Posted: Fri, Jan 31, 2020
Last updated: Sun, Feb 25, 2024
Released: some time in 1994
ebm, electro, industrial
Another compilation hot on the heels of my last one, Non-Stop Ride (2004). Well… maybe not so hot. I have stacks of shit by my computer that I really want to push reviews out for, so I’d like to start getting through my list at a somewhat reasonable rate!
This time we’re jumping back another 10 year to 1994. We have a brilliant stack of artists here, and some stellar cover art. Some previously unreleased tracks tucked away in here too.
01. Front 242 - Modern Angel (KMFDM Remix)
A twist on a classic to start us off. I feel like you can smell a KMFDM remix a mile off, their sound is so distinctive.
02. T.H.D. - Hypo (Bitcomm Mix)
This one’s really, really good too. So punchy and catchy.
03. Contagion - Turn Of The Screw
Okay, so this one wasn’t too bad. It’s fine. The remix by Dave Ogilvie and Dwayne Goettel is so much better!
04. Dive - In The Glasshouse
Dive’s one of them bands I’ve known of forever but not really listened to. Me introduction then is with this gem, which appears to be an unreleased track… yet, it appears on the Broken Meat single that would get released a year earlier? I don’t know. The CD booklet is littered with so many typos, I don’t think there were a ton of quality checks done like. But no matter. Much, much slower and super atmospheric, like stumbling into a server building that feels like it hasn’t been touched in decades. Tension builds as it feels like something’s not quite right here. Loved this one actually, will hopefully be popping into a future playlist!
05. Skinny Puppy - Scrapyard
Powerful and crushing, a perfect continuation from the Dive track before it.
06. Leaether Strip - Adrenalin Rush (Vegger Version)
Always trust in Claus to pick up the pace. Another day, another dancefloor filler.
07. Numb - Ratblast
I’m hearing hints of NIN’s March of the Pigs, or is it just the drums? Super catchy. This one was also marked as unreleased, and it sounds wildly different to the version that would appear on Wasted Sky some time the same year. Both sound fab!
08. Vomito Negro - L.A.T. (Living Apart Together)
You don’t know, you don’t care! – who doesn’t love a bit of angst? Picking up the pace with a gem from one of the GOATs. Leads beautifully into the next one…
09. Cubanate - Body Burn (Beeston 7" Mix)
You could not have a compilation like this, released in this time period, without Cubanate. A fucking classic track, this.
10. Clock DVA - Hacked (Reprogrammed III)
More of a slow burner, this one. A chance to catch your breath from before but still enough to move your body.
Clock DVA are brilliant (I mean shit, my personal Tumblr account which is laying dormant, covered with a thick layer of grime and dust, is clockdva) and I feel like they have this very unique take on darker electronic music. Not dark electro as in cybergoths with plastic tube dreads (as much as I’m a gas mask away from being one meself), but in a haunting way. An unsettling way. I love Tactical Neural Implant from Front Line Assembly for very similar reasons, with the latter being way dancier (official term).
I’m off topic again- this is a lush take on the classic The Hacker. I was trying to find where else it shows up, and it looks like it’s only on the CD versions of Hacker (Hacked). Talk about having to dig!
11. Swamp Terrorists - Pale Torment (Convert Single Remix)
Another banger, this time from Swamp Terrorists. I can only describe this track as the sort that would be played during the blood rave in Blade.
12. Die Krupps - Paradise Of Sin
Fun from Die Krupps, it feels like they’ve done (almost) every genre. This album reminds me of Ministry’s Twitch, where Twitch feels like it still has its new wave roots as its tendrils seep and contort their way into the realm of industrial, II - The Final Option feels like it grapples between the elemental punches of I and the heavier, guitar-driven Odyssey of the Mind.
I’m sure there’s a word to describe that sort of feeling, but me reverse dictionary skills are appalling. I only dragged Twitch into this to help explain the feeling that II gives me - caught between worlds. There is a much more guitar-driven remix of this one by Luc van Acker but I must say I prefer this one.
Not sure what me original point even was here but this is a great track!
13. Insekt - Digging In Your Soul (Insekt Remix)
A lower tempo, sleazier track comes in from Insekt. Great stuff.
14. Bigod 20 - The Bog (Shot Mix)
I feel like Bigod 20 were (are?) underrated. Welcome to the bog!! What a track. Some nice little guest vocals from the one Jean-Luc de Meyer.
15. Naked Apes - Leave Me Alone / SMF
Sounds so, so, extremely similar to another song that I can’t pinpoint Isn’t It Funny How Your Body Works springs to mind, but they don’t sound that similar when you compare them? Might be another song that will come back to me in 10 years time, or perhaps my brain is playing tricks on me. Still bangs, but the fact my brain was so hung up on similarities between other songs threw me off a bit.
For funzies, I thought I’d throw both tracks into rave.dj, a fun little site to mash up songs. For an algorithm that takes a couple minutes to run and spits out a full track, you can’t ask for the world. I’ve put some tracks together that in me head would work incredibly but rave.dj mangled them to fuck, which really is just a sign I need to learn how to DJ so I can mash songs up me damn self.
This one though, didn’t turn out too bad! Vocals and percussion clash a bit in the middle but the concept is somewhat there. Have a listen, if you want.
16. Templebeat - Interzone (M. Lega Mix)
I think this is a great finisher. Templebeat bringing just the right mix of electro, EBM, and metal.
I think this is a really fab compilation. Is it shout from the rooftops, this is the most fucking incredible collection of songs ever assembled, good? Nah, but it’s lush. A lot of this CD is still so fresh. Timeless, even.
Just a little side story while we’re here… my copy still has a price sticker on it. I don’t massively like taking stickers off things I get online as it feels like a bit of history. Here’s a pic:
The price is listed as 29.95 DM - yeah, Deutsche Marks! I bought this from a Discogs seller in Germany, so while I of course don’t know the full story of what this specific copy has been through, I think it’s mad that the sticker’s been kept on it since at least 2002. That, or it sat in a box unsold since it was released. The sideways 94 makes me think this copy was originally sold in 1994, making it a youthful 30 years old. Peeling off the sticker at this point would be heretical.
Favourite track: Dive - In The Glasshouse
