Front by Front
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (28 April, 1992)
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Reviews (16)

Front by Front~ Front 242
When Front 242 released Official version back in the mid 80's people thought that this would be the best ebm album of the 80's. They were wrong. Front by Front is the best 80's ebm record period. With songs like Until death (us do part), Headhunter ver 3.0 and ver. 1.0, and in rhytmus bleiben they created a true master work. The sound is much more complex then on previous albums, the vocals are getting better and better and the samples have exploded in quality. This is an ebm album not to be missed by fans of ebm or for fans of Front 242.

Above Average Industrial
Good industrial is hard to find. Front 242's "Front by Front" comes close to being some of the best.

Definitely for the more dance/industrial inclined (rather than the guitar-heavy and feedback-dominated industrial), "Front by Front" offers up some solid industrial beats without ever delving too deep into the bizarre and grotesque themes of their contemporaries (or, for that matter, some of Front 242's own later work).

"Front by Front" freeze frames a very unique, but memorable, moment in industrial music. It's very heavy on beats, but still very dark and German-esque. Plus, it carries two classic industrial anthems, "Headhunter" (quite possibly the best industrial song of all time) and "Welcome to Paradise". The other high point on "Front by Front" is "Im Rhythmus Bleiben" which portrays the quintessential industrial sound. Hard and dark, but still heavy on beats, and without being too oppressive.

All the other tracks are solid, and carry the same sound. This stuff always sounded best in in the clubs, but it's rare when you can hear it out these days.

By far Front 242's best work. Essential for any connoiseur of classic industrial music.

No Sex Until Marriage!
[Front 242] - (drum machine) - (samples) = not much.

But with the drum machine and samples, Front 242 makes a solid, pounding impact. One could think of this sound as very slow, hard and minmialist trance.

I give this but 4 stars because it's not my absolute favorite (I'd recomend Frontline Assembly's Tactical Neural Implant as an alternative to this perhaps - it was put out the same year as Front By Front), but it's still excelent. ... Read more

Asin: B0000028L1
Sales Rank: 11545
Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Belgium    3. Electro-Industrial    4. Industrial    5. Industrial Dance    6. Pop    7. Rock   

Black Celebration
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
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Editorial Review

Depeche Mode's most foreboding album, leaning toward the gothic, is DM at their most bleak, black-armband, and nihilistic--no doubt played over and over by countless self-loathing teens as they dyed their hair black behind locked bedroom doors. The tracks are tastefully minimalist, yet the few sounds that dominate each song have a consuming, even overwhelming feel--like a big, heavy black cloud that descends upon and surrounds listeners until their knees buckle from the weight. Rhythmically, songs like "A Question of Time" are driven with moderately paced 16th notes pounded out on synths filling out the low end. Other tracks follow the path of "Stripped," an all-out lamentfest powered by David Gahan's overproduced baritone. --Beth Bessmer ... Read more

Reviews (83)

Down There...
...is Black Celebration but that is the party in which I don't want to be. Do you think what it means??? It means forever! Also like the songs "A Question of Lust" and "Stripped" are like making love outside of the marriage. The song "Dressed in Black" is the only good song in this album...but it means also destruction. Other songs are not so happy either...this music is very awful...where do they get their music??? Are they using same methods as Jimmy Page??? I know many Depeche Mode fans will hate me after that...but TRUTH MUST BE TOLD!!! "Fly on the Windscreen" is a terrible song! Probably the worst DM song ever!

incredible
This is my second favourite Depeche Mode album. It is miles ahead of their earlier eighties work, as far as songwriting ( there's not a dud song in the bunch ) and production ( they had by then learned to fully incorporate sampling into their work so that it sounds integrated, and not just a gimmick ). This is so much more than just a synth pop album. The lyrical depth is astounding. But what I like best is the fact that roughly half of these songs feature the lovely, tender and emotional lead vocals of Depeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore. I sense more feeling from his vocals than I do Dave Gahan, who tends to over-emote and often ends up sounding bombastic. In fact when I pick out my favourite songs from this cd, they inevitably are sung by Gore. "Sometimes". "A Question of Lust". The beautiful "It Doesn't Matter Two" and "World Full of Nothing." All in all, an essential Depeche Mode release and a classic not only of the genre but of popular music in general.

