V/A Forms Of Hands 20 (Album – Hands)

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Industrial-Techno, Experimental.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: The German Hands label is without a shadow of a doubt one of the Industrial leading companies of this scene. Hands this year celebrates its 30th anniversary while the legendary label compilation “Forms Of Hands” celebrates its 20th anniversary. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual festival was postponed to 2020, but the compilation is still there to please the fans of Industrial music. Fourteen bands have been selected!
Artists: >1979<, Last Days Of S.E.X., Maschinenkrieger KR52, MS Gentur, Mono No Aware, Ah Cama-Sotz, Orphx, Strobo.Lolita, MDD, Proyecto Mirage, Greyhound, Nullvektor, Monolith, Winterkälte.
Content: This sampler gives the listeners a perfect summary and taste of the Hands roster. There’s a mix of ‘traditional’ Industrial and Rhythmic-Noise bands (Greyhound, Last Days Of S.E.X…) and more contemporary Industrial terrorists, mixing Industrial- and Techno music (Ah Cama-Sotz, Orphx, Strobo.Lolita, Monolith…). Somewhere in between you’ve the minimalism of projects such as Nullvektor and Proyecto Mirage. This compilation is hard and danceable, but still diversified.
+ + + : When you just have a look at the tracklist, you know why Hands is one of the leading labels of Industrial music –and probably ‘the’ leading one… the number of big names is impressive. Artists such as Orphx, Monolith, Winterkälte, Ah Cama-Sotz and Greyhound don’t need any further introduction, but can even after years of involvement still take me by surprise. I also have to mention one of the new signed bands, Strobo.Lolita also took me by surprise and has recently released a great debut opus. The comeback of Proyecto Mirage is another major thing.
– – – : Each compilation has its favorites and others that can’t totally convince me; luckily there’s nothing to throw away here.
Conclusion: No festival this year; but F*** the pandemic! Here’s the twentieth chapter of “Forms Of Hands” and I can tell you, it’s a great vintage!
Best bands: Strobo.Lolita, Proyecto Mirage, Monolith, Ah Cama-Sotz, MS Gentur, Orphx.
Rate: (8).
Label: www.handsproductions.com / www.facebook.com/hands.official
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.

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.

