Frontline Assembly – Wake Up The Coma (CD Album – Metropolis Records)
Genre/Influences: EBM, dark-electro.
Background/Info: Frontline Assembly
have been active for more than 30 years now. They don’t exactly release a new
album every single year and got also involved with ‘special’ releases like the
“WarMesh”-album released last year on ArtOffact Records and, which was a kind
of soundtrack. They last year also released the EP “Eye On You” announcing this
new studio work.
Content: FLA no longer has anything
to prove. Even if the fans are sometimes desperately waiting for a new “Caustic
Grip” or “Hard Wired”, Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber are simply moving on,
accomplishing new studio albums from time to time. We already discovered Robert
Görl (DAF) who was featured on the last EP, but the album also features Nick
Holmes (Paradise Lost), Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Cocksure)
and Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence) who sings on a surprising cover
version of Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus”.
It all resulted in a pretty diversified work, which also features ‘typical’
FLA-song; sophisticated song structures recovered with dark atmospheres and the
spooky vocals of Bill Leeb.
+ + + : The best part of the work
remains the more ‘traditional’ FLA songs, which bring all the familiar sound
elements together. Great bass lines, obscure electronic atmospheres, complex, but
danceable rhythms and Bill’s great timbre of voice. The sound production is
absolutely impressive confirming the experience of this band. “Eye On You”
featuring Robert Görl remains a great collaboration. My favorite song is the
easy recognizable “Mesmerized”, but I also have to mention the more into
bombast driven “Living A Lie”.
– – – : Speaking for myself I
expected a bit more out of the other featuring. The songs together with Nick
Holmes and Chris Connelly bring some diversity, but aren’t exactly the most
convincing cuts. I’m missing a climax. I also have to say a word about the cover
version of Falco. The adaptation itself is pretty cool, but not exactly what
you can expect from FLA so in the end I can say this song took me by surprise…
Conclusion: When you realize the
impressive discography of this band, “Wake Up The Coma” is probably not the
production that will enter into history although it reveals a few brilliant
songs. I’m afraid a few great songs don’t make a Spring, but in the end there
only is one Frontline Assembly!
Best songs: “Mesmerized”, “Living A
Lie”, “Eye On You”, “Arbeit”, “Tilt”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.mindphaser.com / www.facebook.com/frontlineassembly
Label: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords
About Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is the Vancouver, Canada industrial project founded by Bill Leeb in 1986 after he left Skinny Puppy; Rhys Fulber later became his key collaborator, and the line-up has rotated through additional members including Michael Balch and Chris Peterson over the decades. Metropolis Records confirmed “Wake Up The Coma” for release on 8 February 2019, with a tracklist of twelve songs and the guest contributions covered in the review: Robert Görl of DAF, Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost, Chris Connelly and Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence on a cover of Falco’s “Amadeus”. Side-Line had already covered the band’s video for that cover, released the previous month.
Front Line Assembly’s catalogue includes “Tactical Neural Implant” and “Hard Wired”, both regarded among the project’s commercially strongest records, and the band returned in 2020 with ‘Mechanical Soul’.
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