Review: Front Line Assembly member Rhys Fulber returns to deliver his third artist album for Sonic Groove. As before, his ability to take a wider view of industrial is audible from the get-go, with the punishing, bruising rhythm of "Concrete Cogitation" imbued with neo-classical strings and the dense rumble of "Collapsing Empires" breaking into wired electronic blips. Sandwiched in between heads-down numbers like "Glory to Labour", Fulber also impresses with his ventures into home listening soundscapes, and the atmospheric "Dead Reckon" the ominous swells of "Transfiguration". The dramatic, haunting tones of "Empire Collapse" also shows that Collapsing Empires was designed for the mind as much as the feet.
Review: There is no doubt that Sonic Groove is one of techno music's most seminal labels, and it now celebrates reaching a quarter century with a compilation of unreleased tracks from its roster of artists. Veteran producers The Source Experience and Italy's Max Durante deliver pounding, ebm-themed club tracks, while Orphx descend down their trademark signature route on the growling, acid-heavy "Revolt & Love". Dasha Rush's pulsating "Romance 22" is sure to appeal to those who prefer a less abrasive approach, but Sonic Groove's association with pared back, industrial techno is best encapsulated by label owner Adam X's stepping, brooding "Standing the Test of Time."
Review: Mathis Mootz aka The Panacea was originally known for his drum'n'bass releases, but changed course and now does a face-melting variation on hard techno. As the title track on Boundaries, his second release for Sonic Groove demonstrates, he hasn't lost his love of break beats - and the grinding, pile-driving track occasionally drops into breaks and sped-up, hardcore vocal samples. "Fibre Optix" is somewhat more restrained, but while the tempo is less hectic, the arrangement still implodes in a wall of acid-drenched noise. "The Sign" sees Mootz veer down an industrial route as a streamlined, pulsating groove underpins tortured vocal samples, while "Walrus" marks a return of those unmistakable break beats, this time supporting distorted noise.
Review: Electronic music doesn't get much darker than Orphx. They were last seen back in 2016 with the excellent Pitch Black Mirror album, and thankfully, not much has changed since. The industrial duo still blend noise, techno and ebm better than anyone else. This fusion is audible on the menacing, stepping opener, "Solipisit", which veers off into acrid acid or on the pummelling, pounding rhythm of "Bare Life", which features abstract noise and searing guitars in the background. On the furious, frenetic rhythms of "Pain is the Teacher", it sounds like Rich Oddie has taken to the mic to dispense the quick pace vocal lines, while "Tröma Nakmo" is a pounding, distorted banger.
Review: Veteran artist Max Durante continues his relationship with Sonic Groove with this killer, 80s-influenced EP. "New Belgian Resistance" is an oppressive ebm/techno workout that resounds to a throbbing, pulsating bass and cold, robotic drums. "Molotov" is slower but just as menacing, with the Italian artist delivering a low-slung, acid-laced groove that will appeal to fans of original New Beat but also to contemporary artists like The Hacker. "Machine Gun" is like a halfway house between both of these tracks. with Durante laying down an unflinching rhythm laden down with shrieking vocal samples. Closing out the release is "Born From Pain", a slowed down workout with sharp percussive bursts that shows Durante is adept at applying his love of EBM to differing tempos.
Review: Rhys Fulber is a veteran producer who was best known for his work as part of Front Line Assembly. Your Dystopia is his debut album under his own name, and it's a bleak but enthralling affair. From the dense, stepping breaks of "Cognitivia" and "Inhabits Eternity" - where a creepy vocal insinuates itself into the arrangement - through the pounding, ebm-fuelled "Limited Vision" and "Creosote", and the tough techno of "Truncheon", a bleak mood hangs over each track. While it is more visceral than Fulber's storied back catalogue as Front Line Assembly, pieces like "Anhedonia" do imagine the brutal, dystopian world that Fulber has always hinted at with irresistible malevolence.
