex...who knows why but that's what comes to mind when listening to "Le voyeurisme de l'absurde". I think Fabio has to develop his music to the next level, but I wouldn't be surprised if after every release he'd become more and more popular, he knows how to do it. This' a collectors item since it's limited to 150 copies.