Black Celebration~ Depeche Mode
1986 is a year that many Depeche Mode fans consider as their best and the year that they left the soft sound of earlier records. I do not totally agree but I agree in the sense that it was a very important release and that it did cement the working relationship of Wilders studio work and Gores lyrics. The sound of the album is much more foreboding and grim then one previous albums and the lyrics have a twisted edge to them in songs like It doesn't matter too and Stripped. This was also the first album where Gore started experimenting with dressing in womens clothes, which caused som chagrin and internal dissent. A question of time, A question of lust, Black Celebration and Stripped all were awesome single tracks and further proved to the world that Depeche Mode was not a one trick pony but a band to be admired and not dismissed as merely a synth pop "outfit". ... Read more

Asin: B000002L9M
Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Rock   

Too Dark Park
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (20 October, 1998)
list price: $16.98
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Editorial Review

While never particularly accessible to begin with, Skinny Puppy reacted to the mainstreaming of industrial (Ministry, KMFDM) with their most challenging disc. Reissued with new packaging, 1990's Too Dark Park does not follow the path set by its predecessor, Rabies, which dabbled in rock structure and pomp. There are most definitely guitars here, but nothing resembling a riff or hook. Each track is already filled up with layers upon layers of audio collage, abrasive squalls, squawks, and squelches, with less emphasis on the clever film samples and tortured vocals of frontman Nivek Ogre. For the first time, his prose seems disconnected from the sound sculpture, hanging alone in its anguish. Signature beats keep Too Dark Park in the industrial-dance genre, and although the pace does let up on occasion ("Nature's Revenge"), its overall cacophony ("Reclamation") makes it a dense listen. --Liisa Ladouceur ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Too Dark Park~ Skinny Puppy
Too Dark Park is Skinny Puppy's most avantgard release and it came as a respond to industrial music becoming popular and adaptinga more "easy listening" approach and was in total contrast to their more standard rock release Rabies. This is a massive attack of layered sounds, distorted guitar riffs and vocals that have been masively altered with vocoders and other electronic treatments. This is a far cry for their basic first releases (bites & remission) and it shows them dabbling with equipement that they could dream of in the early days. The book-let is quite nice and it has a very strange art that could be said to look like medieval pictures of hell with evil beasts and and the worm on the back looks like a fiend from hell. This is a very different album and the most challenging Skinny Puppy release up to this point.

(scared sh-tless, cowering in corner of room)
Finally, my first review of a proper industrial album (my review for Ministry's Houses Of The Mole doesn't count since Ministry is in more of an "industrial metal" vein... besides, it wasn't much of a review anyway). And I couldn't have picked a better album to start with--though I gather that would-be rivetheads should probably cut their teeth on something easier. No matter.

Skinny Puppy's Too Dark Park is, in a word, SCARY. Nivek Ogre and cEVIN kEY are true composers of the dark and sinister. Listening to this album is like being in the throes of some drug-induced nightmare. Corrosive beats that sound like the drum machines are having seizures; noisy synths; disturbing, layered collages of samples (including the obligatory sirens); complex polyrhythmic assaults seemingly absent any trace of melody; and on top of this backdrop are Ogre's electronically distorted, hellish vocals. Forget Slayer and their pseudo-Satanic ilk, or the contrived teenage angst of Nine Inch Nails; this is what EVIL sounds like.

I've never understood why this album is labeled "industrial dance music." This sounds nothing at all like Revolting Cocks, Thrill Kill Kult, or KMFDM. No friendly dance beats here, just sheer sonic jihad from beginning to end. The lyrics fit the onslaught as well--insanity, pollution, exploitation, violence, mental illness, drug abuse. All the horrors of the modern world are on display.

Opener Convulsion sets the tone; Shore Lined Poison and Nature's Revenge have moments that would almost be considered "subdued" if they weren't so creepy and insane; Tormentor has its catchy beats eviscerated by waves of abrasive electronics; Rash Reflection has a suprisingly memorable chorus ("kiss the master's feet"); and Spasmolytic is pure f--king chaos, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Absolutely excellent, and highly recommended stuff if you think that you're up for it.

crazy as hell
Yeah, its a great album. 'unique' 'deep' and 'original' don't even begin to describe it. Yeah, its a fan favorite. I agree with all praise.

It's also bloody insane. This was the first puppy cd i bought. Why? It looked pretty. Then i spun it, christ was i shocked. Too Dark Park is the most insane album i have ever heard. Convulsion is the most insane song. I hated this album for two weeks, it was so far from anything i had ever heard before.

At this time, my mum was convalescing with some rare deadly disease. I lived with her for a month, slept in a closet in a high rise appt, away from everything i knew and hoping mom wouldnt die.

