Title: Cyberclash
Artist: Buzz
Genre: Dark Electro
Release Date: 1st March 2010
Label: Self-Released
Album Review
Live albums are funny things. You either love them or hate them. Personally I love them if they’re done honestly - no overdubs, no fake crowd noise. I don’t mind if it’s a documentation of an entire tour (see MARILYN MANSON’s ‘Last Tour on Earth’, MINISTRY’s ‘Sphinctour’, and NINE INCH NAILS’ ‘And All that Could have Been’ all of which are fantastic). But I do prefer a recording from a single concert… “fuck ups” included. BUZZ have done just that. It’s an honest self-produced documentation of one of the bands live shows that says “Here we are, this is what we do live. Come join us next time we’re out.” and I’m sold. The album displays a well honed and meticulously crafted style of dark electro that is as catchy as it is gritty and one that couldn’t fail to work on the live circuit.
The album opens with the obligatory intro track that lasts all of 11 seconds before going into the first proper song ‘SÚrÚnade pour un regÚnat’. A nice dirty track with samples and guitars that bring to mind SKINNY PUPPY and THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX - it is a tasty little opener. Track three, ‘Berlin’, is one from way back in the band’s back catalogue, but it’s blend of techno and industrial still sounds fresh and full of energy in this performance. ‘Bruit blanc lumiÞre noire’ follows on with a sexy beat to strip to underneath those gritty late 80’s / early 90’s Synth and guitar sounds. ‘Toutes les aiguilles dans le rouge’ heads back into SKINNY PUPPY meets THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX again for another well crafted slice of dark electro that I defy anyone to not dance to. Track six ‘Kennedy’ is a brutally dark track with a sample of the Kennedy assassination’s TV coverage leading into some harsh EBM / Industrial synths that makes for a real standout song.
‘La Ville’ follows suit with a straighter harsh EBM sound that gets the feat tapping but I don’t know if it quite lives up to the preceding track. ‘Une Fascination’ revisits that familiar sound once again to deliver a good but somewhat unremarkable song to set up the end of the set. The album closes with ‘Parce que je n'ai pas d'Ôme’ which is a very tasty electro track that is a very fitting closer for the CD with it‘s big sounding chorus. As far as live albums go, this is a bloody good one. All the foibles are there such as lower quality than usual production and mixing. But the atmosphere is the most important element, and this has it in droves. The faceless overdubs and generated crowd noise have been forgone in favour of a raw honesty that makes not only for a good live documentation but also a great introduction to this band.
Tracklist
01. Intro
02. SÚrÚnade pour un regÚnat
03. Berlin
04. Bruit blanc lumiÞre noire
05. Toutes les aiguilles dans le rouge
06. Kennedy
07. La ville
08. Une fascination
09. Parce que je n'ai pas d'Ôme
Line-up
Jean-Christophe Van Thienen
Dragan Vujcic
Jim Boquet
Websites
www.myspace.com/buzzbiz
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 7
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10
{jos_sb_discuss:19}
Comments powered by CComment