Opening with the acid poem recited by David Thrussel (you can find it also into the booklet) and titled ""The fettid funghi" NOIZZZE JUST DO IT is a mammoth compilation full of new bands (or new for me) and new ideas. The thrirty six tracks of the 2 CDs deal with distorted industrial music but for sure the bands have a sort of oblique approach to the genre (see for example the Ambassador 21 remix of Song's "This is capitalism" where the melodic part of the acoustic guitar sample and the sung duet with distorted rhythms and various samples) which is always a good thing in my opinion. Bands like Gacky (his "Henrettelse" is a sort of metal press mixed with a organ melody coming from an '80s hard rock song), Noize Creator ("F*** face" is a sort of hip hop mixed with gabber and punk), Ctrler ("Noize superstar" is a cyclic metallic melody grinder which turns into an extreme e.b.m. track), Skeft ("Learn to smile" remembered me the Crass. Dunno why, but their use of classical samples, shouts of anthems and noise recalled to me the approach that the Crass had to music), D.J. Christ (Alexey from Ambassador 21 condenses into two minutes and half techno, gabber and punk with no problem at all), L.e.t.o. ("Ready to disturb" is a digital track which seems improvised but instead it is a sort of crazy opera shrunk to less that three minutes. Really inspired...), Uziloop ("I no longer exist" is a sort of Residents meets the digital noise. Fast and intriguing with its two minutes lenght!), Nick Lebeat (his "Solution available" seemed to me a early The Fall track carried to the extreme, where only a distorted bass line and various distorted rhythms duet with the spoken part) will lead you toward a new way of doing noise. A way which deals with inspiration, freshness and will to surprise. This is another good release coming from Invasion Wreckchords people!

I like industrial but it is sadly often a boring and watered down genre. Meet phoenix/NEBULIN, a band that does something to alleviate the problem a little. Blending the driving guitars of industrial metal with the teflon textures of the electronic side of the genre, p/N's "Distanza" finds a happy level of the two and fuses them together into a fairly sleek industrial construct. Juxtaposing rocky, heavy moments with softer, more electro stretches, and topping it all off with some rock-n-roll female vocals, p/N puts together some industrial metal that really can get you jamming and forgetting all those other generic acts that make me dispirited at the state of music. One thing that really helps is the infusion of melody. You find a lot of melody on the EBM side, naturally, but that's often little more than watered down vocal trance. You find some great energy on the metal/guitar side, but it's often sorely repetitive. "Distanza" presents a meeting ground of the two with melodies that are exactly what's needed to keep this cocky but sometimes moody dose of industrial going. Nice move from an underground band.

You can detect several things going on in Urn's layered industrial goth rock as presented on the CD "Desecrated Ashes". Mid-tempo guitar grooves provide a pulse while keyboards add to the layering. The percussion joins the rhythm nicely and the vocals bring in even more dynamics with the male/female switchup. A nice gothy mood permeates the music, and it is enhanced by a strong sense of theatricality. In addition to the subdued goth metal tone, you can sense a certain folkiness (like unto what you might encounter in some power metal acts, though it's the mood, not the music, that is common to urn and aforementioned power players). Atmosphere seems to be the name of the game as the guitars provide the heaviness and the keyboards supply the ambience, with the drums even going a little ethno from time to time. The two vocalists compliment each other fairly well. Ultimately you get the sense of listening to a rock fantasy opera (which is likely the point). The main complaint I would offer is a certain flatness to the sound. One wishes for more lushness in a style like this. However, all told, if you like the Lacuna Coil approach to metal, Urn is a band to check out.

Poised, in my opinion, to be one of the top CD releases of 2004 (even
if the mainstream world, addled as it is by too much normalcy, remains ignorant) is Lucid Dementia's "The List." Couple of things you need to know about Lucid Dementia: Their music is both cuttingly satirical (you might say left of Michael Moore) and uproariously funny and their lead singer is a six foot puppet named Lucid Dementia ... Luci for short. This is one of those bands that definitely deserves the term "aptly named." LD is certainly demented, employing such an over the top concept and stage show ? and the band is hilariously demented ? but there is an incredible amount of philosophical
lucidity permeating their music. In terms of socio-political
significance, they can stand up to KMFDM any day of the week. Another way they are similar to that band is in the fairly equal employment of guitar and electronica. Indeed, an argument could be made that this middle balance is the perfect dwelling zone for industrial as the metally side tends toward monotonous
(think older Ministry) and the electro side seems sort of like weak
trance with vocals much of the time. Anyway, LD will certainly shred the sensibilities of anybody remotely conservative that has the misfortune to wander into their sphere of influence. In the song, "The Lucid Dementia Show," for example, Luci sings of how the more of something there is the less it is worth and then goes on to point out just how many humans there are ... But to hear such harsh social commentary uttered by a high pitched (electronically altered to some degree, I think) puppety voice is startling and rip-snorting. And yet the voice fits so perfectly and, even in the midst of guffawing at Lucid Dementia's antics you realize how accepting of the voice you are. It does not detract from the industrial doings of this fine,
intelligent and creative act. LD is truly a gem and deserves to be
heard of beyond the underground. The rest of the industrial world could learn a few lessons from this group.

For those of you guilty, as I was, of thinking that Scorn was done, Mr. Harris came back with a new CD, out for the interesting and challenging Polish label Vivo (check out www.scorn.vivo.pl for more info on this album). Scorn left behind the isolationism, the dub, the drum'n'bass experiments and concentrated on a new form of claustrophobic industrial music. Originally recorded in October of last year for a live radio session on radio Breaks FM (nubreaks.com), this pioneering artist's new album is based on electronic sounds and is very beat intensive. "List of Takes" scores aggressively in the heart of him/her who is looking for a cold blend of morbid loops and droning sub-harmonics. In a nutshell you'll still be faced with the essence of Scorn's sonic signature that he developed throughout the years, but this time you'll get a piece of everything working together as one. In other words you'll recognize the elements, but you won't recognize their sum. The new rhythm-noise direction undertaken by this un-stoppable experimentator will definitely please most of you. Over 70 minutes in a limited hand-numbered tri-fold ecopack.