One song stood out, Spasmolytic. That song was how i felt. In time I got it. There are points in life that are horrible and inexplicable. For those times, this is the album.

This is not a starter album. This is the fringe. ... Read more

Asin: B00000DCJR
Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Rock   

Tactical Neural Implant
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (28 April, 1992)
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Reviews (16)

sheer genius!
You will not be sorry.This is pure brilliance.Quintessential it is.The building of a song -- the foreplay leading to the climax -- FLA does this flawlessly -- each component, each layer, perfect and deliberate.These are beautifully crafted pieces.Other adjectives apply:magnificent, mesmerizing, exhilirating, intensely moving and fully satisfying -- satisfying but making us want MORE MORE MORE!!

Tactical Neural Implant~ Front Line Assembly
This is such an good industrial album, that I was sitting and listening to it and all the adjectives that I wanted to use seemed not good enough. However, if I have to put one then it has to be these, brilliant, astounding, stupendous and awesome. This is probably one of the best industrial albums of all time. The first track is good and then it just gets better and better. In fact the first track is not as good as the other ones and could have been replaced with another track. The book-let is ok but the lyrics are missing, but still it is an important release since it showed that inudtrial bands are tallented muisicians and can sing. Minphaser, Life Line, Guna are some of the best made industrial tracks ever with the intricate layers of sounds, bets and samples. The keyboard sounds are constantly amazing and this is an album not to be missed if one likes industrial music.

One of the best Industrial Dance albums ever
I own a great deal of FLA discography, but only had a cassette copy of this album for a while.Actually, this was the first FLA album turned on to me by my friend in Seattle.When I finally found a used copy of this CD (not easy to find or cheap), it was easy to understand why this album is not only FLA's best, but why it is one of the best Industrial Dance albums ever.Each song has a hard driving hypnotic beat,I could not stop myself from moving to it."Outcast" uses a sample of Hannibal Lector from "Silence of the Lambs" very effectively, and is probably my favourite FLA song.One thing TNI possesses that other FLA and Industrial albums lack is the simplicity.An uncomplicated beat and miminal noises create a sharper focus to the material.My only complaint is that the entire CD clocks in at about 45 minutes.I have listened to this album perhaps 100 times, because those 45 minutes go by awfully fast. ... Read more

Asin: B000007U3A
Sales Rank: 44577
Subjects:  1. Electro-Industrial    2. Industrial    3. Industrial Dance    4. Pop    5. Rock   

Retrospective
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (22 April, 1997)
list price: $15.98
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Reviews (3)

Retrospect!
This Cd has an excellent beat and is a great example of industrial music in the 90's! I highly recomend Leather Strip

Bound by leather
Wow, this CD is simply amazing. I can honestly say there is not a song from this CD I don't like. Each song captures you from the very beginning, and makes you not want to stop listening until the CD is over. I highlyrecommend this CD to any Industrial fan, or even newcomers who want anawesome experience!

The rating system only goes up to 5 stars??
This cd has changed my life!"Retrospcetive" is a compilation of much of the work that Danish genius Claus Larsen has done, including songs from the early works like "Japanese Bodies" to the morerecent albums like "The Rebirth of Agony".It is a great cd foranyone who even thinks that they may like industrial music!I would haverated it higher but it only goes up to five stars! ... Read more

Asin: B000001JX5
Sales Rank: 243206
Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Rock   

Bunker Gate Seven [Bonus Track]
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (28 January, 1997)
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Reviews (16)

Classic release...
Again, nothing can be said about this album that hasn't been said already.Hands down, this is the album that old and new wumpfans alike praise for all its glory!This will rip up the dancefloor and tear your mind in half.Enjoy!

Bunker Gate Seven
This is such a great album! Rudy really does a captivating performance, in all tracks. I dont know what to say about this album that hasn't been said already, :wumpscut: is rated very high in my musical tastes.

Industrial at Its Finest
Bunkertor 7, or Bunker Gate Seven, is some of Wumpscuts best work.Rudy Ratzinger crafted an excellent album here, laying down some solid tracks like Die in Winter(clearly a long time favorite of his), Torn Skin, Capital Punishment, and the last track Red Water("Untitled Track").This a softer album when compared with many of his other releases, where as EMBRYODEAD is harsh and angry, and EEVIL YOUNG FLESH is dancy and upbeat, Bunker Gate Seven is peaceful and reflective.

