Genre/Influences: Electro-trance, IDM.
Content: Implant is back after a 4-year hiatus. It’s the Belgian band’s 9th full length in 17 years, and the album that seems to have taken the longest time to complete.
“The Productive Citizen” deals about a very common and recognizable social theme consisting of the daily stress. People who run and work harder to get the imposed deadlines. We all know what it is. As a contradiction, Implant was not very fast to unleash this new opus. But after all these years of commitment and the growing success of Len Lemaire’s other project 32 Crash even an artist still needs some rest before jumping back to the forefront.
Implant still sounds very sophisticated mixing complex electro patterns together with danceable rhythms. The production is characterized by enormous sound manipulations and -effects. The Belgian duo again collaborated with a few guest vocalists from the bands Leather Strip, Krystal System and XMH. Claus Larsen is the first one on the list. He’s singing on the opening song “Lord Knows I Tried”. It’s a pretty cool opener although not exactly the typical Implant-stuff. Implant has taken some distance with the trance-influence, exploring other grounds bringing them on minimalistic fields and good-old vintage sound productions. “The City” is a rather alluring song in the genre, but it’s nothing compared to “I’m In Control” which shows Implant at its best.
This is for sure one of the absolute attention grabbers. The upcoming song “Joe Is Dead” is the other masterpiece. Implant here once more reveals a fine taste for outstanding electronic treatments. The deep bass line is absolutely great while cold and catchy sequences plus great vocals are brings this song to a climax. “Biodigital Nightmare” excels in sound treatments and confirms the complexity of the music.
The limited edition features an extra disc with 12 songs. We here get the usual load of remixes and two extra songs. The previously unreleased “Playroll Bonanza” sounds like it is evoking the good-old psy-trance inspiration of Implant. It’s a great song animated by some tribal chants.
Among the remixes Decoded Feedback made a remarkable remix of the very minimalistic “I’m In Control”. Another attention grabber is the remix of “The Product” by Implant. I also have to mention a cool remix of “Scanned” by Plastic Noise Experience. The most surprising remix is another one of Implant remixing “The Game” in space-dub style.
Other remixes have been accomplished by very different bands like Tyske Lüdder, Shiv-R, Modern Cubism, Pankow and Diffuzion.
Conclusion: Implant is back, stronger than before and more diversified than ever. The Belgian project remains a very unique band in the contemporary electro scene and this new album only confirms their endless potential in composing creative and progressive electronics.
Best songs: “I’m In Control”, “Joe Is Dead”, “The City”, “Payroll Bonanza”.
Rate: (DP:8)DP.
