Top 10 Death Industrial albums

Death Industrial is arguably the most bleak and morbid genre of music in the whole damn world. There's sadly very little of it being made these days (though thanks to Malignant Records, it's not completely... dead, hah): it's heyday was in the 90s when Cold Meat Industry and a few other European labels released the best stuff. The list is pretty well dominated by the two big Swedish acts in this genre, Megaptera and Brighter Death Now (the project of the legendary Roger Karmanik, who runs Cold Meat Industry, though there are definitely some other worthwhile acts. I used to be really into this stuff, then completely lost interest in it, and now I'm going on a bit of a rediscovery journey and enjoying it again. Even industrial music fanatics will probably never hear or own the re-releases of these albums, let alone the original releases (most of which are insanely rare and out of print), but nevertheless, here is my list.

10. Catharsis and Drape Excrement: Homo Homini Lupus (Malignant Records / Black Plagve, 1999). Not all Death Industrial is Swedish (though you'd think so looking at the top end of this list). US label Malignant Records put this split release by two German acts out on their Black Plague sub-label in 1999, and it's a pretty damn fine piece of work; menacing, abrasive and thoroughly unpleasant. While not completely essential, it has some strong tracks and is a good introduction to the genre.

9. Trepaneringsritualen: The Totality of Death (Malignant Records, 2013). I've very recently got my hands on this album and I'm really excited by it. Not because it's the best death industrial in the world, but because it exists; there is very little of this music around these days and to hear a new band put out some new music in this genre is definitely a good sign. Like many good death industrial albums, this is actually a compilation of rare tracks off various limited and deleted releases. Malignant were wise enough to recognise talent and inflict this madness on the world in a packaged form with the usual excellent artwork and mastering of this label.

8. Archon Satani: Of Gospels Lost and Forsaken (Cold Meat Industry, 2002). Archon Satani are one of the true pioneers in this genre: along with Brighter Death Now and Megaptera, they pretty much invented it. This is a collection released by Cold Meat of much older and rarer material. This is very minimal and bleak stuff; howling winds, broken percussion, and damned vocals paint a picture of doomed souls at the edge of madness and despair. While influential in its day, Megaptera ended up taking this ball and running with it into places Archon Satani weren't quite prepared to go.

7. MZ.412: Nordik Battle Signs (Cold Meat Industry, 1999). MZ412 apparently claim their music is "black industrial". While the jury is out on whether that is or is not a made up genre name, this is a fine piece of work, and almost certainly the best of MZ412's many albums (not to mention the endless side projects and spinoffs of the mastermind, Heinrik Bjork). It's somewhat incoherent, but that provides a variety which is exciting. Probably the least pure death industrial album in the list but definitely worth checking out. Watch out for the guest appearance by the guy from Ordo Rosarius Equillibrio.

6. Brighter Death Now: Great Death Series / Greatest Death (Cold Meat Industry, 1998). Now we're into the real stuff. Brighter Death Now released a series of albums titled Great Death volumes I, II and III, each harder to get than the last (you had to fill out a form that came with vol 2 and send it to Roger Karmanik to get vol 3, true story). Most people are exposed to the tracks via the "best of" summary, Greatest Death, which contained the best tracks from the three as voted by people who had bought them. This is classic Brighter Death Now; horribly black and venomous slabs of hatred and misanthropy. The last track, Urinited, is a masterpiece.

5. Brighter Death Now / Bomb the Daynursery: Pain in Progress (Unclean Production / Cold Meat Industry, 1988, re-released 1998). This is the album that started it all and invented the genre. The very first release was actually in 1988 on a cassette tape under the artist name Bomb the Daynursery; two years later it was released on LP as a Brighter Death Now album, and in 1998 re-released on CD by CMI (the version I have). Immensely, catastrophically dark, brutally bleak and extremely minimalist, this set new standards and became the benchmark by which all later releases can be judged.

4. Megaptera: Curse of the Scarecrow (Release Entertainment, 1998). The only band in this style that really comes close to early Brighter Death Now is their Swedish compatriots Megaptera. This is an album that really focuses on the "industrial" part of the name; it brings to mind massive machinery of pain and torture, grinding away at human remains. Listening to this through to the end alone in a dark room is not an experience you're likely to forget for a while.

3. Brighter Death Now: The Slaughterhouse (Functional Organisation, 1993). This is certainly the purest form of death industrial that has ever been recorded. I don't know how else to describe it. If you want to know what death industrial sounds like, it sounds like this.

2. Megaptera: Beyond the Massive Darkness (Cold Meat Industry, 2001). Like Archon Satani's Of Gospels Lost and Forsaken, this is a re-release of earlier work, but I'll treat it as one album, because unless you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on Ebay for the original components, this is what you'll get. And it is amazing. The first half, Songs from the Massive Darkness (actually printed on CD2 due to a production printing error) is really good minimal death industrial, bordering very closely on dark ambient. But it's the second half (CD1) that hits it out of the park, featuring the only music in this style that genuinely rivals BDN.