To buy or not to buy?
Buying industrial albums is like a game of Russian Roulette, except 4 bullets sit anxiously in the chambers instead of one.
If the Amazon samples of the album were to your liking, you will probably enjoy this album, as the samples are only the tip of the iceberg.
If you didnt like the samples but like industrial, check out the other Wumpscut albums I mentioned.
Lastly, if you dont like industrial at all, why are you reading this? ... Read more

Asin: B000005OPJ
Sales Rank: 28750
Subjects:  1. Alternative Metal    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Dance Music    4. Electro-Industrial    5. Industrial    6. Industrial Dance    7. Pop    8. Rock   

Zehn
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (01 December, 2000)
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Reviews (11)

A mix
I'm new to De/vision. The sound is like listening Depeche Mode, New Order and Camouflage, all in a mix.

Excellent Collection
De/Vision are a very very impressive group, closely reminiscent of Depeche Mode but often faster paced than that English group.

This release is a compilation of their best tracks from 8 years or so of albums.Although it obviously lacks the context which each of the earlier albums would give one (the only reason why it has only been given 4 stars), it is nonetheless a compelling audio experience with almost no weak songs and several excellent ones.The coldly-eyed atheistic "Dinner Without Grace" and intensely romantic "Dress Me when I Bleed" are better than excellent and nothing short of outstanding. It is even more remarkable that the former is quite fast-paced while the latter is morbidly slow, for it shows that De/Vision are able to create superb songs which differ significantly in conception.

All the earlier albums are available on www.amazon.de.For those who are skeptical, philistine or impecunious this is simply an album which one is aesthetically poorer having not heard - it must be purchased.

Classic De/Vision
This is the album that started my love affair with this groups music and I have been hooked ever since. This album is perfect for the synthpop fan who is not familiar with De/Vision. It will get you caught up on their history and prepare you for what comes next,which is even better! A must have for any Depeche Mode or Erasure Fan and worth every penny. ... Read more

Asin: B0000544DI
Sales Rank: 33988

Europa
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (13 July, 1999)
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Reviews (7)

excellent CD
This album is absolutely wonderful, just like all of Covenant's material.It shows a wide range of electronic music and is laced with wonderful vocals.It also contains what I would consider one of the top ten EBM songs of all time, "I Am".

Future-pop folks!
If EBM is good future-pop is best!

Like Diamonds in the Ground
In a world where the humdrum sounds of voices without messages and music without meaning seems to mesh hand in hand with the tastes of the listening population, there are other things, diamonds buried beneath a fragile Earth, that many people either don't hear or simply fail to recognize. I'm not certain why that is or why messages with meaning find themselves slighted in this age of pop glamorization and industry fads, but one thing is for certain. We, the listeners, are forced to peer and prod at the scene more and more, scoping out the icons that birth nations of thoughts within their outstretched hands. In their early releases, Covenant can be found as one such band, giving many things that are unique to audiences trained to feast on the simplistic diets that other EBM acts have tried to force into people's minds. Its within their lyrical workings, their beats that seem to flow, and the way that their music meshes together that makes it such an impactual force, and something I find myself listening to years after the fact.

In Europa, many heartfelt spectrums are touched upon in the conveyance of that emotional rainbow, drawing forth beats bathed in the blood of hardship and pain, love and remembrance, and especially that manufactured in defiance. These are all set to beats that keep the body sounding off without a slowdown in their inner workings, and feeding the audience that cares nothing for the message behind the motivation. Still, for the people that do, there are other factors present as well. Within the contents of "Tension," there is a cry that tells you that you aren't alone in noticing that something is amiss in the social wreckage lying about you. In "Leviathan," one of my favored tracks listened herein, there is almost an account that states that everything runs in cycles, that kingdoms rise and crumble only to be born again. In "Walls of Sound," perhaps one the best songs I've heard in quite some time, there is a notation about how we are all diamonds in the ground simply waiting to be found but that we are captives in this wailing wall of sound. Still, this is only an inkling of what is contained herein.

