Implant – I’m Only Happy When You Bleed (Digital EP – Alfa Matrix)
The Belgian project Implant, led by Len Lemeire, has completed its fifteenth album. To announce its arrival and whet fans’ appetites, the band has released the EP “I’m Only Happy When You Bleed”, featuring five tracks and three remixes.
Implant is a band that manages to avoid self-repetition while remaining distinctly recognizable. What strikes me about this EP is that the tracks are more subdued, each contributing to a particular atmosphere. It isn’t exactly ‘cinematic’, but rather feels like an experiment or a Freestyle Exercise, With Nods To EBM, Ambient, and Electro-Pop. Blend all these elements together, and you get a rough idea of what this EP is all about. Personally, I find that the tracks—especially the title track—lack a real climax. For me, the standout is “Pills (In F Sharp),” which has a slightly harder edge, a cool EBM-driven bassline, and a rich array of sounds and effects, all topped off by Len Lemeire’s vocals. I hate to say it, but the remixes—particularly those by Crash Course In Science, with their minimalist approach, People Theatre, with their vintage textures, and Aiboforcen—are all far more inspired than the original title track.
I’m used to a higher standard from Implant, but let’s wait for the full album before drawing any broader conclusions. (Rating:7).
Listen to “I’m Only Happy When You Bleed – Crash Course In Science Remix”:
About Implant
Implant is the electro-industrial project Len Lemeire started in Belgium in 1996. The debut CD single, “Fun,” credited to Lemeire alongside Geert Machtelinck, was pressed in a numbered edition of 1,000 copies that year. The project’s catalogue spans harsh EBM, industrial dance, electro-pop and dark synth across releases including “Implantology,” “Audio Blender,” “The Productive Citizen” and the EP “Fading Away,” closing most releases with the line “Did you have your Implant today?”
Implant released the free download single “The Drive” in December 2023. The twelfth studio album, “The Chaos Machines Part 1 – No More Flies On The Windscreen,” followed in May 2024. Lemeire discussed its modular-synth approach and a duet with Noemi Aurora in Implant interview: ‘Embrace chaos through the machines!’. The trilogy continued with the limited vinyl EP “The Chaos Machines Part 2 – Scratching The Surface” in September 2024 and closed with the album “Judging Sinners – The Chaos Machines Part 3” on February 7, 2025, again featuring Noemi Aurora and covered in Exclusive interview with Implant judging all those sinners.
“The Kinematics Of Doubt,” Implant’s fifteenth studio album, follows on October 30, 2026. “I’m Only Happy When You Bleed,” out now as an eight-track EP, is the second single revealed from the record.
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