First Aid 4 Souls – Stainless Steel Eyes feat. Vain Sacrosanct (Album – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: EBM, Body-Pop.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: First Aid 4 Souls’ mastermind István Gazdag is a prolific artist who also like collaborating with other artists. After last year’s released album “Fire” on which he worked with several of his compatriots, the Hungarian artist now released this work together with Belgian artist ‘Vain Sacrosanct’ (Causenation). They know each other as István Gazdag already remixed Causenation and mixed plus mastered the last album.
Content: This work is clearly driven by EBM influences, which is a quite familiar style for First Aid 4 Souls. The main particularity is the vocals performed by Ivan Heyligen aka ‘Vain Sacrosanct’. This guy has a charismatic way of singing so in a way it creates a sonic illusion of FLA (for the music) meeting Covenant (for the vocals). But First Aid 4 Souls isn’t that typical EBM band, but always injects a very own input, which mainly comes through in the choruses of this work. You’ll notice somewhat Pop-refined choruses getting the record pretty accessible.
+ + + : István Gazdag never stops to impress me; he has the skills to adapt himself to the singers he’s working with. So each album has something different from the previous one although there’s a common thread, which is easily recognizable in every single production. There’s this darker EBM approach reminding FLA, which always comes back. “Broken Promise” is a good exposure of this ‘Canadian’ sound. I however prefer “Skin” for the mix of EBM and Electro-Pop and “B.R.O.”, which is a harder and definitely club-driven song with a Future-Pop touch on top. This album also is an opportunity to discover a talented singer involved with the promising Belgian formation Causenation.
– – – : First Aid 4 Souls is always in search of new ideas and experiences. But I’m personally missing the sound and spirit from albums like “Dark Tunnel” and “Keep This World Empty”.
Conclusion: This is one more new collaboration by First Aid 4 Souls and the least I can say is that this work sounds like a perfect match between the Hungarian sound master and Belgian singer.
Best songs: “B.R.O.”, “Skin”, “Broken Promise”, “Who’s Gonna Walk The Line”.
Rate: (7 ½)
Artist: www.facebook.com/First-Aid-4-Souls-180876236297
Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix
About First Aid 4 Souls
First Aid 4 Souls is a Budapest-based electronic project founded in 2007 by István Gazdag, evolving from his earlier industrial and EBM outfit Vacuum. The project works with rotating collaborators and guest vocalists and has touched industrial, EBM, dark ambient and new wave influences. Early releases appeared via Some Bizarre, Electro Arc and Poison Girls Records before Gazdag joined Alfa Matrix in 2019 with Keep This World Empty, followed in 2020 by Fire, an album with Hungarian guest singers reviewed on Side-Line in August 2020, and the EP Dreambox.
“Stainless Steel Eyes” was released by Alfa Matrix on 1 April 2021 as a twelve-track download, announced on Side-Line in Dark electro act First Aid 4 Souls lands new album: ‘Stainless Steel Eyes’ feat. Causenation singer Vain Sacrosanct. Vain Sacrosanct is the singer of the Belgian cold-electro act Causenation; according to the label the two met at a festival in Belgium where both performed. The tracks are “Stainless Steel Eyes”, “Skin”, “Who’s Gonna Walk The Line”, “Legend”, “The Meat”, “Broken Promise”, “Rise And Fall”, “Falling Star”, “Lockdown”, “B.R.O.”, “Media” and “The War Is Coming”. Gazdag also mixed and mastered Causenation’s Promises Of Hope And Fear (Wool-E Discs, 2021), reviewed on Side-Line in June 2021.
Later Alfa Matrix releases include the reworked Beyond The Galaxy / Rework (2022), “I Am The Night” (2022), the 70-track back-catalogue download “This Present Darkness” (2023), the EPs “Dancing At The Abyss” and Laudator Temporis Acti (both 2023), the latter again with Vain Sacrosanct, the post-punk album “Progenitrix” (2025) and Totems In A Field Of Pain (2026). The album reviewed here is the project’s first collaboration with Vain Sacrosanct.
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