If you want something that has the means to captivate the mind and make the body move within the same motions, I would suggest Covenant as a band worth looking into and Europa as a wonderful starting point for the inquisitive eye. It has a little bit of everything within its nature, all of its adornments leading toward one point in space that seems to define humanity and its social spectrum, and does so in quite an array of fashions. Recommended. ... Read more

Asin: B00000JKDV
Sales Rank: 71780
Subjects:  1. Dance Music    2. Pop   

Welcome to Earth
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (29 February, 2000)
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Editorial Review

Does a talent for writing catchy melodies have to come at the expense of "industrial cred"? Norway's Stephan Groth, a.k.a. Apoptygma Berzerk, has been challenging his core audience with that question over three albums and numerous singles. But the man behind such downright tuneful industrial-dance classics as "Non-Stop Violence," "Deep Red," and "Love Never Dies" makes it clear on Welcome to Earth that he's moving in a pop direction, expectations be damned. The album opens with the hard-driving "Starsign," but don't be fooled by its dark, arpeggio synths and Groth's snarled vocals--come the chorus, he goes all wistful on us, turning what would otherwise have been a straightforward rivethead stomp into something that wouldn't be out of place on a Pet Shop Boys album. Along with the nimble, propulsive "Paranoia," it turns out to be one of the disc's few truly electrifying moments, though guilty pleasures abound. "Kathy's Song" marries a light house rhythm to vocals straight out of a mid-'80s Depeche Mode anthem, and "Moment of Tranquility" steals the bass line from the Twin Peaks theme and pins it to a disappointingly bland ballad. But Welcome to Earth's oddest (and perhaps cleverest) choice has to be Groth's cover of Metallica's "Fade to Black," which takes the plodding, dirgelike original and remakes it into a bubbly dance-floor confection. AB fans will either be annoyed by the album or find themselves seduced by its better moments. --Steve Landau ... Read more

Reviews (49)

I like it a lot!
I'm new to the whole Euro/Dance/Tecno thing...but "somehow" I stumbled onto Apoptygma Berzerk and I'm very glad I did.
I like all the songs on this album/cd :) But for some reason
"Kathy's Song" really impacted me...I guess the original reviewer didn't get it? But I DID :)

If you like this type of music, I'd also suggest you give Assemblage 23 a try. Another of my favorites atm.

Regards,

SW

awesome
i have owned this cd for over 4 years and most of the songs still give me chills its so good

Just fragments
This is an incredibly popular album so I'm going against the grain I guess, but after listening to it a few times I began to notice something odd... There are catchy melodies all over the place, excellent accomplished vocals, great beats, but ... no ... SONGS. It's like he had a lot of talent, sure, and a bunch of great ideas for PARTS of songs, but it just never gets to the point where the whole song comes together in one coherant unit. I realized that's why I always find this album kind of unsatisfying. In contrast, consider VNV nation's Empires or Project Pitchfork's Daimonion, to name just two examples. Those albums are replete with good solid songwriting. They start with an idea, which Apop has plenty of, then REALIZE it, which Apop never quite manages to do.

Also, what's up with all that ridiculous alien business? I hope they're being ironic or something because if not, they need to ease up on the hallucinogens a tad. ... Read more

Asin: B00003JAPN
Subjects:  1. Dance Music    2. Industrial Dance    3. Pop   

Empires
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (16 May, 2000)
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Reviews (52)

I consider this to be one of VNV Nation's best!
I stumbled into VNV Nation when I was 14-15 years old (don't quite remember, but that is irrelavent!) and this was the CD that made me fall madly in love with the duo. I have found that the selections on this C.D. are some of their best. I still prefer this C.D. to many of their other C.D.'s which are just as brilliant. These exemplify, to me, the cycles of a city or empire, these are songs that touch you deep down, you can relate to, and some just make you want to dance!!! (Isn't that what a good C.D. is suppose to do?) This isn't some horrid wanna-be-techno that has a horrible song with a beat. This is music at its epitome. Empires will touch you where a C.D., or any other form of expression, has never reached before. The lyrics can be heartwrenching and enlightening at the same time. Dance 'til your hearts content and have fun to the epitome of music creators ever!

VNV Nation produces the highest quality music you can find. The songs are wonderful on all their C.D.'s. Check them out, give them a try......trust me, you'll never let them go, nor the things they teach you about yourself. Be proud, sing loud, and dance like never before!

-~~~~~~~~~~*Enjoy*~~~~~~~~~~-

Repetitive, untalented and sloppy.
VNV Nation is a terrible example of the music i love. Their compostition is weak, repetitive and slow. The pentamiter of the lyrics does not match with rythym or bass. The vocals are slow sloppy and untalented. Listening to this vocalist is like listening to the jaw bone of a donkey being scraped along a chalk board in a wide hallway.

THE Definitive FuturePop Album
While we all know that futurepop refers to the excellent synth music generated by VNV, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant, Assemblage 23 and many legions of followers circa 1998 through present, it should be noted that this album marks the moment the term became meaningful; This was FuturePop. It's stark, grand, beautiful, sweeping, dark, soul-searching and megalomaniacal all set to a pounding, pulsating beat. In other words, it's everything the post-industrial, neo-Gothic soul ever wanted and then some.

