Dark and aggro, yet somewhat minimal in the sense that there aren't that many layers (though the music doesn't come across as thin), Grendel's angry electro-industrial attacks the hypocrisy of religion, the evils of corrupt government, and explores generally the dark side of life, the universe and everything (ten points if you caught the in-joke there, ha ha ... ahem ...). Goa tinged melodies slice along like a knife while distorted beats propel this grim but danceable music. Wicked vocals hiss at you (much like the mythological Grendel monster might have, one suspects), delivering its scathing condemnations at conventional moral and social parameters. Grendel is another band to add to the list of aggro-industrial distorted electro raspers like Front Line Assembly and Wumpscut, and others. Crisp and slick, yet emotionally violent, Grendel seems to have a smooth handle on this sub-genre.

The very opening moments of Wolfmaster's "Murder and Religion" is startling to say the least. Militaristic cadences for percussion, almost symphonic gothic melody and whispered vocals (which surprise you again in a moment by sliding into a funeral dirge distorted vocal stylization). You could call it industrial metal and you'd probably be right. But that hardly manages to convey what's really going on here, sound-wise. First off, Wolfmaster is original enough I can't give you anybody else in the industrial or metal scenes to compare them to. Dark and thoroughly gothic - goth executed with industrial metal influences, either metal tempered by industrial or industrial tempered by metal (maybe I shouldn't even say metal, maybe that's just the aggro talking) - Wolfmaster's atmosphere is accusatory and grim, like a feisty hound of hell come to earth and warning you just before it eats you for your hypocritical sins. The rhythms are mid-tempo but that hardly hurts the groove or prevents the listener from fading into it. The strings sounding orchestral backing (organic or electronic is irrelevant, it sounds good) add lush musical depth to the proceedings while the subdued but aggressive-in-tone vocals finish the picture of dark, haunted woods spilling their unknown secrets out on the hapless humans deserving of death.

Dimension Zero's "Replica" is a pleasant surprise in the form of a 2-song disc. Sure, only 2 tracks, but they're good ones. DZ has managed to cram a little Smashing Pumpkins attitude into some somewhat gothy industrial that takes the electro side of the genre and adds some guitar to fill out the sound. The electro element avoids the easy-to-generate boredom of a lot of electronic industrial acts and the guitars add a thickness to the industrial sound that I like. The vocal/lyrical approach for some reason, at least on the second track, "Static Space", made me think for some reason of Billy Corgan. But that could just be me. At any rate, "Replica" is certainly a good introduction to an artist that has a good grasp of what industrial's about.

The common analogy of man fused with machine, metal and flesh, is best realized metaphorically through the artistic creations we bring. Lex Decimate (The destruction of all law) is a project that aptly pays tribute to this philosophy as it is the history of it's creation and the story through which it lives on. Lee Duis is a man with music in his veins and whose life was once shattered through loss and pain. Resurrected, he became his own salvation under the incarnation of Lex Decimate. Musically this project vears wherever the creative imagination of Lee brings it and does not set limits on genre, style, tempo, structure, or anything else. Lex Decimate sways dreamlike between varying degrees of intensity; ambient, dark, rhythmic. It's difficult to cram into a box of 'name' when someone is this heartfelt with thier art. Will have strong appeal to those into dark synthpop, darkwave, gothic, EBM, and industrial with experimental electronic elements. You will even find this project breaking it's bounds on tracks like "Light the Way" which seems more related to Ant-Zen and Hymen label sounds than anything typical of the Darkwave/EBM. Lex Decimate is definitely a unique fusion of a wide variety of elements. Like thier label Silencer Records they are definitely intending to push boundaries and test limits while bringing something unique to the underground music 'scene'. In their words; "We are ready to caputre your fears and emotions. Let go and find yourself in a place where there is no 'law'. Find your inner peace through resistance."

Having heard and reviewed Lucid Dementia's newest CD, "The List", and having been quite impressed with it (one of the best electro-industrial releases I've heard in a long time), I was anxious to hear the band's previous LP and see where they came from. Well, LD was gracious enough to supply me with a copy of it so I could check out the band's roots. You can definitely see the evolution and the fact that the band wasn't content to stagnate. "Twisted" is, admittedly, not as polished or sleek as "The List", which is a little more complex; however, "Twisted" strikes me as a darker, more gothic, side of Lucid Dementia. Like Nitzer Ebb or Fixmer/McCarthy, much of "Twisted" is somewhat minimalist in flavor, and requires a little more patience on the part of the listener because it's more progressive in nature, in that you have to let the atmosphere of the music seep into your bones. Once you settle in with the mid-tempo industrial beats, the evil Muppet vocals (remember, Lucid Dementia, aka Lucy, a six foot puppet, is the lead singer), the deep gothic ambience, the edgy lyrics and the striking originality, you'll realize you've found a bit of a treat in the watered-down industrial genre. Here the underground has yielded up a jewel in the form of Lucid Dementia, the band whose existence justifies the existence of the electro-industrial genre. Dark, spartan and pulsing, aggressive AND playful (so beware), "Twisted" shows the shadowy, gothic beginnings of a band that would explode into the full form of its genius on "The List."