1. Brighter Death Now: Necrose Evangelicum (Cold Meat Industry, 1995). This is a hard album for me to talk about. A long time ago it was my favourite album of all time and I had close to a religious obsession with it. My tastes and interests have changed and I never really listen to it anymore, but it's still a masterpiece, and I'll declare to be the darkest music any humans have recorded. The other albums in this list are good, but this sits far, far above the others. The Slaughterhouse may be a more "pure" form of the style, but this is just better, in every way. The artwork (cover and inside jacket) is also perfectly suited to the album. From here on, Brighter Death Now sadly departed from death industrial and started recording a whole bunch of pretty ordinary power electronics albums. He once said about that in an interview "what, did people just want me to keep recording The Slaughterhouse and Necrose Evangelicum over and over again"? Maybe not, but I'd much rather he do that than he record Obsessis or May All Be Dead over and over again. Anyway, this album changed my life and is a more perfect example of its genre than I think any other album is of its genre.

Top industrial cover versions

OK I'm going to run through a few great industrial covers. And no I'm not going to talk about Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt". We've all heard it, we've all experienced it's power and we all know it's a lot better than NIN's version off The Downward Spiral, so I see no need to go over that ground again. Also it's a non-industrial cover of an industrial song, and this post is more about industrial covers of non-industrial songs. I'm also not going to talk about any chiptune stuff either, because that's generally a tedious road to go down (with some exceptions, like Mind.In.A.Box's amazing RETRO album).

Tankt: Passenger on the Menu (original by GBH)

Tankt are (were) a great underrated Australian electro/industrial band (though they always tried to deny it) from Melbourne. Their 2004 album Strip off the Gilt featured this great track, which is a cover of one of the original British punk bands, Charged GBH. I’m very familiar with the Tankt version, and I recently checked out the original. While it’s good, the Tankt version is a lot better, always a sign of a great cover. I miss Tankt. A lot. I can’t find their cover on the internet, I’m afraid, so you’ll have to go get the album!

Viral Millenium: Paparazzi (original by Lady Gaga)

Viral Millenium are another Aussie band, but these guys are from Newcastle and still around. I’ve seen them live a few times, and they always finish their sets with this baffling slab of madness and brilliance: an extreme industrial metal cover of pop queen Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi. Somehow… this works. It really, really works. There are surprisingly a few metal versions of this song kicking around, but none of them anywhere near as good as this. I frequently have it stuck in my head and I don’t mind that one tiny bit J

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaDjDJiYffk

Coptic Rain: Sweet home under white clouds (original by The Virgin Prunes)

Coptic Rain were a Slovenian industrial-metal band who put out some great and largely overlooked albums in the 90s. The best one of those is Eleven: Eleven, and it features this staggeringly good track. Covering a cult band like old-school gothic rockers The Virgin Prunes is never going to be easy, but Coptic Rain were smart enough to not try and imitate the original but rather turn it something quite thoroughly different. The first half is slow and atmospheric, and then when the double-time kicks in… well, it has to be heard to be believed. The original is good, but the Coptic Rain version is completely off all observable charts. Go listen if you don't believe me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFhTKszoiRI

What other great industrial cover versions can people think of? (Remixes don’t count!) Rammstein’s Cover of DM's “Stripped” comes to mind, but again, everyone’s heard it a million times… haven’t they? I also didn't mentioned Ministry's version of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" because well, it's a bit shit. Also although it's not in the tiniest bit industrial, I feel I really have to mention TV on the Radio's cover of the Pixies' "Mr Grieves". Trying to cover one of the very best songs by one of the very best rock bands of all time is just madness, but like Coptic Rain, TV on the Radio wisely turned it into something completely different. Of course it's not as good as the original (what is?), but it's fascinating, catchy, and essential.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1k6dD3WAP0

Great industrial collaborations

I love a good collaboration. And I'm not talking the odd remix or extra production credit, I'm talking when two bands get together and bash out an album. Here are a few great collaborations that have rocked my world.

Xingu Hill and Squaremeter: This Anxious Space (Hymen Records, 2001). Squaremeter is one of the more interesting electronic artists around, who has done a few early albums on Hands (very sparse, abstract glitchy stuff), and some later albums on Ant-Zen (also glitchy but more dense and less sparse and abstract). Xingu Hill has released some pretty cool but not amazing electronica / IDM stuff on Nova Zembla and Hymen. They produced this quite cool album in 2001 which for me really combined their styles well. It has a subtle creepy and anxious mood to it, and would work really well as a soundtrack to a thriller / sci-fi movie set on an abandoned space station or similar. The recording credits suggest that Belgian madman C-Drik also played some part in this release. I used a track off this album in one of my "Reign of Steel" apocalyptic industrial mixes.