While 'Praise the Fallen' was brilliant, 'Empires' took the sound to a new level and crystallized for all where the scene was going to go. It's almost pointless to go into specific detail on the songs as they are all amazing and equally essential to the development of the complete work. If you must pick singles or tracks to play in the DJ booth, then you'd probably focus on these: "Kingdom", "Rubicon", "Standing", "Legion" and "Darkangel" (not written as 2 words the way Amazon shows it). All are masterful - strong enough to make you dance, smart enough to make you think and deep enough to make you feel. If you're lucky enough to own the import-only, ultra-rare, double-CD of the "Standing" single (aka 'Burning Empires'), then you'll get the vocal version of "Saviour", astounding remixes of the hits from this album, and the mind-blowing bonus tracks "Anachron" and "Further".

In summary, this is the definitive and probably still the best FuturePop album; Anyone who loves electronic music will explode with joy upon hearing this. Anyone who loves Goth or Electronic Industrial should already have this... if you don't you've danced to it 1,000 times in clubs anyway but you still need it. ... Read more

Asin: B00004T0LI
Sales Rank: 9534
Subjects:  1. Club/Dance    2. Dance Music    3. Industrial Dance    4. Pop   

Defiance
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (22 October, 2002)
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Reviews (18)

Red, smoldering, healing, emotional EBM
The previous album, Failure, was a devastatingly powerful pit of harsh but beautiful angst.The following album, Storm, was a cool, uplifting piece of synthpop mastery.This album is the link between the two- and a wonderful link it is.

This is probably the slowest A23 album, and it doesn't just dive in.It slowly slips into deep lyrics, smooth hooks, and powerful beats.In fact, the slower nature of some of these songs provides a throbbing resonance of emotion.But if you like powerful EBM beats, don't worry- there are plenty of muscle car tracks on here as well.Check out "Drive."

I get the impression that this album is viewed as being one of Tom Shear's weaker ones, but i think it is an essential piece of evolution.Tom Shear's voice has seemed to expand to an even greater melodic range on here, with wonderful results.It further feeds the fire under this album, and this CD smokes.

The final track, "Lullaby", could be the most beautiful piece of electronic music that i have ever heard.Didn't think an EBM "Ballad" was possible?Listen to this song.It is a breathtaking end to a wonderful album.

Amazing
Tom shear is a Genious. Everytime i see that all the music, lyrics, mixing, and producing are all done by this one guy it amazes me. He paints pictures with words which are brought to life by the mesmorizing music and it all comes together into one memorable masterpiece. I love his song structures/progressions and I really like his lyrics, they really impact me/cause me to reflect. This cd has a more elevated and positive mood than failure and its still just as good in my opinion. Each song takes me into another world, and at some points i can only describe how i feel listening as a spiritual experience. Each track is distinctly memorable and i lose myself in each one. I'm jus getting into the industial scene and im really liking assemblage 23.

Not as successful as Failure!
Call me morbid, but I do not like normal techno on the account that it is too happy. Tom Shear's Assemblage 23 project is not usually called happy, primarily because its best album was about suicide. Failure, the previous album, mixed moderately hard beats with much foreboding and quite dramatic synth work, creating a feel of"Depeche Mode minus the Prozac". However, even though Defiance manages to show musical mastery of the electronic medium, it manages to be so damn happy that it is hard to tell that it is Tom Shears work.

Industrial Dance Music (aka EBM) is basically a mixture of Industrial and Synthpop. Defiance is heavily based upon the synthpop from its synthesizers, and neglects (for the most part), the beats and hardness of its Industrial side. As a result, it feels quite similar to recent Apoptygma Berzerk, and not an angsty depression-fest like the previous album.

Even though it isnt sufficiently Industrial for my taste, I will concede that the synthwork is as good as Failure, and just as beautiful. However, the happier feel of Defiance seems to negate much of the foreboding mood generated by Failure. However, it is certainly not all bad, in fact there are some utterly brilliant tracks, these being Document, and Drive, each of these managing to be as good as Failure's tracks, and almost as dark in mood.

Overall, if you found Failure too angsty then this album will work for you, but on a musical level, it isnt as powerful nor moody. 3 1/2 stars ... Read more

Asin: B00006L886
Sales Rank: 38270
Subjects:  1. Alternative Dance    2. Industrial Dance    3. Pop    4. Rock