Genre: Rhythmic Industrial / Experimental

01 WWIV
02 The Feeling Still
03 With Precision
04 La Technique
05 Cromatica (Zone 6-5)
06 Cromatica (Zone 4-3)
07 Cromatica (Zone 2-1)
08 No One Can Run Faster Than a Bullet
09 Weak
10 Disco Sucks: 067
11 Disco Sucks: 130
12 Wrench Withdrawn
13 Complicity
14 Theme From World War Four

Nostalgia is a weird thing – I remember being into all this rhythmic industrial music way back in 1994-95, when bands like Front 242, Frontline Assembly, Meat Beat Manifesto, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy and Consolidated were around (although to be fair the latter wouldn’t fit the usual definition of the label, but they seemingly did get lumped into the ‘industrial’ genre nevertheless). This 14-tracker album from the UK’s Indianhead immediately resurrected memories of the four last-mentioned outfits when listening to it, especially SP in particular, covering as it did a fair swathe of the rhythmic industrial sound-arsenal in much the same way cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre created in that pioneering band, swerving from beat- and sample-driven slabs of acid-flecked spite and all the way over to dark ambient, noise, and electro as well as the more experimental end of the spectrum. And, unlike many a similar outfit utilising a plethora of styles and means to get their message across who only end up giving the impression that they’re vainly trying to find a voice, Indianhead manage to create a unifying aesthetic that glues everything together into a satisfying whole. At a time when there seem to be whole armies of similar-sounding bands emerging from crypts and catacombs everywhere, it’s actually a refreshing change to encounter something which possesses more than a modicum of originality.

Inevitably some of the usual tropes find their way on here, such as distorted vocals and lyrics positively dripping with so much caustic substance that surely it would dissolve its way through the entire crust of the earth and reach the planetary core, as well as layers of heavy-weight crunch laid upon a substrate of samples and hefty rhythms, both analogue and digital. These ingredients are definitely there in buckets, but it’s the recipe and the method by which it is put together that’s important here; and the dish that finally gets put on the table is a delectable one, veritably gourmet in stature.

Warning us of their intentions, a screechingly insistent siren wail as an opening gambit gets things under way in ‘WWIV’, letting us know that henceforth there will be a series of short cataclysms following. Hot on its heels comes the Consolidated-esque ‘The Feeling Still’, an almost funky foot-shuffler liberally sprinkled with samples (even Tony Blair makes it on here, bleating about WMDs) in addition to a wordless female accompaniment to round out the funkified atmosphere. One of my favourite tracks ensues, ‘With Precision’, a cutting otherworldly transmission from some forgotten bunker somewhere, warning us of the coming firestorm, and broadcasting from deep in the heart of a granite fortress. The dark ambient ‘Cromatica’ trilogy heralds the oncoming clouds of war gathering above our heads, the signs there to be seen if only we could be bothered to get our heads out of the sand and looked skywards, spooky slow heartbeat drums and laboured breathing indicating perhaps the unavoidable doom of an arrogant species.

Other tracks that got the S:M:J63 nodding head seal of approval were ‘No One Can Run Faster than a Bullet’, a rhythm-driven juggernaut that seemed to have a definite destination in mind, and the SK-flavoured ‘Weak’, a loping pile-driving beast determined to eat up the landscape. And finally, the album closes with ‘Theme from World War Four’, which ends where it all started, with that screechingly insistent siren, as if to emphasise the eternal nature of humanity’s propensity for conflict.

A successful marriage of old-style electronic industrial coupled with today’s sensibilities and production values, a grim reminder perhaps that the state of the world hasn’t really progressed beyond the point at which it was at over a decade or more ago when the likes of the industrial pioneers were attempting to draw our attention to very much the same issues. Very rarely, all the tracks that go to make up this CD are excellent, the total result being a pleasingly coherent album that is ultimately satisfyingly unified. Without a doubt, this is going to be one of those select few CDs that remain at the top of the pile, ready to be grabbed when the mood hits me and then slammed into the CD tray – I am loving this one BIG time...