Front Line Assembly’s ‘Epitaph’ turns 25 on 8 October
Front Line Assembly’s ‘Epitaph’ arrived via Metropolis Records on 8 October 2001. The electro-industrial album turns 25 this year.
Front Line Assembly’s “Epitaph” turns 25 this year. Metropolis Records released the electro-industrial and EBM album on 8 October 2001, the eleventh full-length studio album by the Vancouver band led by Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson. The record marked Front Line Assembly‘s return to Metropolis Records after the band left the label in October 1999.
“Epitaph” runs ten tracks and 54:57, recorded at Cryogenic Studio and produced by Leeb and Peterson. Greg Reely handled mixing and engineering, Brian Gardner mastered the album, and Dave McKean supplied the artwork and design. The tracklist runs “Haloed”, “Dead Planet”, “Backlash”, “Epitaph”, “Everything Must Perish”, “Conscience”, “Decoy”, “Insolence”, “Krank It Up” and “Existance”, the last of which folds in the hidden track “Submerged” after a minute of silence. Metropolis also issued a digipak edition limited to 25,000 copies carrying that bonus track. “Everything Must Perish”, released 11 September 2001, was the only single taken from the album. Bill Leeb told Side-Line at the time that “Epitaph” broke with the band’s earlier reliance on film dialogue samples: “This is the first time we quit using movie samples.” He added: “Sampling is an artform which was criticised in the beginning, but now it’s a respected artform with big money in it. It’s a big business where I don’t feel at ease any longer.” Artoffact Records re-released ‘Epitaph’ on limited edition vinyl in 2015.
About Front Line Assembly
Bill Leeb founded Front Line Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy, where he had performed under the stage name Wilhelm Schroeder. Rhys Fulber worked with Leeb from the same period as an early, unofficial collaborator, and Michael Balch became an official member on keyboards and programming in 1988. The band’s debut album, “The Initial Command”, came out on the Belgian label KK at the end of 1987, followed by “State of Mind” on the German label Dossier in January 1988 and “Corrosion” the same year, licensed to Wax Trax! for North America. Balch left after the Gashed Senses & Crossfire tour in 1989 to join Ministry and Revolting Cocks, and Fulber stepped in as an official member. “Gashed Senses & Crossfire” (1989) gave the band its first chart entry, with “Digital Tension Dementia” reaching No. 45 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs.
“Caustic Grip” followed in 1990, the album that began Front Line Assembly’s long-running partnership with mixer and engineer Greg Reely and introduced more guitar-driven material. Chris Peterson debuted as a live percussionist on the accompanying tour before later becoming a full-time member. “Tactical Neural Implant” (1992) brought a more melodic, sample-heavy direction, and “Millennium” (1994) became the band’s first industrial metal record, featuring session guitar from Devin Townsend, who also played on “Hard Wired” (1995). Fulber left in 1997 to concentrate on producing Fear Factory, and Peterson took over his role as the band moved toward the electronica and big-beat leanings of “[FLA]vour of the Weak” (1997) and “Implode” (1999). In October 1999 the band left Metropolis Records; “Epitaph”, produced by Leeb and Peterson and issued on 8 October 2001, marked its return to that label. Peterson departed after finishing work on the album, and Fulber rejoined in 2003 for “Civilization” (2004).
Beyond the main discography, Leeb has led the side project Delerium since 1987, and members have worked on Noise Unit, Conjure One (Fulber), Cyberaktif (Leeb with Skinny Puppy’s cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel) and other spin-offs. Front Line Assembly went on to release “Artificial Soldier” (2006), “Improvised Electronic Device” (2010), “Echogenetic” (2013), “Wake Up the Coma” (2019) and “Mechanical Soul” (2021), the last featuring guest appearances from Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front 242 and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory. The band caught up with Side-Line on the state of the group in 2024, with Leeb and Fulber both still in the current lineup. “Epitaph” remains the band’s eleventh studio album and, twenty-five years on, the record that reopened its relationship with Metropolis Records.
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