Review: With a background in hip-hop and drum'n'bass, The Panacea, aka Mathis Mootz has been challenging audiences since the mid-90s. Now focusing on 4/4 based tracks, the German producer has made a slight name change (it was previously just 'Panacea') to reflect his latest artistic shift. This four-tracker on Adam X's label pushes the conventional notion of techno to its very limits. "Above the Absolute 96" combines pounding kicks and PCP Trax-like hardcore riffs. It sets the scene for "Most Basic Resolution", which sees Mootz up the tempo and drive a muddy bass through a sea of distorted noise. "Overdrive EE" is, despite its name, somewhat more restrained, before Mootz goes in for the kill with the hammering, ebm-on-steroids of "Walter".
Review: Birmingham's Rebekah follows through with another powerful display of techno aggression for Adam X's esteemed industrial electronics imprint. The CLR and Soma Recordings affiliated artist follows up a great release on her own Decoy imprint with the Into The Black EP - and it's a fitting title really. These four techno weapons are pitch black to be precise! The abrasive and shredding onslaught of opening track "Loose Mechanics" sets the theme of the EP immediately while the brooding and contorted techno of the title track brings down the tempo, but certainly not the violence. Tunnelling and heads down techno for strobe-lit warehouse spaces is catered for on the functional "Conquest" while "War Cry" shows off another side of her sonic personality on this somewhat evocative yet dystopian journey through the electro sound. Highly recommended, however please handle with caution!
Review: Post Scriptum previously released an album on Function's Infrastructure label - now Until You Drop sees him combine his techno background with industrial elements. On "Dark As You Like", this takes the shape of menacing vocals and a twisted, broken beat backing track. It's noisy, eerie and unusual - like Perc getting it on with Trent Reznor. "Drop Zone" is more dance floor friendly, revolving around a noisy, scratchy rhythm, while "You Won't Find Me" sees Post Scriptum up the ante to deliver a throbbing, industrial techno groove, similar in sound to Orphx. It's a bruising, adventurous release from one of techno's most individualistic artists.
Review: Terence Fixmer and Douglas McCarthy are what you would class as big dawgs in the house and techno game. The two have been present and very much in the frontline since the turn of the millennium, but their collaborative project under the Fixmer/McCarthy banner has been more of a recent conception. They've released plenty of effective dance material for Fixmer's own Planet Rouge imprint so, it was time to branch out, and what better way to do that then release an EP for Adam X's gnarly Sonic Groove? The label's been a staple of the NYC techno diet since the 90s, and it really is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down as it reaches its 30 year birthday. There's two cuts to the electrifying "Chemicals" tune, a first version with the vocals intact, and a second instrumental cut; the base of the tune is high-powered techno with a bubbling electro bass line, and a malevolent flurry of punked-out vocalism. "Wrong Planet" is a stranger sort of beast, a tune that lurks in the depths of the techno underbelly, but that has no problems in launching continuous arial threats in the form of sinister screams and spectral melodies. Enter if you dare...
Review: Joey Blush's Blush Response feels like the perfect blend of two huge, game-changing dynasties in electronic music - the world of New York City, and that of Germany's capital, Berlin. The uncompromising producer now has an impressive catalogue behind him, and also a real reason to claim some of that inimitable EMB flavor, a style that he's managed to warp and twist with utter grace. Interestingly, he appears on Sonic Groove, the legendary NYC techno label, but this feels just right. A bold move for both producer and imprint. "Beyond Flesh" is a poisonous, acid-laden cocktail driven by a rugged sense of industrialism, while "Unclean Spirit" wastes no time, and just rolls the guns out from all angles. "Machine God" is a screaming pile-driver of a tune, bleached in a distorted infusion of machine drums, whereas "Instrumentality" rolls its drums and big-room synth into outer space, leaving the listener wondering why techno hasn't sounded this good in years.
