Mikroben Krieg is the project of Nelson L. Brites from Leiria, Portugal. Founded way back in 1995, this marks MK's 6th release since 1999. Self categorized as 'intelligent tribal electro ambient industrial,' I suppose I can agree with the tag. Brites has a few guests here to help him out on 'Final Cut' ' Caita Brites (accordion on Nightmare Dance'); Carlos Matos (lyrics and vocals on 'Inimputavel'); Nuno Cruz (keyboards on 'Soul Engineering') and Rui Francisco (angle grinder on 'Nightmare Dance'). Angle grinder? Just what the hell IS an angle grinder? I guess it's some kind of power tool. I was never much one for machine shop toys.

From the opening track, 'Soul Engineering,' I had high hopes for this album. It's mysterious and somewhat eerie; an atmospheric mid-tempo instrumental opening with a haunting descending piano triplet riff over industrial beats, sequenced bass and dark cinematic effluvia. It is a rather strong and effective mood-setting intro. At the end the voice comes in speaking in Portuguese. Sorry, not up on my Portuguese, so it was lost to me, but it sounded ominous anyway.

'Sleepwalkers' (in English, fortunately) immediately jettisoned me back in time to Front 242's 'Tyranny' album, and 'Soul Manager' in particular. The vocals might have had a something to do with it too. It wouldn't be the last time I noticed similarities between MK and Front 242 either. Unfortunately, that by itself is not enough to win me over. The crunchy rhythm on 'Sleepwalkers' is pretty good and it does have a nice dark tone to the atmosphere, seething with foreboding. Synth-work is sort of minimal but effective. Nice track.

What happens after this though takes it down a notch or three. Over bubbling sequenced synth bass and rumbling percussion the vocal track is all SAMPLED DIALOGUE. Now if you're a regular reader of my (often infrequent) reviews here, you KNOW how I feel about the overuse of sampled dialogue, no matter what the source, especially when it serves to replace, rather than enhance a vocal track by the artist. Long passages seem no more than babble, and even though the sampled dialogue here is in English, it's still babble to me. I could care less. The music was good on 'Scene Memory,' but I would have rather heard vocal content from the artist.

'On 'The Responsive Ear' we have a rhythmically potent track with dramatic piano chords, but the vocal is lightweight (with lyrics in English) and really needs more oomph. The words I caught, 'I could try a little bit harder'¦' seemed appropriate. Yes, you could try a little bit harder, or get a vocalist with more power and drama. That would make a big difference. 'Jihad' brings back more lengthy dialogue samples over random sample-&-hold style synth sequences. Sounds like an overly-dramatic actress auditioning for a role at an electronic music workshop. 'Sinus Addicted' (now there's a title my nose can identify with) is yet again more lengthy dialogue babble over early Front 242-ish rhythms and rhythmic synths. By this time I'm realizing that the hopes I had at the opening track of 'Final Cut' are beginning to dissolve liked oil in chemical dispersant. The track just abruptly ends, giving the impression ' 'oops, we've had enough of this. 'Inimputavel' seems like a lament with lyrics and vocals in Portuguese by Carlos Matos. Maybe lamentable is a more accurate description. They sound impassioned, but much too soft for this kind of music. Must be something in the culture; I'm just not getting it. Musically, it's actually pretty good though with its Middle Eastern undertone. We're back to more sampled dialogue serving as the vocal track on Paradox,' and a rhythm track that is reminiscent of a Rhythm Ace drum machine. And once again, more sampled movie dialogue ('Angels in America') over rhythmic industrial ambience. This is really getting old now. The positive sentiments I held for the album at the outset have eroded like the ecosystem in the Gulf. Last track (before the remixes) 'Inquietude' brings back some real vocal content over more traditional drums mixed with tabla, and I'm grateful for anything that doesn't reek of sampled dialogue. I don't even care that the vocals are in Portuguese; they're adequate and that's fine with me.

The last five tracks are remixes of previous tracks on the album. The Eden Synthetic Corps remix of 'Sleepwalkers' is the best of the bunch; very club-worthy. As for the rest, I suppose they're okay as far as remixes go, but by this time I've had more than enough. If the artist here is open to a little unsolicited advice, I'd steer clear from dialogue samples on the next release, and get a vocalist with some power and dynamics. I see potential in Mikroben Krieg, but it hasn't been realized here on 'Final Cut'.