I JUST WANT TO SAY I HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM SEVERAL DISCUSSION BOARDS,I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING...I THINK I AM BEING DISCRIMINATED BY SEVERAL MODERATORS AND BY FENCER HIMSELF,I DON'T KNOW WHO TO TALK TO ABOUT THIS,I KNOW THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BOARD BUT I JUST WANT TO INFORM YOU PEOPLE ABOUT THIS PROCEDURE...ONE DAY IT MIGHT HAPPEN TO YOU!
THANKS...

Spetsnaz are one of the bands that’s been on almost everybody’s lips for the last six months. All people knew of them was that they played old school EBM in the veins of Nitzer Ebb and DAF. When I first got it I played it a couple of times and the first thing that caught me was that vocalist Pontus Ståhlberg is a cloned Douglas McCarthy and the drummer Stefan Nilsson is the ditto of Bon Harris. In other words – it sounds almost identical to what Nitzer Ebb did on “That Total Age” back in 1987, and I am saying this in a very positive way! The members of Spetsnaz have been involved in other bands before and I know that they can make real music and not only the usual stomping machine-body that is represented on “Grand Design” and I believe that “Grand Design” is their tribute to the 80’s EBM-wave.
The first song, “Grand Design”, starts with a really hard and typical bass line and I really like what I hear. The thing is that I love it even more when Pontus opens his mouth and as I wrote earlier he sounds like Douglas McCarthy. What I really like about that kind of vocals is that it’s almost free from effects, and you hear no over distorted parts that can make your ear bleed at times because everybody uses them. Another song that I fell for is “Femme Fatale”. It’s got the typical, but speedy bass line and great lyrics about betrayal from the female ones. The worst song on the album, in that matter that it’s a straight copy of “Let Beauty Loose”, is “Outskirts of Eden”. I’m not saying that it’s a bad song, because it’s a killer live! But on the other hand I didn’t see any problems with them sounding like Nitzer Ebb earlier so maybe I should let it go.
If you’re new to EBM and would like to hear how EBM was made 15 years ago you should definitely get this album and I also think that you should support these guys. Another thing worth mentioning are Spetsnaz’s lyrics! It’s not the typical “[edited] electronic future, cyber, cold steel” etc, they range from love to hate, in a serious matter. “Foul Play” is a song that really got on my mind with the chorus “How can you smile at people you just cant stand”. The album is filled with these punch lines that normally never get out in daylight from bands like these.
This album shows that it’s still possible to make music with just drums, bass lines, some regular keyboard samples and a good vocalist.

This might be a debut, but the members of Rotersand, Rasc, Gun and Krischan, all have a past in different projects. Rasc is a member of The Fair Sex, a band Gun have worked with, and they have both worked with 1am and Warm. Krischan has worked as a producer for different techno and electro constellations. With that given it should come as no surprise that this is a well produced and well sounding album. What surprises me however is how well the album blends together, not in a bad way, on the contrary, this is a varied album, not a collection of songs. From the first track to the last it has a certain flow, whereas the songs blend into the next one. And I have to admit, the first thing that struck me was how well produced it is, I guess you could say I couldn’t see the trees because of the forest the first time around.
However, now that I have been listening to the album a lot there are certain trees that stick out, for instance “The Fire” with its driving monotone bass line, as well as the cool anthem “Social Distortion”, where Sina of Psychobitch does a guest performance, which has been getting a lot of airtime at my place. There are a few more upbeat tracks worth mentioning here, but I’ll skip on to the slower “One Level Down”, which is a ballad complete with acoustic guitars and strings, it might sound a bit according to the manual, but I think it is a really nice track.
Finally, if you’re looking for an electronic dance album with good vocals, catchy choruses I truly, madly, deeply recommend you to get this one. And if you get intimidated by that description, thinking “this is another one of those boring futurepop albums” think again, it is not. It is so much more than that, but still there are some points at which it is just that.

Shadows In the Dark have been lurking for quite a while, ever since the "Snuff Machinery" EP (or even the compilation Septic II) there's been a buzz, a lot of anticipation and eagerness to hear exactly what this Pride and Fall/Suicide Commando/Dioxyde-like outfit could do. "Stronghold" can do a lot of thing. Such as provide lots of listening pleasure, fill the dance floor and provide some basis for contemplation. Something that was quite nice to find was that all songs with vocals are commented upon in the booklet, some more explanatorily than others but it's nice to come across a booklet with at least some thought put into it.
Back to how it sounds. There's some Suicide Commando, some VNV Nation, at least in the instrumentals, and I hint some Dioxyde. Though they might not have listened to that during the writing process... I for one like [:SITD:] better than the latter works of previously mentioned artists as "Stronghold" show cases a much wider range of emotions and approaches to modern ebm and the concept of dance music than I think Suicide Commando for example has done in the past years. There's a complexity of subjects, intertwined, separate and diverse that's often lacking elsewhere.
It's a bit of a shame to pick favourites 'cause that implies leaving some out. I think the songs released as EPs are perhaps not the most noteworthy although, quite some time after hearing it for the first time, "Snuff Machinery" still throws sparks around it. "Lebensborn" is another fantastic song, as is the melodic "Rose-Coloured Skies" and the instrumental "2nd Death" that's built around a few samples and a rough distorted beat. [:SITD:] just might one of last year's most promising new-comers to the electro-industrial scene.

