Black Agent – Industrial Ruination (Album – Re:Mission Entertainment)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Hailing from Seattle (USA) Black Agent started as a solo-project in 2016 and evolved into a trio. “Industrial Ruination” is the band’s debut full length album featuring thirteen songs.
Content: From the very first notes this album got me the feeling to wake up in the early 90s. The sound stands for elaborated EBM, reminding me of bands like Revolting Cocks, Front Line Assembly, X Marks The Pedwalk, Insekt and even Front 242 at some sequences and sound treatments. They injected multiple spoken samples next to the vocals.
+ + + : Black Agent took me by surprise. This is a well-crafted and intelligent retro-driven EBM production. I mentioned several potential sources of inspiration but they accomplished a very personal fusion of these bands and the typical 90s spirit. The work has been composed with great sound treatments featuring irresistible analogue sounds and strings. The album is maybe missing a potential hit but we get a succession of treat songs instead.
– – – : I don’t have real minus points but I hope this band will gain a wider recognition. They really have a huge potential.
Conclusion: Black Agent maybe sounds like how bands such as Front 242, Revolting Cocks, FLA, Skinny Puppy and co would have sounded like if they had just got started, and signed today!
Best songs: “Strange Like Me”, “Murdering Truth”, “ACAB”, “Everything’s Wrong”, “Concrete Sky”, “Dying Time”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/BlackAgentBand
Label: https://linktr.ee/remissionentertainment / www.facebook.com/remissionentertainment Read the news on ‘Industrial Ruination’.
About Black Agent
Black Agent is an industrial act from Seattle, United States. It started in 2016 as a solo project and grew into a trio of Larry Kleinke (synths, drum programming, sampling, arrangements), Jason Pit (vocals, synths, programming, arrangements) and Neil Parker (guitars, bass, live drums).
“Industrial Ruination” is the band’s debut album, released in 2022 by Re:Mission Entertainment on digital and CD. The two-track single “Parasite Receiver” followed in August 2022.
A second album, “Dehumanized”, arrived in July 2023 on the same label, on digital, CD and picture disc vinyl.
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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.
