Implant – Phantom Pain (EP – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Trance-Pop.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: Implant is back on track! Three years after –what was maybe their best album to date “Oxynose X”, the Belgian duo strikes back with a new EP announcing their eleventh album planned for 2021. This work features three new songs plus six remixes.
Content: “Oxynose X” was a styled and minimal-like album. “Phantom Pain” opens a door upon new sonic horizons, Implant becoming more Electro-Pop than ever before. The title song is something of a Dance-Pop piece featuring female backing vocals by Noemi Aurora (Helalyn Flowers). The song has something 80s-like, but still revealing Trance elements. The other new cuts are diversified. “The Sinner Has Gone” is a minimal-driven track while “The Devil Made Me Do It” is a mix of Hardcore, Gabber and Trance.
Remixes of the songs have been made by True Zebra, People Theatre, Vuduvox and Pre.Emptive Strike 01. Implant accomplished 2 remixes as well.
+ + + : Implant is not repeating themselves; it’s maybe a pity after their great last album, but on the other side this new work reveals different influences. The title track is pretty danceable and that’s what an EP needs. It also is a melodic cut with a great balance between male and female vocals. The song “The Devil Made Me Do It” is the perfect illustration. Implant is a true sonic chameleon, always exploring new ideas and walking on new sonic paths. This song is a weird fusion between different genres, but in the end it simply works. Among the remixes I especially recommend the remix of “The Devil Made Me Do It” by Vuduvox.
– – – : Most of the remixes sound a bit uninspired; and that’s maybe of Implant’s complexity.
Conclusion: I’ve a double feeling with this EP; will it be totally representative to announce the new album or not? Implant however remains an ‘experience’!
Best songs: “Phantom Pain”, “The Devil Made Me Do It”, “The Devil Made Me Do It – Vuduvox mk1 Rmx”;
Rate: (7).
Artist: www.implant-music.be / www.facebook.com/Implantmusic
Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Phantom Pain’.
About Implant
Implant is a Belgian electro duo of Jan and Len, active since the 1990s and signed to Alfa Matrix. “Phantom Pain” followed their 2017 album “Oxynose X” and was released on Alfa Matrix on 4 December 2020, previewing the band’s eleventh studio album, which arrived in 2021.
The EP’s title track features backing vocals from Helalyn Flowers’ Noemi Aurora and was remixed by the band themselves alongside Belgian act True Zebra and French duo People Theatre, while “The Devil Made Me Do It” received remixes from Implant, Vuduvox and Pre-Emptive Strike 0.1. Implant continued releasing music through the 2020s, including the three-part “The Chaos Machines” EP series completed in 2025 and discussed in a 2025 Side-Line interview.
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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.