German Trisol departees Sero.Overdose emerged from Alfa Matrix, with the teaser release "No Time For [Club] Silence". Now it's time for more silence, and silence can be a good thing. But when sporting synthpop at the level of Melotron ("Never"), Wolfsheim ("Hoffnung") and Apoptygma Berzerk ("Rain") why should one keep silent? A valid argument might be that there are a lot of modern influences here, but they do add their own touch to it all and in full, this album could not have been made by any of the above mentioned artists and offers something they don't.
The most appealing aspect of "No time for silence" is its soft-spoken, filled to the brink with emotion uncomplicated approach towards expression. This could have ended up a very shallow or pretentious album but a strong vocal performance and a very solid composition makes this an album that is enjoyable almost throughout. And for once, and this seems to become more and more rare, we're talking about a full album, 14 songs that lasts for more than an hour, quality and quantity. There are some lesser songs that actually bother me and make me think twice about this album that at its peaks is way up there. It could have been nice to see another instrumental track besides "Harmony", or some more songs in the vein of "Spirits", songs seem to separate themselves from the rest of the album a bit more. Summing up; this album, like most of the songs, grows. And by the looks of it, so will Sero.Overdose.

From Dave McKean’s recognizable and always intriguing cover artwork, one would get the impression that the sound of Interlace is probably combines gothic dirge rhythms with apocalyptic atmospheres, something akin to the industrial soundscapes of Skinny Puppy. While this would not be an inaccurate observation, the music of Interlace offers so much more; indeed there are the stark ambient backdrops on the band’s latest, Imago, but they are interspersed with heavy beats and electro bass lines not unlike those heard in EBM. Tracks like the album opener “Master,” “Conformity,” and “Elohim” pulsate with energetic rhythms that are bound to get listeners stomping their feet and throbbing electronics that just might be signals to the cosmos of the mind. These songs have the capacity to get stuck in your head, yet they are very far from any pop sensibility. The arrangements are also noteworthy in their lack of the standard linear verse-chorus progressions that are stagnating so much electronic music today. And then there are the interlude tracks like “Eclosion” and “Diapause,” chock full of fields of industrial noise, bringing to mind images not dissimilar to cover artist McKean’s surrealist visuals.

On top of that are the acerbic vocals of Oscar Wilkensen; his voice has a quality similar to that of many terror-EBM vocalists, but with bouts of melodic quality that set him apart. He can be screeching and incendiary on songs like “Sleep on Stones” and “Conformity,” but then you hear the introductory vocals to “Crystalline Hush” and even the verse refrains in “Master” and realize that he has a wide range of singing ability. His voice perfectly complements the music, bringing forth a perfect contrast between beauty and ugliness, pleasure and pain, restraint and aggression. The overall production of Imago is nothing short of impressive, with every nuance of the music being given its just attention, without sacrificing the quality of the vocals; there is never a moment too loud or too cluttered, never leaving the listener overwhelmed, but also giving just enough for satisfaction and still leave you wanting more.

It would be easy to liken Interlace’s sound to that of Front Line Assembly, and not simply because of the presence of Dave McKean; like FLA, Interlace have an effective mix of production and songwriting ability. However, Interlace are anything but a cover band, regurgitating the sounds of old for the sake of mass appeal. On the contrary, they retain a great deal of their own personality to create music that is familiar yet original. Released on Artoffact Records alongside Psyche, Massiv in Mensch, and Blank, the band stands out among their peers as a creative force to be reckoned with. If you are tired of the banality of much of today’s electronic music, Interlace are here to offer you a piece of audio candy that will leave you longing for that sweet yet slightly bitter taste in your mouth. Fans of Front Line Assembly, Android Lust, and Dream into Dust will find much to behold in the music of Interlace, a band who stays true to their website name: Design For a New Breed. This is the new industrial for a new generation. Be warned!

Track list:
01. Master
02. Sleep on Stones
03. Conformity
04. Elohim
05. Eclosion
06. Crystalline Hush
07. Track Two
08. Veneer
09. Diapause
10. Pandora
11. In the Walls
12. Quintillion
13. Candle Burns Blue
14. Molt

For more information on this artist, go to: http://www.designforanewbreed.com

Underwater Pilots are another brand new signing on FUNKER VOGT's Repo Records label (after the recent Birthday Massacre - currently THE most hyped and celebrated new act in the German music press) and present their debut album "Tranquil Places". Best described as catchy electro / future pop with strong influences from Depeche Mode's "Violator" period, "Tranquil Places" contains a number of potential club-hits, such as the amazing "Icecream" or the track "Loud And Clear" (from the "Advanced Electronics Vol. 3" compilation). A great debut for all fans of quality electro.

ughaibu:ARE YOU SICK,OR SOMETHING?