Azure Skies: Azure Skies (Ant-Zen, 2001). This is a killer collaboration and a very interesting release that was largely overlooked. Azure Skies is a project combining two Swedish dark ambient / death industrial bands, Mental Destruction and Sanctum... and they released a noise album on German label Ant-Zen! Crazy stuff. Why not on their Swedish home, Cold Meat Industry? Who knows, maybe CMI thought it was too noisy. Anyway it is a beautifully written and recorded album. The first two tracks especially are just staggering; noise at its finest. It doesn't really sound anything like either band, which makes it all the more interesting. I'm very sad that Azure Skies never did another release. Ant-Zen boss Stefan Alt's photography artwork is particularly good on this release also. The first track Crater off this album is one of the most astonishing and powerful pieces of noisy industrial you're likely to come across:


Black Lung and Xingu Hill: The Andronechron Incident (Ant-Zen, 1999). Here we have another appearance from Xingu Hill, this time teaming up with the excellent Australian dark electronic act Black Lung (who I'm a pretty big fan of). This album is a standout, not only because there is a whole bunch of great music here, but also because it was a quite successful and hilarious prank. The album was described when released as an alternative soundtrack these guys had worked on to an obscure cult Italian science fiction film from the 1960s. Which of course makes it sound really awesome, and it is. But after a while some people started researching this film (The Andronechron Incident) out of curiosity... and it didn't take too long for people to realise that it never existed! John Sellekaers and Dave Thrussel pulled a swift one on all of us. They made the whole thing up. Anyway, the album is cool, the idea is cool, the weird 1960s sci-fi artwork is cool, it's just a big bag of cool. Oh and random interesting trivia of the day: the guy behind Xingu Hill, John Sellekaers, worked for a long time as a mastering engineer called Metarc. He's recently retired, but until then, has mastered HEAPS and HEAPS of great industrial music. Like, almost everything released on Ant-Zen and Hymen since forever, plus stuff on other labels too.

Xenonics K-30: Automated (Ad Noiseam, 2002). This is truly a great collaboration and a landmark in industrial noise. It is also one of the heaviest slabs of aggressive unpleasantness ever recorded. It is a collaboration between the best power noise artist ever (Converter) and the best power electronics artist ever (Navicon Torture Technologies). How could this not turn out to be awesome? It couldn't. I put it at #9 in my top 10 power noise albums of all time, and it probably deserves to be higher. I love every single thing about this album. And since both projects have sadly retired, I'd say another Xenonics K-30 albums is drastically unlikely... but I'm allowed to dream, I suppose.

Yen Pox and Troum: Mnemonic Induction (Malignant Records, 2002). On my list of best dark ambient albums ever, I put this at #1, so I don't think I need to rave about it further here. I'll admit Troum is good but a bit too abstract and light for my likings, but when teamed up with the deep claustrophobic dark ambient of Yen Pox, it produced something incredible. Listening to excerpts or individual tracks is pointless; the album is basically one long track from beginning to end and needs to be heard as such.

Klinik and Vidna Obmana: Gluttony / Greed (Hands Productions, 2005 and 2006). Klinik are one of the most influential industrial bands of all time and need no introduction. Vidna Obmana is a more ambient and experimental act that I don't know much about at all (though discogs.com tells me his body of work is frighteningly large). Klinik (sans Dirk Ivens) teamed up with this act to produce a series of albums, each inspired by one of the seven deadly sins. I'll put it out there, I'm a mad sucker for wanky theme albums like this, and these two don't disappoint. Sadly, only Gluttony and Greed were completed and released. I'm pretty sure that there won't be any further releases in this series (Klinik are still kicking on, now including Dirk Ivens, but Vidna Obmana called it quits a few years ago). Nevertheless, these are cool albums full of dark, swirling electronics and sinister beats. I really wish we got to hear Wrath!

Camanecroszcope: Echoes of who lieth dead but Forever Dreameth, Echoes of a Beckoning Arcanum (Specture, 2003 and 2006). This is an amazing collaboration between Belgian tribal industrial legend Ah Cama Sotz (who I love) and Canadian power noise master Iszoloscope (who I love even more). They produced two albums of pure deep, dark ambient, and they are completely awesome. The second one is slightly better (and noisier) but both are essential. I used some of this in my Pure Dark Amibent mix.

Sturgeon's Law: never forget it

An interesting thread has arisen on the Violent Playground industrial music forums concerning “industrial music for stupid people”: the question originally asked was what could constitute an example of particularly stupid industrial music, aimed at the lowest common denominator? This quickly turned into a fascinating, horrifying and hilarious sequence of Youtube links to the some of the worst music (and videos, in the case of Blutengel) you’re likely to come across. This got me thinking about one of my most important concepts I believe in: Sturgeon’s Law.

Theodore Sturgeon was a science fiction writer from back in the Golden Age, who got sick of defending his genre from claims that it contained a lot of crap. So he came up with the brilliantly simple Sturgeon’s Law (originally known as Sturgeon’s Revelation):

“Ninety percent of everything is crap”.

Say it to yourself: ninety percent of everything is crap. Say it again: ninety percent of everything is crap. Everything. No exceptions. Sturgeon’s position was not to deny the claim, but remind us that it can be applied everywhere. So sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crap. Ninety percent of Broadway musicals are crap. Ninety percent of detective fiction is crap. Ninety percent of hip hop is crap. Ninety percent of action movies are crap. Ninety percent of drama movies are crap. Ninety percent of EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD is crap.

