Band: Agonoize
Album: 999 (Limited edition)
Released: 2005
Label: Out of Line / Metropolis
999 is the second album of the German bad boys from Berlin. I liked their debut, ‘Assimilation: Chapter One’ a lot. On this second full length album Agonoize shows a more mature sound. They also obviously had a lot of new material, because the new album is a double album.
The album starts of with weird intro that contributes absolutely nothing to the album. But the first song of the album, ‘Sacrifice’ sets the mood for the rest of the album. Slow, heavy and really evil. Other great songs are: Church noir, 999, sacrilege and necropolis.
The songs are mainly slow and heavy. This song structure gives the album a really evil feeling. The downside is that the songs all have more or less the same tempo, which gives me the feeling that ‘m listening to the same song again.
The second CD is not filled with a few lame remixes (as usual), but has seven new songs and three remixes of ‘Sacrifice’. The best remix is the one of the Dutch duo NG-Pro (for some reason called G-Pro on the track list).
The production and mixture of this album is better than the first one. Where ‘Assimilation: Chapter One’ sometimes sounded a bit shallow, 999 fills your speakers fully and I often got the feeling that I was sucked into the stereo.
If you are into harsh and evil EBM, this release by Agonoize won’t let you down. It’s hard and dark, just the way I like it… But unfortunately sometimes the album can bore a little.
Rating: 7/10 thijs
Band: Agonoize
Album: Assimilation: Chapter two
Released: 2006
Label: Out of Line / Metropolis
The latest release by the Agonoize is a re-release of their debut ‘Assimilation: Chapter one’. This first album is out of print and therefore very rare. Instead of just re-releasing the album, the band decided to re-release the first two EP’s (also out of print) as well. The result is a double album with on the first CD the whole first album and on the second album two exclusive tracks, an upgraded version of Death Murder Kill and the best remixes of the first two EP’s. I have to admit that it’s a nice collection.
The first album has very nice tracks, but it sound a bit more shallow than the tracks on 999. Nevertheless there are a few jewels on the album. My favourite is To Paradise, because of the doomy and evil sound. Paranoid Destruction and the opener of the album: Death Murder Kill are both killer songs.
The most interesting track of the second CD is the upgraded version of Death Murder Kill. This version is far more danceable than the original. The upgraded version also happens to be the version that the band plays live. Next to this upgraded version of Death Murder Kill there are two exclusive tracks, which also could be found on the first two EP’s. These tracks aren’t that interesting, but not annoying either.
The rest of the CD is filled with remixes. A few of them I had heard already in clubs. All of them come from the first two EP’s.
Assimilation: Chapter Two is a collection of the early days of Agonoize. If you like Agonoize, and you don’t have the first two EP’s and their debut album, this album haves what you want. For the people, that already own the old albums, this album brings nothing new, except from the upgraded version of Death Murder Kill of course.
Rating: 7/10 thijs
Band: Amduscia
Album: From abuse to apostacy
Released: 2006
Label: Out of Line / Metropolis
I was really impressed by Amduscia’s debut album ‘Melodies for the Devil’ and was hoping that the follow up ‘From Abuse to Apostasy’ also would strike me down. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. The first album sounded fresh, but this one doesn’t. The structures of the songs sound more complicated and I feel that the band was a bit inspirationless.
After a spin or three I started to appreciate the album. The songs aren’t that bad but it’s not a good thing when you have to listen to an album three times before you can appreciate it. For me, the tunes have to stick in you head immediately. That isn’t the case on ‘From Abuse to Apostasy’. This doesn’t mean that it’s a bad album. Not at all, but it’s just less catchy than ‘Melodies for the Devil’.
The good thing about “From Abuse to Apostasy” is that the Mexicans put more synthesizer lines in the album and that gives them more and more their own sound. When I heard Amduscia’s first demo, I was scared that it would be a straight Hocico-clone. Fortunately ‘Melodies for the Devil’ proved me wrong. This album sets them even further away from their country mates.