Review: Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but clearly not for Orphx. Following a series of EPs on Adam X's label, the industrial duo now release their thirteenth studio album and their first long player to feature on Sonic Groove. Mirror has no shortage of the gut-busting broken beat workouts that the project is best known for, best demonstrated on "Sever The Signal" and "Blood In The Streets". Orphx also show that they are equally adept at straight down the line techno - evident on the tortured shrieks and distorted kicks of "Molten Heart" and the deranged acid of "Zero Hour" - but they also effortlessly conjure up the atmospheric, sound scapes of "Walk Into The Broken Night" and the title track.
Review: Despite the fact that Adam 'X' Mitchell has two high-profile projects on the go - ADMX-71 and Traversable Wormhole - he has still managed to craft this hard-hitting release under his own name. Bedeviled starts with "Antagonistic" which yields pile-driving kicks; hissing piston percussion and horror chord stabs. "Psychological Tormentor" comes next. Like Traversable Wormhole on steroids it certainly lives up to its title thanks to its gut-busting bass and malignant stepping rhythm. Rounding off this display of techno ferocity is "Breaking Thru Your Force Field" where Mitchell pits a murderous grungy bass against cold trance riffs for a ride through the darkest alleys of cyber-punk terror.
Review: Durante has been one of the leading lights in Rome's techno scene since the early '90s, and this release relives those heady days. Like an update of the pounding techno from that period, Durante's second EP on Adam X's label is a proper heads down affair. The aptly named "Human Rage" and "Riot R94" revolve around relentless kick drums and noisy, repetitive stabs. "The Resistance" sees Durante slow down the tempo and add in some eerie, atmospheric textures, but this release's natural home is on the barricades with fists raised as the break beat-led peak time of "Tension on Rigaer Strasse" demonstrates.
Review: The latest addition to the Sonic Groove roster is UNC, a producer from Italy. He opens his account on the US label with "Shesha", a spellbindingly hypnotic techno groove, which sounds like it was recorded at 20,000 leagues beneath the sea. By contrast, "Xellerate" is a densely tangled web of broken beats that is too abstract to work on the dance floor. "Anarchemy" sees UNC back in club mode with its dense, slamming beats and thundering, stepping rhythm hitting the listener like a breezeblock in the face. Finally, there's "Sanskrit Vinyasa"; with its nagging, insistent percussion and snaking bass, it is UNC's most subtle and sophisticated production so far.
Review: Eric van Wonterghem follows his 2014 release, Near Crash, on Adam X's label with this visceral four-tracker. Time Running Out is in a similar vein to his Sonic Groove debut; "Construct" sets the tone with its noisy, crunchy beats and insistent, relentless rhythm. "Deconstruct" is based on broken beats, but is also distorted and raw, climaxing in an explosion of white noise. "Ghost Cities" sees the Belgian producer deliver a cleaner, more linear approach, although droning grey clouds hover over the arrangement, but it's only a temporary reprieve for the listener, and the broken beats and lurching bass of "Time" brings the release to a powerful end.
Review: Apparently, Andreas Andreasson aka Diagenetic Origin is a tattoo artist. Whatever about his day work, he certainly leaves his mark with this release for Sonic Groove. The title track is underscored by pummeling, tribal beats, but is laden down with deep textures. It's also not indicative of where Andreasson's mind is at generally on this record. Certainly on "Telepathic Future" it sounds like he is in a foul mood, as broken beats are set to a stepping rhythm, while "Parallel Realities", with its pumping rhythm and booming bass, confirms that he is in a dark place. However, he moves back to a more considered pace for the final track, the slow, hammering beats and resonant bass of "The Awakening".
Review: The Grounded Theory resident continues his fruitful relationship with Adam X's label. At one end of the spectrum there's "Everyday Life", a stripped back minimal track that features spaced out vocals moving in and out of the arrangement. "Empire Down" is Baer's interpretation of acid, with a grinding bass and eerie soundscapes fused with insistent bleeps, while "Say Nothing To No One" marks the harder end of his sound as screeching riffs and broken rhythms are underpinned by punishing kicks. However, the standout track is "On Craft (SFT mix)", where Baer combines relentless claps and 909s for the kind of analogue workout you'd expect to hear on an old Djax-Up Beats record.