If you’re half as crazy about industrial music as I am, part of you is probably squirming at this point. “But… but… surely you don't also mean industrial music. I mean, some genres of music are just better! Almost all of the music in my collection is awesome!”. Sure, but that’s not a representative sample. You’ve gone out and picked the top 10% (with maybe a few stinkers that have crept in here and there). You want a representative sample? My suggestion is to go pick some random industrial / darkwave compilation disc, something like a Zillo Festival Sampler or similar (which Germany seems to produce about 900 million of per month), and have a listen. Crap, after crap, after crap. I should know, I used to write CD reviews for a gothic culture magazine, and would get dozens of these things. There would be one, or if you’re very lucky two, good songs on a CD. Out of 12 or so tracks, it would average out to about 10% good tracks, meaning the 90% remainder is… crap.

Sturgeon’s Law is an important law to remember, especially about the music you love. Accept that most of it is crap, and remember that it lives everywhere else too. And of course, the important corollary, 10% of it is good.

Dark Ambient mix and commentary

I’ve recently posted a mix of dark ambient music to my mixcloud (which you can listen to here). Here is a tracklist with commentary on what I selected, the album and label it is from, and why it was chosen.

1. In Slaughter Natives: Pure.. the suffering (from Purgate My Stain, Cold Meat Industry, 1996). This is the first track from one of my favourite albums, by the legendary In Slaughter Natives. While there are better tracks on Purgate My Stain, I think this works well as an introduction track, on the album and on this mix.

2. Lustmord: Main Title – Infinite Space (from Zoetrope, Nextera, 2002). Lustmord invented the damn genre so including him is a no-brainer. This is from a soundtrack he did for some weird movie. It’s not his most famous album but I love it dearly; the engineering quality on this track is quite ridiculous. Very menacing and beautifully dark.

3. Inade: Disconnecting States (from The Crackling of the Anonymous, Loki Foundation, 2001). Inade are bloody legends. This is a killer track from my favourite album of theirs. Dark space ambient at its finest; it works as a (slightly) lighter bridge between the intensely dark Lustmord and Camanecroszcope tracks.

4. Camanecroszscope: For all things now dead and gone (from Echoes ov a Beckoning Arcanum, Spectre, 2006). This act is a collaboration between Belgian tribal / industrial band Ah Cama Sotz and Canadian power noise legend Iszoloscope, who we’ll be hearing more from later. They put out two albums and both are staggeringly good. This for my money is one of the most menacing dark ambient tracks ever recorded.

5. Raison D’etre: End of a cycle (from The Empty Hollow Unfolds, Cold Meat Industry, 2000). Including a Raison D’etre track in a dark ambient mix is pretty much mandatory, considering he is the most prolific and popular artist in the genre, and while he’s repeated himself a fair bit, much of his music is still great. This is a killer track from what I think is his best album by far.

6. Collapsar: Passing the Gate (from Beyond the Event Horizon, Malignant Records, 2009). Probably the most obscure track in this mix, Collapsar are a recent signing to Malignant Records with just one album out, but it is quite impressive. Deep dark space drone ambient, executed very well.

7. RAAN: Sandrin (from The Nacrasti, Malignant Records, 2001). Another classic from Malignant Records. RAAN sadly only ever did this one release: I would die a happy man if they ever put out another one. Every single track on it is superb; picking one was very hard. I used this one because it is actually a bit lighter and cheerier, and creates a nice contrast to the horrible maddening despair of the next track…

8. Yen Pox: Blood from the Heavens (from New Dark Age, Malignant Records, 2000). I put this album at #3 on my top 10 dark ambient albums ever, and for good reason. While not as intense as the earlier tracks in this mix, there is a subtle and sinister power in this track that I love. True, classic dark ambient, at its very, very best.

9. Iszoloscope: Iszoloscope Tomes Deux (from Au Seuil Du Neant, Ant-Zen, 2003). Iszoloscope is known for power noise; in fact, he’s probably the best power noise artist still active in the world. The fact that he threw in this staggeringly good dark ambient track at the end of his classic 2003 album makes you realise how talented this man is. Chillingly sad and beautiful. It was a tough call whether to end the mix with this track or the next one.

10. Desiderii Marginis: Beyond Retrieval (from Deadbeat, Cold Meat Industry, 2001). Deadbeat is simply one of the best dark ambient albums ever recorded, from back in the day when Cold Meat Industry really dominated this style of music. The quality here speaks for itself. While this track doesn’t depart from any of the classic Swedish dark ambient tropes, it executes them better than anyone in the genre, bar none.

Top 10 underrated industrial albums

OK here's my top 10 list of the most underrated industrial albums, EVAR!

10. Pierrepoint: Technoid Beats for a Paradox Movement

Pierrepoint were a pretty ordinary EBM band who’d put out some nondescript albums that nobody much cared about. Then they did a live performance at the yearly Wave Gotik Treffen mega-festival in Germany that astounded everybody. Fortunately it was recorded and released. This is a sinister bastard child of industrial and techno (proper techno, not some stupid Big Beat or Hard House crap), and it absolutely rocks. A pretty limited release (777 copies I believe) that sadly disappeared (along with Pierrepoint’s career). Definitely worth checking out, especially the amazing opening track (though the album works so well as a whole because every track flows into the next).

9. Scrap.Edx: Non-linear interfacing

This album has now made it into two of my top 10 lists, which tells you how good it is. I already raved about it in my top 10 power noisealbums ever, and there’s not much more to say about it here, other than it is awesome, and much better than 90% of the stuff that the big power noise labels (Ant-Zen and Hands) have put out in the last 5 years.

