Rhys Fulber – Memory Impulse Autonomy (Digital/CD/Vinyl Album – Artoffact Records)
Rhys Fulber is a name that, within the Electro underground community, is universally recognized and commands the utmost respect. If you have been involved — and in some cases still are today — with projects such as Frontline Assembly, Delerium, Noise Unit, Intermix, Will, Conjure One, and more, there is little left to prove. And yet, a few years ago this creative Canadian began releasing work under his own name. The result ranged from Industrial-Body-Techno to more Ambient explorations, but always remained fascinating.
This time he joined forces for the first time with his compatriots at Artoffact Records and released an album that harks back to the bands and sounds that inspired him so deeply in the 80s, which he then further developed according to his own vision. This is an extremely varied opus that becomes even more diverse thanks to the different guest vocalists. William Maybelline aka Qual (Lebanon Hanover), Barkosina Hanusova (Years Of Denial), and Konstantin Unwohl were invited to contribute their voices on a total of four tracks, while the remaining six songs were completed without vocals, sometimes featuring spoken samples. Rhys Fulber returns to his familiar Body-Techno sound, but also experiments with more floating, atmospheric pieces. Some tracks revive that vintage 80s feeling remarkably well, yet still carry a futuristic edge. Other passages sound unmistakably FLA-inspired. Rhys Fulber remains a true sound guru, capable of blending subtlety and power within his compositions. This is intelligent music, marked by varied and high-quality arrangements.
Rhys Fulber’s solo work continues to fascinate me and once again stands as a guarantee of an exceptionally high-quality release. (Rating:8½).
Listen to “Baaderzeit”:
Read the news on ‘Memory Impulse Autonomy’.
About Rhys Fulber
Rhys Fulber, born in Vancouver in 1970, is a producer and musician working in industrial, EBM and ambient music. From 1986 he contributed to early Front Line Assembly releases alongside Bill Leeb before taking a central role in Delerium.
Through the late 1980s and 1990s Fulber shaped albums such as “Tactical Neural Implant” (1992) and “Hard Wired” (1995) with Front Line Assembly, and “Semantic Spaces” (1994) and “Karma” (1997) with Delerium, whose single “Silence”, featuring Sarah McLachlan, became an international success. He and Leeb also ran side projects including Synaesthesia and Intermix, while Fulber co-founded Will and later launched the solo project Conjure One.
Since 2017 Fulber has released a run of solo albums, among them “Your Dystopia, My Utopia” (2018), “Ostalgia” (2019), “Brutal Nature” (2021) and “Collapsing Empires” (2022), on labels such as Sonic Groove and aufnahme + wiedergabe and his own FR Recordings. He also works as a producer in rock and metal, most notably on Fear Factory’s “Demanufacture” (1995).
“Memory Impulse Autonomy”, released on 5 September 2025, is his debut solo album for Artoffact Records and features guest vocals from William Maybelline (Qual/Lebanon Hanover), Barkosina (Years of Denial) and Konstantin Unwohl.
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.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
