Shiv-R – Interlace (EP – Infacted Recordings)

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: While we’re waiting for a new full length album of Australian duo Shiv-R, Pete Crane (aka ‘Virul3nt’) and Lee Bulig (aka ‘Kong’) are back on track with two new songs. Both songs have been remixes as well.
Content: Even if “Interlace” is the title song, I think the other new cut (cf. “Annihilation”) could have been a title song as well. “Annihilation” sounds even harder, but both cuts feature the familiar energy and electronic rage we’re used to hearing from Shiv-R. It’s a rough production, which is refined by melodic passages.
Both songs have been remixed. Moris Blak remixes the title track while sHiFt remixed “Annihilation”.
+ + + : This is a tough production, which will fully satisfy all dark-electro and EBM lovers. I like the title track for its hard kick and melodic tune while the production of the vocals featuring some robotic parts is quite cool as well. “Annihilation” sounds more aggressive and powerful; it’s less refined, but perfectly complementary to “Interlace”. Among the remixes I especially enjoyed the one made by sHiFt.
– – – : I don’t see any real minor points to make about this production, which is the perfect appetizer to announce a new full length album.
Conclusion: Shiv-R are just doing what they’re good at; producing merciless electronics driven by furious beats and carrying melody lines!
Best songs: “Annihilation”, “Interlace”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.shiv–r.com / www.facebook.com/shiverindustrial
Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690
About Shiv-R
Shiv-R was formed in 2008 in Sydney, Australia, by Pete Crane (aka ‘Virul3nt’), Lee Bulig (aka ‘Kong’) and Wendy Leaver. The band signed in 2010 to Infacted Recordings for Germany, Metropolis Records for North America and Deathwatch Asia for Japan and Oceania. Lee Bulig had previously worked with Stark and Neon Womb, while Pete Crane had released music as The Crystalline Effect and Plague Sequence. After four albums on Infacted, Shiv-R founded their own label, Blind Mice Productions, through which Crane also issued a self-titled solo instrumental album around the same time as “Interlace”. The duo’s fifth full-length, “Kill God Ascend”, followed in 2021.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