8. Front Line Assembly: State of mind

It might seem strange to put one of the most famous industrial bands in a list of underrated albums, but this is probably their most obscure album (one of their oldest, but not quite), and is actually still my favourite of theirs. I’m not one of those snooty analogue “it has to sound low-fi to be truuu and kuuuullt” wankers, but there really is a dark, raw and under-produced power on this album which you just can’t get anywhere else in their huge discography (though you get very close to it on Caustic Grip). Classic stuff and holds up so well after decades.

7. FAV: Feinde auf Valium

FAV (which I believe stands for Feinde Auf Valium, making this really a self-titled debut album) put out a couple of albums; the second is similar to this but not as good. FAV does really fun noisy industrial music, with a very strong punk flavour, that works brilliantly. Some really fast tracks, some slower ones, but very little weak material here. I really wish he’d put out more albums as there was some genuine talent here that was largely overlooked.

6. Meson: The Flooding of Desolate Canyons

OK now we’re getting into the very obscure stuff. I just god damn love this album so much. It’s very difficult to describe; kind of ambient, but nothing like dark ambient; kind of noisy, but nothing like power noise. It’s very robotic, yet almost completely arhythmical. I used a lot of this album in my Reign of Steel post-apocalyptic industrial mix; I can think of no finer soundtrack to a radioactive wasteland populated by starving lunatics and killer robots.

5. Ultra Untied: Ultra Audience

This band only put out one album. I know nothing about them whatsoever. I barely know how to describe any of this music, let alone put it in a box or style. It’s kind of ambient, kind of dreamy, kind of experimental, but not really… I don’t know, it’s just amazing.

4. Amgod: Half rotting and decayed

This act is a little better known than most of the others on this list, and has a small cult following, but have been accorded nowhere near the respect they should have. This album was released in 1994, just two years after Solitary Confinement, and while it borrows a lot from that landmark album (who in the dark EBM genre hasn’t?), it’s very nearly as good, certainly one of the darkest EBM albums ever made, and largely unknown. This album is long out of print, but I was very lucky to be randomly given a copy by Bones from Novakill. Amgod has recently returned and sadly put out some very underwhelming material. The highlight track of the album is certainly Overlove.

3. Savak: Four hundred forty four days

Like many great albums, this is one I would have no idea what style to call it. At times ambient, at times power noise, but most of the time just industrial (whatever that means). It has a relentless, hypnotic power to it that is extremely difficult to describe and even harder to emulate. Unique, insane and brilliant. (If you’re wondering, the title is a reference to the Iranian hostage crisis of 1987 - 1981).

2. Calva Y Nada: Monologue eines Baumes

One of my favourite albums EVAR, this is another one that fits into no genre. Calva Y Nada got my attention a long time ago when I heard their track Der Sturm on the Moonraker compilation, one of the first industrial releases I bought. This is a very strange, dark and deranged album, lurching from one style and tempo to another, one minute subtle and creepy, the next thundering and menacing, but always interesting and powerful. Really, dreadfully underrated.

1. Maison Close: Maison Close

This album is completely fucking insane, brilliant and terrifying, and will make your head explode. Another one like Ultra United where they only ever put out this one release, no one knows anything about them, no one heard it or bought it, and it is totally fucking amazing. Try listening to it all the way through in the dark on headphones; you will not emerge unchanged.

Club Berserk - setlist from March 22nd

Well I had a fantastic time at Berserk on Saturday night! Stay tuned for more news about future Club Berserk events... here is the tracklisting of the set I played. Since we had a pretty big psytrance contingent turn up to see the dark psy DJs, I mixed a bit of psytrance into a pretty hard industrial set, and it worked well! Hocico's "Born to be hated" hit the floor like an atom bomb, and is becoming my favourite aggrotech track of all time. I think I'm going to record this mix at home and put it on mixcloud, for those who couldn't make it on Friday night!

Mindless Faith: Canaan (great first track of their great Momentum album)
This Morn Omina: (The) Ruach (Of God) (just incredible work from This Morn Omina as always; the first I've played this track and it got a great response)
Suicide Commando: Hate me (what can I say? Johan brings the noise. And the hate. Love it.)
Twisted System: Stark Raver (Star Wars meets psytrance at last! A bit cheesy but nice to drop in something fun during a pretty heave industrial set)
Dark Soho: Dark Moon on Stonehenge (a great classic of dark psytrance, with a strong industrial feel from the drums and guitars)
Shiv-R: Three Blind Mice (One of my favourite tracks from this awesome Australian band)
Distorted Memory: God's Wrath (Pure brutal aggrotech, in its purest and most hate-filled form)
Shift: Infra-red (nice hard psytrance track from this South African artist)
Implant: Violence (MIZUH remix) (Completely killer remix here)
Xenomorph: Tree of Death (very dark and industrial-influenced psytrance)
Dulce Liquido: Psicosis (one of my all time favourite club tracks, this has been packing dancefloors since 2001)
Hocico: Born to be hated (just awesome; Hocico prove why they're the best aggrotech band on the planet)
NCC: Weiteck (trace) (an oldie but a goodie... brings me back memories of the Vortex days of yore!)

Shameless self-promotion - Club Berserk returns!

