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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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