Review: Italian producer Durante delivers an intense, brooding work for Adam X's label. "Italian Decay" would have been an apt name for a release which stays on the darker side of the techno sound, and that track's stepping rhythm and dark, snappy drums set the tone for this bleak three-tracker. The mood darkens considerably on "Kreuzberg", where a similar rhythm is fused with razor sharp hi hats and lumbering kicks. However, the track that really encapsulates Durante's mood is "Ansia"; starting with a brooding sound scape, it gradually descends into the kind of intense, claustrophobic rhythm track that could easily pass as a soundtrack to Dante's seventh level of hell.
It's Some Men's Faith To Face Great Darkness - (6:41) 86 BPM
Untold Secrets - (5:29) 124 BPM
The Cut - (6:11) 83 BPM
Skagerrak - (5:32) 120 BPM
Review: Danish duo Northern Structures make their fifth appearance on Adam X's label, and like the previous releases, Pressure strikes a balance between eerie atmospherics and subtle but bleak industrial rhythms. The rather grandly titled "It's Some Men's Faith To Face Great Darkness" is the best example of these two approaches coming together as stripped back broken beats provide the basis for creepy, swirling textures that hang like ghosts over a swamp. "Untold Secrets" is more subtle and the beats are rickety, but the duo quickly swings back towards a menacing approach. "The Cut" sounds like Hoover bass caked in layers of soot, while "Skagerrak" is a dense, clanging rhythm that sounds like the pair is dropping metal bars down a lift shaft.
Review: Always one to charge into more interesting corners of the techno world, Adam X is in fine fettle as he drops his latest album for Sonic Groove, the first on his own label since 1998's Audiobiography. The tone is very much stout and stern, from the industrial-tinged drum hits to the cold and eerie synth content, but of course it's in the rhythmic department where Adam X really shines. At every turn there are intriguing grooves to latch onto, from the drunken lope of the title track with its anthemic hip hop vocal rip, to the opening broken techno drama of "Interchanges". There are more stripped down moments such as the restrained cycles of "Catenary", and some piston pumping bangers like "On The Verge Of Decimation", making this an engaging listen as well as a great collection of techno tracks.
Review: This is the first Orphx release on Sonic Groove this year and it sounds like there has been no change to the Canadian duo's modus operandi. "What Will Burn" is a pulsating groove that sounds increasingly hypnotic and menacing as it snakes its way over steely drums. "Drowning For You" is similar in sound to 2010's Black Light release - also on Sonic Groove - its brooding bass underpinned by chattering beats and percussive volleys. Finally, there's "Tangled Paths". Less oppressive than Orphx's usual approach, its stepping rhythms and lumbering drums suggest that Oddie and Sealey are sometimes not quite as serious as their catalogue suggests.
Review: Swedish producer Andreas Andrasson returns to Adam X's label with a third instalment of punishing, relentless grooves. "Cycles" kick-starts the release with a tough, pumping rhythm and dark swarms of chords, while "Question" follows in a similar vein, its robust, jacking groove strengthened by distorted beats, firing percussion and a disturbing vocal sample. "Galaxy" sees Andrasson up the tempo even more, as deranged stabs and insane percussive volleys propel the groove onwards and upwards. Finally, on "Heart" Andrasson reveals his more abrasive and experimental side; crunchy beats and stepping rhythms are subsumed by waves of distorted noise as the Swedish producer rips up the rulebook.
Review: Scandinavian act Northern Structures has put out a series of brilliant - albeit bleak - releases on Adam X's label. This fourth instalment ploughs a similar furrow to previous records, and the focus is on broken beats, tunnelling grooves and frazzled electronic effects. In places, like on "Eastern Structure", the sense of menace is understated, and "Northern Bridge" sees atmospheric soundscapes emerge from its creaky rhythms. In the main though, this is a relentless release; "Eastern Bridge" is a ferocious stomper and "Northern Structure" is a bleep-heavy, distorted affair, its grainy rhythms containing the kind of sledgehammer beats that make Thor, the god of thunder, sound like a shy, retiring wuss.