Just a bit of quick shameless self-promotion... my nightclub event Berserk is returning! Friday 22nd March will see a special Berserk night at the Phoenix Bar in Sydney. Check out the facebook event or the website below... hope to see you there!
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/415546675203654/
Website: berserk.cranialfracture.org

Top 10 Dark Ambient albums of all time

Since I love so much dark ambient music, this was a very difficult list for me to choose. On another day, the order could swap around a bit (with the exception of the number 1 album, which I really think is just the best).

10. Inade: The Incarnation of the Solar Architects (Loki Foundation, 2009). This is a recent-ish release by German legends Inade, and its a monster. Not the darkest of ambients, but just massive; it brings to mind colossal alien constructs floating through space. The production quality on this album is jawdropping (some of the best I've ever heard in any genre of music), and if it had a bit more darkness and depth, it would be even higher on this list.
9. Camanecroszcope II: Echoes of a Beckoning Arcanum (Spectre, 2006). This project is a wonderful collaboration between power noise legend Iszoloscope and cult Tribal / experimental artist Ah Cama Sotz. Together they make a formidable combination that has so far released two incredibly good dark ambient albums. This is the second and I think the best. It has a very cold and alien atmosphere, that invokes images of exploring tombs of long-lost civilizations on Mars. Best listened to at night.
8. Lustmord: Zoetrope (Nextera, 2002). Lustmord pretty much invented dark ambient with his 1990 album Heresy, but has since put out many works since then, and better works. This 2002 album is a soundtrack to some experimental movie; I don't know much about that, but I do know that this album is just stunning, and a great introduction to the darker end of dark ambient. Truly creepy stuff and one of the best albums from the legendary artist.
7. RAAN: The Nacrasti (Malignant Antibody, 2001). This is a criminally underrated album, put out by the odd Malignant Records sub-label, Malignant Antibody. RAAN sadly only ever did this one album, and it is a masterpiece of the genre. It has many moments that equal the power and presence of the best drone artists such as Terra Sancta, but has so much more variation, including some beautiful meditative moments and some almost tribal passages. This is one you have to listen to from beginning to end in one go. Essential and sadly overlooked.
6. Inade: The Crackling of the Anonymous (Loki Foundation, 2001). German act Inade are up there with Lustmord and Raison D'etre as the most respected artists in this genre. While many immediately think of Alderebran as the definitive Inade album, it's this one for me. Classic dark, creepy space ambient, as only Inade can do it. Possibly the darkest album on this list.
5. Lustmord: The place where the black stars hang (Side Effects, 1994). This is an older album of Lustmord's from the 90s, and is just amazing. This CD includes the longest track in my entire music collection, clocking in at over 70 minutes long (don't worry, it's nowhere near the longest track ever made; Robert Rich has that record sewn up, its over 7 hours long). The greatest strength of this album is its subtlety; it's an immensely slow journey through hypnotic yet barely noticeable sounds, culminating in an encounter in very darkest, deepest space.
4. Raison D'etre: The Empty Hollow Unfolds (Cold Meat Industry, 2000). Swedish solo act Raison D'etre is probably the biggest name in dark ambient and has put out many albums, some amazing and some not so. I think this is certainly his best. The first half is probably the most pure and perfect example of the classic Swedish style that Cold Meat Industry is known for, and what I would point someone to who asked me "what does dark ambient sound like?". The later parts of the album are where Peter Andersson pushes the boundaries and breaks the usual Raison D'etre formula, with excellent results. Top Shelf, and one of Cold Meat's proudest moments.

3. Yen Pox: New Dark Age (Malignant Records, 2000). This is pure, pure dark drone ambient, at its very best. Music that hisses and flows out of your speakers and surrounds you in a suffocating fog of nightmares and despair. This album made me really sit up and pay attention to this genre of music. The artwork and mastering are simply perfect. Malignant Records = quality.

2. Desiderii Marginis: Deadbeat (Cold Meat Industry, 2001). One of my very favourite albums of all time; one of those albums which you know you'll listen to in 10 or even 20 years, and still enjoy as much as you do today. Desiderii Marginis' second album, and best album (his later ones are perfectly good but not anywhere near this). Saying this album is classic Swedish dark ambient is the most banal of understatements. The last two tracks take me away to places very far away.
1. Yen Pox and Troum: Mnemonic Induction (Malignant Records, 2002). I don't even know what to say about this album. You take the ultra dark drone ambient of Yen Pox, mix it with the experimental ambient soundscapes of Troum, and you get this block of madness, beauty and utter brilliance. Trying to describe it is futile. Listen to it on good headphones or very good speakers and be amazed.

And just for clarification, my definition of dark ambient here does *not* include neo-classical / folk / ethereal stuff like Arcana (who would be all over this list like a rash, if it did), or death industrial stuff like Brighter Death Now or Megaptera (again, like a rash, a big red rash), or whatever it is you call In Slaughter Natives (again with the rash), you get the idea. Just dark ambient. Also, quick rundown on albums that almost but didn't quite make the list: Deutsch Nepal's "Benevolence", Combative Alignment's "Ritez of Higher Communication", Raison D'etre's "In Sadness, Silence and Solitude".

