Title: Making Monsters
Artist: Combichrist
Genre: Industrial
Release Date: 27th August 2010
Label: Out of Line
Album Review
I have never considered COMBICHRIST being something to work any other way than live. The project is too much focused on generating one club compatible bomb after the other. Now I’ve got that new COMBICHRIST album here, called ‘Making Monsters’ released end of August which is kicked off by the opening ‘Declamation’, building from a nicely layered set of rhythms and moods. That track had me thinking this might even become one COMBICHRIST album you can inarguably listen to at home. Already the second track ‘Follow The Trail Of Blood’ though falls back into that mentioned formula and surely makes for a trembling live adventure, especially with that percussion incursions. ‘Never Surrender’ surprisingly keeps away from too hard rhythms instead emphasizing a bass-inflicted, kind of 80s inspired dance track. ‘Throat Full Of Glass’ then employs heavier structures and for once clean vocals and by that is getting quite a melodious and listenable track. ‘Forgotten’ treats menacing, experimental waters, delivering a sense of a vague danger and alone by its build won’t ever be presented live which is a shame. One of the best COMBICHRIST tracks I’ve heard so far.
If I wouldn’t know better I’d say that ‘Slave To Machine’ is a left-over track off an ICON OF COIL album. It’s of course dark but when could you ever assign a poppy flavour to any track Andy has produced under the COMBICHRIST moniker. I’m surprised and excited at the same time. This is a brilliant composition. ‘Through These Eyes Of Pain’ is the next thing close to a ballad on this album on a fundament of broken and distorted beatwork with melodies and vocals invoking washes of overwhelming pain and suffering. There’s nothing happy to be found within these walls. Time to shake off these feelings now with a clean dance track that is called ‘They’ and a pinch of Future Pop – No, I’m absolutely not kidding. The ‘Reclamation’ closes up the album and ends what’s been begun with the opening ‘Declamation’. Not that I’m going to mutate into a COMBICHRIST die-hard now, but credit where credit is due: ‘Making Monsters’ is an astonishingly diversified record that contains a few stand-out tracks that even adversaries of the band should find interesting.
Tracklist
01. Declamation - 1:55
02. Follow The Trail Of Blood - 5:33
03. Never Surrender - 4:48
04. Throat Full Of Glass - 4:48
05. Fuckmachine - 5:15
06. Forgotten - 4:07
07. Just Like Me - 5:08
08. Slave To Machine - 4:26
09. Through These Eyes of Pain - 4:12
10. Monster:Murder:Kill - 5:49
11. They - 6:20
12. Reclamation - 4:31
Line-Up
Andy LaPlegua - vocals
Joe Letz - drums
z_marr - keyboards
Trevor Friedrich - percussion
Mr. Petersen - keyboards
Website
http://www.combichrist.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/combichrist
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8 / 10
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