http://www.side-line.com/rss_reviews.xml Daily reviews on electro, gothic, industrial, synthpop, gothicmetal, noise and endzeit music en-us Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:31:21 GMT Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:31:21 GMT Side-Line info@side-line.com info@side-line.com pMachine 2.4 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.side-line.com/rss_reviews.xml Daily reviews on electro, gothic, industrial, synthpop, gothicmetal, noise and endzeit music http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44135_0_17_0_C So far Acylum has released some of the most brutal mind melting beats and sounds. This dcd is nothing different, complete madness! Some slower tracks are present some not so distorted but once you get used to that it goes back to complete chaos. There is a flow to the first cd if the phrase absolute chaos could describe a flow. The kicks seem almost designed to take the listener into a complete psychosis. The remix-cd has a varied array of remixers from sub-genres from EBM to terror-EBM... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44135_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:29:19 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44134_0_17_0_C After 20 years of being one of the most popular German electro acts, this official live double cd was released together with a live double dvd. As the title says it all, it's another And One cd full of live recordings (just like the previous one), which contains a selection of 38 tracks, all recorded in between 2004 and 2008 in Hamburg, Berlin and Hildesheim. The most important songs of previous released albums are here and include, "Schwarz",... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44134_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:28:10 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44132_0_17_0_C In a word, the third album from this oft-overlooked hard electronic act is ‘cinematic’. While such world building in popular electro-industrial music has largely consisted of the work of VNV Nation, C-Drone-Defect’s long awaited return carries that similar heft, though their empire is certainly drearier than that of Harris. Pieces like the instrumental “Lex Talionis” certainly reflect this sentiment; though lacking C-Drone’s... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44132_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:27:21 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44133_0_17_0_C After the enlightening “Elephant Reveries”-debut album it took a bit more than 2-years for this Parisian band to achieve a 2nd opus. I’m still wondering about a band like Antrabata being signed on Prikosnovénie, their style brings a wider spectrum of influences to the label. “Dark & Bright” doesn’t sound as the most representative release on the Prikosnovénie roster, but the delicate trip hop style is... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44133_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:27:00 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44131_0_17_0_C The “Pure”-maxi was a real strong appetizer to await the 2nd full length of Endless Shame. Let’s face the truth, Sweden has been always one of the uncontestable leading countries in producing good synth-pop music. We are all reminded of bands like Spock, Elegant Machinery, State Machine etc which were real famous bands during the 90s. In times of world-wide economic crisis and illegal download platforms it’s no longer possible to get bands with the... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44131_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:26:53 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44130_0_17_0_C Ray Dillard Heflin aka Equitant is without any shadow of a doubt one of the greatest revelation of the past year (2009). His digital maxi’s “Mekanik” and “Dynamism” left me breathless. He ended the year with another astonishing piece entitled “That’s All” with Yasmin Gate (a wellknown guest singer on different Black Montanas projects). Equitant stands for the ultimate merge of typical old-school EBM and... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44130_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:26:27 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44128_0_17_0_C Lost Kisses can be seen as a concept that brings different arts together. It all started as a mini-comic in 2002 in response to a request from the San Jose Museum of Art for a current publication from zinester/cartoonist Brian John Mitchell. This cartoonist already received recognition as an experimental music artist being involved in projects like Remora and Vlor. A kind of soundtrack was composed for these cartoons. Small Life Form was asked to do this. This project already released... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44128_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:25:32 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44129_0_17_0_C Four years after the “Herzflut”-cd Kash now launches “Feuermord”. This album was announced as a conceptual release removing the mask of society's double standard and of hypocritical servants of god. I would say that the concept sounds quite interesting while musical wise we’re traveling throughout a kind of technoid-pop music. The debut songs are pretty efficient while revealing a mature production. A few guitar parts were added as well,... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44129_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:25:05 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44126_0_17_0_C The title of this album doesn’t sound happy at all, but the music is a heavenly piece of synth-pop. For those who are already familiar with this Australian duo the 2nd full length features several songs from their latest 2 EP’s. “Hotter” and “I Am Human” (both title songs from the EP’s) and we also get a few more songs that we already discovered. “Beautiful world” opening the album is one of them and is... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44126_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:24:40 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44127_0_17_0_C After the “Sacrifight” (2002) and “Sinmachine” (2004) albums, it took 5 years for Nik Page to launch a new opus of his solo project. In between this hiatus, this German King of pop gets involved in a few other projects (like Songs Of Lemuria and Cromax International). “Rocketqueen” brings a new twist of synthpop arrangements and rock elements. Since Nik Page stopped with Blind Passengers he moved into a more rock orientated... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44127_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:24:07 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44124_0_17_0_C Jon DeRosa got some fame through his involvement in Dead Souls Rising. When setting up his solo-project Aarktica in the late 90s he found an outlet for his own musical ideas. He now strikes back with a 6th full length album under the Aarktica moniker. DeRosa invites us to visit a kind of astral soundscape style composed with guitar, bass, pump organ and vocals. The guitar was used more as an effect than a real instrument making the particular and ambient sound of his album. It’s... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44124_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:23:30 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44125_0_17_0_C Sektor 304 is an industrial duo hailing from Portugal. Their industrial approach sounds in the truest vein of the ‘ancestors’. The 80s saw an amazing number of ‘pure’ industrial bands which were pretty creative in the use of self-made instruments. It was all the contrary of the contemporary industrial laptop generation and Sektor 304 comes definitely closer to this ‘old school’ style. The result is impressive while reminding me... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44125_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:23:13 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44122_0_17_0_C After 20 years of being one of the most popular German electro acts, this official live double cd was released together with a live double dvd. As the title says it all, it's another And One cd full of live recordings (just like the previous one), which contains a selection of 38 tracks, all recorded in between 2004 and 2008 in Hamburg, Berlin and Hildesheim. The most important songs of previous released albums are here and include, "Schwarz",... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44122_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:22:26 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44123_0_17_0_C In the shadow of famous Italian dark ambient masters like Bad Sector A and Alio Die we sometimes can find new promising and talented musicians. Gino Fioravanti and Gianluigi Toso aka Aglaia can be considered one of these projects. Their new album features three pieces that will take you away in an imaginary universe for nearly 60 minutes. When composing tracks over 20-minutes like “The Mysterious Fish Named Kun” and “Seven Ancient Glaciers”... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44123_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:22:03 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44121_0_17_0_C Aspectee is a rather new German project releasing a promising debut-cd entitled “Morben”. Set up by Michael Frenkel (also member of Evoke Scurvee) the ‘colored’ front cover of the digipak doesn’t exactly indicate the kind of sound composed by Aspectee. From the beginning on, we enter a pure nightmare sound. The dark ambient style of Aspectee sounds extremely elaborate covering an impressive arsenal of sounds and effects. The opening... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44121_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:21:49 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44120_0_17_0_C When a band has been covered by a serious number of other artists I think we can easily consider this band as successful. When Attrition front-man Martin Bowes realized there was a growing number of artists covering his very own songs he got the idea of this particular release. Better than releasing a compilation as a tribute to Attrition, he made a selection of 17 cover versions and releasing them as an Attrition album. It sounds a bit special, but why not? Among the tracklist... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44120_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:21:23 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44119_0_17_0_C Martin Bowes already re-released several ‘old’ albums from the wide Attrition catalogue. “The Hidden Agenda” originally released on the famous (and now gone) Hyperium Records is the next one from the list. Some now say that this was a ‘breakthrough’ album. I think that’s partly true as Attrition in the early 90s (this album being originally released in 1993) evolved towards a different sound while composing songs that... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44119_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:20:56 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44118_0_17_0_C After “The Hidden Agenda”-album Attrition brings a new re-release from their back catalogue. “Keepsakers And Reflections” that had been originally released on 2001 on the American Invisible Records and was a collection of rare and unreleased tracks mainly from the 90s. This album is without hesitation one of my favorite Attrition albums ever. It’s an album full of surprises (thinking to several cover songs) while showing the very unique... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44118_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:19:19 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44116_0_17_0_C Set up by Matt Brock who’s an English artist already involved in the scene for several years, Dicepeople is a nice project with a unique approach in sound. It’s not that easy to define Brock’s music. He explores several music fields, but the meaningful ‘moody’ side from his compositions sounds a bit like the red line running through his work. The opening songs “Borderline” and “Invader” are... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44116_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:17:48 GMT http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44115_0_17_0_C The New Year starts with big city-poetry. In November 2009 Die Perlen released their 6th cd called "Zehn". In 19 tracks, they show us their world of chilling synths, German/English/French lyrics and dreamy insanity. The opener "Allein Sein" is absolutely relaxing, but you can smell the cult potential of the music. The label information talks about ‘a real piece of music-history’. Is that true? Take a closer look, and then, look and see. In the same... http://www.side-line.com/reviews_comments.php?id=44115_0_17_0_C Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:17:19 GMT