Power Noise mix

OK I've uploaded a mix of Power Noise / Rhythmic Noise at Mixcloud, as the next in my series of "pure" mixes of industrial styles. I had a lot of fun and I think it really works as a mix. If you haven't heard it yet, check it out:
http://www.mixcloud.com/leontranter/pure-power-noise-industrial-dance-mix/
Here are some notes about what tracks I chose and why.

Synapscape: Thirsteater. Synapscape are a great band with many good releases under their belt (and they're still going strong after many years in the business). This is off an older album of theirs, Positive Pop, and it's a killer.
ESA: Absolute Fury (in its very fabric). I'm really impressed by ESA and the variety of sounds he produces. This is a solid track with some nice vocals (which you don't often get in power noise) off the Sea and the Silence album, released on the always excellent Tympanik Audio.
Manufactura: Killing You. This is a really nice, strong, aggressive track from controversial artist Manufactura. It's packed full of great samples from the movie "Pi", has crazy heavy beats, and just kicks the crap out of anything. Freaky trivia: this track is from the first Manufactura album Regression, which was released by Auricle Media, a label started by Scott Sturgis aka Converter!
PAL: Bang your box. PAL is one of the legends of the Ant-Zen power noise movement and is hard not to include, even if I find a lot of his albums to be inconsistent in quality. This is a classic track however, with a great rolling momentum.
Asche: Distorted DJ Part 2. I love the album this track comes from (Distorted DJ), but it was hard to pick a track from it, because the whole thing flows together, from beginning to end. This is probably the best track though, and it fits pretty well here in the mix.
Scrap.edx: Bleeder Current. Scrap.Edx are great and their first album, Non-Linear Interfacing (released on the sadly defunct DTA Records), is one of the most underrated noise albums ever. This track is one of many wonderful tracks on that album (more recent works are solid but not quite as good).
Punch Inc: You My God. This is a bad-arse rhythmic noise track from bad-arse German rhythmic noise band Punch Inc, from their first album, Rush Hour. Great stuff. Bonus points to anyone who knows where the sample ("You think you can fight god") is from and can tell me!
5F-X: i=i1+i2+i3+i4+...iN. This track is just mental, and that's fitting since it is from the completely crazy German band 5F-X (a split-off from the even crazier German band 5F_55, whose track names are in hexadecimal code). One of my all time favourites.
Xotox: Degeneration. This track doesn't have a huge amount of depth or complexity to it, but it has a really nice sense of anticipation and momentum that I really like. I feel it works well as a build-up to the next three tracks, which is where things really go nuts. These final three artists are the greatest in all of power noise.
Iszoloscope: Le Demoninateur Common. Iszoloscope is the best power noise artist currently active, for my money. All of his music is amazing, but this track is from his best album, the 2003 masterpiece Au Seuil du Neant. Just amazing.
Imminent Starvation: Tentack one. Probably the best power noise track ever made; this is a musical juggernaut that destroys everything in its path. Listening this track changed my life.
Converter: Stand Beside Him (power). Converter is really the god of this genre; he's quit making music under this name sadly, and many of my favourite tracks of his are actually the more ambient or down-tempo ones. But this is a good noisy stompy example of Scott Sturgis' genius.

Coming up next: Dark Ambient mix! Holy crap, I better learn how to keymix, quick!!

Great industrial remixes

Industrial music is full of remixes. I think it may well be cluttered with more remixes than any other genre of music. I have no specific evidence of this, but it certainly feels that way. We had the remix wars (whatever happened to them?), there are remix competitions, remix compilations, and EPs stuffed full of remixes for when a band can't be bothered stuffing their single with some extra B-sides.

I feel a lot of them are also a waste of space. Many of them don't add anything interesting onto the original; very few of them are better than the original. Then there are the bands who put out their own "remixes" or "dance / club / special mix", which is just the original track with an extra 10 or 20 second loop added somewhere (not mentioning any names, cough, Front 242).

But there are of course some good ones, and a few very good ones. Here are some of my favourites.

Front Line Assembly: Neologic Spasm (Dislocated Mix by Die Krupps). Die Krupps are pretty terrible, so nobody was expecting much from this, especially not myself. FLA had cranked up the guitars on this album (Hard Wired) and the one before it, so the one thing Die Krupps could be expected to bring to the table (guitars) were already there on this album in spades. But they really hit this one out of the park. FLA should have opened this strong album with a stronger track, and this mix would have worked well. It's big, ballsy, stompy industrial music, and ticks all the right boxes. Have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW59yOBiDnE

Front 242: Religion (Bass Under Siege mix by The Prodigy). How or why anyone talked The Prodigy, one of the biggest electronic acts in the world in 1993, into doing not one but a couple of remixes of Front 242 is a mystery. Sure Front 242 were the biggest industrial act in the world at the time, but still... anyway, Religion was a pretty bad song off a wildly inconsistent album, Up:Evil. And The Prodigy didn't blink at this challenge; they produced a total demon of a track. If the truth be told, it bears astonishingly little resemblance to the original (I think the only thing they kept was a sample of Jean Luc de Myer gasping "burn you down!" every now and then). But seeing as how weak the original was, that's a good thing. This track isn't just amazingly good for a Front 242 remix, it's even amazingly good for a Prodigy track (and in 1993 they were arguable at the very top of their game). This track really needs to be listened to in the dark on a good club sound system, but still, here it is, if you've never experienced it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktXFmQvt3yc