The album comes in two versions: a regular edition and a special limited edition. I have the limited edition and it’s a really nice box (A5 size, so I can’t put it in my CD-rack). Next to the album you also get two postcards (why?) and a sticker. But the most interesting thing is the bonus CD. It contains unreleased instrumental (!) material of Amduscia. Although it’s only 33 minutes long it’s great to listen to. It’s great to hear the music of Amduscia without the screams of singer Polo. It gives another dimension to the music and gave me a new experience with the music of Amduscia.
The second (full) album of Amduscia doesn’t sound as fresh as the first one, but it certainly isn’t a bad album. The Mexicans did a good job. The bonus disc on the limited edition is a nice one, with only instrumental tracks.
Rating album: 7,5/10 Rating bonus CD: 8/10 thijs
Band: Aural Vampire
Album: Vampire ecstasy
Released: 2004
Label: ???
This is the first band from Japan that I review and I have to admit that it was quite a culture shock for me. The Japanese gothic scene is really different than the European one, or is it? Well, actually it tries to be European, but with a Japanese touch. Vampires with cat ears… that sort of things. The two members are singer Exo Chica (which comes from ‘exotic chick’) and keyboarder Raveman. Both are dressed as European horror icons. Exo Chica is a vampire and Raveman is dressed as a zombie (which in Japan apparently all wear ice-hockey masks).
Well, enough about their appearance, let’s talk about their music. How does it sound? It sounds to me like a sort of mixture between (synth)pop and EBM. I can’t really put a label to it, and frankly I don’t want to. All I know, that it sounds kinda cool… a little weird at first, but cool. If you are interested or curious you can download the band’s latest single Death Folder for free from the band’s website. Especially the track Darkwave Surfer is nice. You can’t understand a word of what Exo Chica sings unless you speak Japanese. But I don’t really care for that. The music still sounds nice…
Rating: 7/10
A-State
Church choirs, a pumping beat, and a simple but catchy melody That’s what I can say about the demo from A-State Quick beat EBM, which is very nice to dance to! The man behind this band really knows how to make some good music.If you’ll listen to the CD, you’ll notice that he uses choirs a lot as a background.And it fits in really well too, almost like it creates a dark atmosphere in the music.Although it does sound a bit minimalistic in bass undertones, which really let you flow on in the music, he really has done a good job, and it was something new to listen to actually. Sometimes a bit poppy, the music from A-State is just good EBM.And a new addition, simply because he has created his own sound in this ‘scene’, which is becoming harder and harder.All in all, A-State is a nice band. Not great, but nice. I personally missed the real kick in the music. The moment where you really want to go all out. But A-State has done a great job in creating some original EBM sounds, and for that, I salute them!
Links to the A-State websites:
My opinion: I give it a 7+
the Agapésis
A new dark electro sound is rising from the ashes of the earth Agapésis is a new name among many people.But the sounds they bring on, are very nice.The new demo Un cri de l’ame is a cd filled with very dark songs.In the lines between ritual dark electro and EBM, it’s a pleasure for your ears.The lyrics short and harsh, Agapésis creates an atmosphere of darkness.Words fail to come to my mind, if I have to explain what the music does to you.One thing is for sure, this is music!Thought out melodies, ritual beats, sometimes even a guitar coming out of nowhere.It is a clash of all kinds of things, but mainly it’s the dark electro that comes out.And that is a very good thing, for both the living room as the dancefloor.
Links to the Agapésis websites:
My opinion: I give it a 7+
Adrenochrom
Ten years of Adrenochrom and almost five years of www.adrenochrom.com seems fair enough for an entire website re-launch.The whole story began in the year 1989 with the foundation of the band “Spastic Noise Front”, consequently followed by the band “Kesselflaysh” (also well know as Kess’lflaysh and Kesselfleisch) which already burst due to musical differences in the year 1992.Many projects would follow like “Corpus Christ”, “Synthetische Schleimhaut”, “TBA”, “Plastic Pain Perception %”, as well as collaborations with “Schmerzverstaerker”.In the year 1996, the band releases their demo “Hirnmasse erbrechen” and took the opportunity to rename themselves into Adrenochrom.There are further collaborations in pending, like with “Schimmel an der Wand”, Brutal verwester Gehoergang” and many more.Herewith, we would like to thank all the people who have supported us throughout the years, especially those who really had to face our demos and successfully survived. I indeed apologize for the pain caused… SORRY J