The Azoic: Conflict (Combichrist mix). I'm not really into the Azoic. They're just another decent but pretty uninteresting female fronted EBM band that sound like they belong on Alfa Matrix (though oddly they're not). And they put out an EP with a pretty bland song, Conflict, with a bunch of pretty bland remixes of it... and this snarling monster. This thing hits dancefloors like a tactical nuclear weapon. Like the Front 242 remix above, Combichrist used very little of the original song (the nice lyric "Keep my perspective straight, keep me away from hate", and that's about it), but it somehow inspired Andy to produce a track better than almost any track off any Combichrist album. Amazing stuff. Have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTkIHB3BIyo

Spahn Ranch: Heretic's Fork (Belief mix by Birmingham 6). This is one of the best industrial remixes ever, if not the best. It's one of my favourite club tracks of all time, a track I can listen to a hundred times (I'm sure I've heard it more than that) and never get sick of it. Now the original is a perfectly good song; it's off Spahn Ranch's best album, The Coiled One, and is a pretty tight and catchy EBM track. But Birmingham 6 took it to a whole new level. Their trademark guitars and frantic snare drums add a perfect level of energy to the verses, they wisely left the chorus pretty well alone, and extended the track for another minute or so with some clever sampling. Just brilliant. I can't find it on Youtube; if you want to hear it, it can be found on Spahn Ranch's "Parts Assembled Solely" EP, or on Cleopatra's 1997 "Industrial Mix Machine" compilation, where I first encountered it (the fact that it also happens to have Die Krupps' remix of Neologic Spasm is gravy).  Total win.

Pure Aggrotech (industrial mix)

I've recorded and uploaded a mix of 100% aggrotech music to Mixcloud. I've had an enormous amount of fun doing it. I'm going to do a series of "pure" mixes of specific sub-styles of industrial. I think up next will be Power Noise, because let's face it, we all need a little more power noise in our lives. At least I think we do.
Anway, you can check out the mix here: http://www.mixcloud.com/leontranter/pure-aggrotech-industrial-dance-mix/
The mix starts off at about 133 BPM, and ends up at about 148.

Here are some notes I've made about what songs I've included in it and why.

Suicide Commando: Hellraiser. How could I not start off an aggrotech mix with this track? This is where it all began. It’s astonishing how strong this stands up over 10 years after it was released. A true classic.

Tactical Sekt: Not Entertained. This is the track that introduced me to this amazing band. Tactical Sekt may have only put out two albums and an EP but it is some of the best aggrotech anyone’s ever made. This track is a personal favourite of mine.

Agonoize: Chains of Love (Straight Electro version). OK so it’s a cheesy band and a cheesy song, but who cares? It’s so fun! I first heard this played at Slimelight in 2007 and I loved it then, and I still love it now.

Dawn of Ashes: Portrait of a Homicide (Nurzery Rhymes mix). OK these guys really crank it up to 11 on this track. Hell, more like up to 17. A really intense track off a pretty strong album. Dawn of Ashes have sadly now become a bad black metal band, for reasons unknown.

Tactical Sekt: Uncivil Liberties. I normally wouldn’t do two tracks by one band in a mix, but Tactical Sekt are too good not to. This isn’t your typical cheesy floor-filler; it takes a few listens, but then you realise this is leagues above most other acts in this genre. Now if only these guys would put out another album!

Distorted Memory: God's Wrath. This is a true dancefloor smasher, and one of my favourite tracks ever released in the genre. The big breakdown in the middle serves as a nice “midway” point between the slower first half of the mix and the faster second half.

Detroit Diesel: Normandy. I’ve only discovered this new band recently via this track on a compilation, and was really blown away. Solid beats, catchy lines, and some extremely good production (even as good as Hocico’s, I’d dare say). This band is definitely one to watch!

Grendel: Crucified. Sure, so their more recent albums have much better production than this earlier stuff, but so what? I don’t think they have any songs as good as this (though Soilbeed EP gives it a run for its money). I just love everything about this track!

Sin DNA: Wasted Passion. Another up and coming act to watch, I came across this track on End the DJ’s excellent Endtrovert mix CD and it made me an instant convert. More great synth lines and producton. I’m also a mad sucker for the chopper effect used on vocals, if not overdone.

Amduscia: Seal you in red. OK so they’re a pretty shameless Hocico clone band, but they have some really great tracks, including this one (which is in my opinion their best). The shift into a major key in the chorus helps make this a really catchy and uplifting song, while somehow still retaining that intense aggrotech feel.

Hocico: Born to be hated. Well this Mexican band is currently the top aggrotech band on the planet and tracks like this show why. While I feel that Wrack and Ruin is actually their weakest album, this track is devastating and puts most of their imitators to shame.

Andraculoid feat. Skeletal Meltdown: Grave Danger. An obscure and highly underrated band, Andraculoid only ever did two albums but they are both great, and this collaboration track he did takes it to a whole new level. This track is a favourite of mine to end a Berserk DJ set with.