When I last encountered Prometheus Burning, it was in the review I did last year for their 'Plague called HuMANity' album last year. While they certainly got my attention, I felt that the album was underdeveloped and somewhat monotonous. It seems as though the deficiencies have been corrected on 'Displacement Disorder' to a large degree, at least on the first disc. We'll get to disc 2 later.

The physical album is 2 CDs in a DVD box, Limited Edition of 500. The electronic download is unlimited I guess. Since the electronic download is considerably cheaper, I'd recommend that, if you were considering a purchase. But who knows? The limited edition could be worth a lot more'¦someday. The artwork on the case by Paul McCarroll is suitably disturbing, which is just the way Prometheus Burning likes it.

On this album we have Nikki Telladictorian (vox, lyrics, keys, audioweevil, electric violin); Greg VanEck (production, modular synths, drum machines, sequencing); Nick Vasculator (additional programming on Disc 2). That's pretty much the same crew as their last album (minus Nick, who did tour support in 2009 for the band), although Nikki and Greg are the responsible parties for Disc 1, which is where we begin. After about 40 or so seconds of sampled dialogue about 'Rites of Passage,' the opening track 'Violator' comes barreling at you full-throttle like your worst industrial nightmare; pounding, pulsating, relentless in it's execution. Nikki's shouted and screamed vocals bitchslap your ears with reckless abandon. WOW! What an opening. 'Suffering in Silence' is anything but silent. Crunchy, pounding hardcore industrial percussion, a spooky synth-line and Nikki's surly vox ' You wrote me a letter'¦you wrote me DEATH'¦.this is how you like me best'¦suffering in silence'¦' This is one noisy, malevolent album, but focused in its attack. 'Mindbenders' is a track that has got to rock the dancefloor and get those rivethead platforms a stompin'. Only sampled dialogue vocals on that one, but it works great.

'Anonymous Death Threats' was inspired by real death threats left on Nikki's blog in 2009. For the life of me, I can understand why anyone would want to post death threats to such a sweet, innocent girl. (Yeah, right.) Seriously though, death threats are uncool, and this was Nikki's way of exorcising them, or at least showing how controversial she might be. From what I've seen of the band on YouTube videos, Nikki has the potential to be the Lady Gaga of the industrial world. She just needs a bigger costume budget. The raspy vocals on this track sound stereotypically industrial, but atypical of Nikki's vox, but there's no other vocalist credited, so go figure.

The beast is unleashed in 'Unpleasant Presence,' left to rampage all over your city like Godzilla. 'Flesh Addict' [Nikki's Big Flapping Vagina Mix] is the most accessible and least noisy track on the album, being somewhat minimal and straightforward mid-tempo dancefloor fodder. Telladictorian's lyrics ridicule goth club divas ' 'Don't trip on those platform boots, Pony falls weighing you down, I can see your makeup is running, You cake it on like a clown'¦Is your corset too tight? Glow sticks making you frown? Queen bitch at the goth club, I spit on your crown!' Hey, Nikki, is this the pot calling the kettle black? I know it's satire, but these kids are the ones buying the tickets to your shows! Still, I like the songs with Nikki's voice on them better than the ones with the other more traditional raspy masculine vocals which just sound like any other industrial band. And there are more of those in later tracks.

There is a lot of raucous, noisy circuit-bending going in some tracks that follow; in fact, aside from tortured dialogue vocal samples, that's about all there is in 'The Ultimate Evil'. We get a reprise of 'Violator' [remixed by Imminent], which is a good deal longer, and even noisier than the first version. Sounded a bit aurally dull to me though and lost some of its brutal impact. Tracks 11 & 12 are just a minute each of blank spaces before you get to the bonus track, 'October'. It's an instrumental that largely consists of mid to high frequency feedbacky drones and overtones. This probably would have been best saved for the second disc, in my opinion.

Speaking of the second disc, which is titled 'Four Pi Movement ' Murder in the Raw,' I was really looking forward to it knowing it was experimental and recorded live using only modular and hardware devices. My first experiences on disc 2 were rather unpleasant, and I couldn't even make it all the way through the first time around. This is nothing like disc 1 and is sure to appeal only to those who are absolute noisecore freaks. Most of the 13 tracks (+9 one minute+ blanks before the 13th) are harsh, punishing. brutal noise pieces from which random synthetic effluvia often emerges like a broken low-tech video game. There is a lot of different stuff going on, and the real noise enthusiast will be rewarded, but at the price of sanity. One problem I noticed was a lack of contrast in dynamics. On nearly every track, when things get going, they're full-throttle, leaving little ambient breathing space. Perhaps this is a consequence of doing it all live, but it wears out the ears quickly. 'Four Pi Movement' is one of the most brutal noise assaults I've heard in a long time. Absolutely relentless and uncompromising with few exceptions. There is sort of a respite on track 5, 'The Shadow People Take Control,' which is somewhat less caustic, but the grinding bass might shred your subwoofer (or cause light objects in the room to vibrate off shelves, if the volume is loud enough). I've reviewed (and often enjoyed) a fair amount of noise artists in my time, but I was hard-pressed to make it through this entire disc. On a purely aesthetic level, it's a remarkable achievement, especially for being recorded live. On the other hand, there are few people with the audial stamina to take it. I would have appreciated more breaks and spaces, dynamic shifts and lower key ambience interspersed with the sonic outbursts, but it is what it is.

I'd give 'Displacement Disorder' 4 stars because for the most part it's a very good industrial/noise album that packs a wallop and is largely focused and somewhat accessible without commercial concession. I can only give 'Four Pi Movement' 2.5 stars as it is a very difficult and problematic listen. That equals out to 3.5 stars. There might be some redeeming utilitarian value to 'Four Pi Movement' though; it could clear out a crowded room pretty quick, and should get terrorists to talk better than water-boarding. In any case, Prometheus Burning have assuredly carved out a niche for themselves in the world of industrial music, and if they ever plan to play any live dates in Ithaca, I'd be sorely tempted go see them. And that's saying a lot, since I don't go out much anymore.

This Cd compiles two lp's originally released in 2004 and 2005 by Troum, a project coming from Germany. The 9 composition alternate some low volume deep drones and a synth oriented ambient with a pretty majestic mood layering on it. The more Troum go on the drone side, mostly on the second part of the cd, the more they become interesting. The synth part are a bit spoiled when it comes to sound, though they don't lack a certain kind of atmosphere, a darkened one of course. The tracks "O choros ton epithymion" shows a more percussive feeling and in conjunction with some invasive drones probably gives birth to the most intense moment of the cd. Interesting but not mandatory.

Another release for the polish Zoharum. Horologium come from Poland as well. They have several releases out, and this cd compiles a couple of early cdr's released in 2005 with the addition of 3 live songs. Horologium seem to be very active in the neo-folk scene, also from the live concerts side, though this cd shows a large number of composition with several elements combined. There's synth ambient for sure, a gloomy kind of one, some orchestral arrangements, samples, creepy noises, industrial elements sounds here and there, organ parts, a martial fascination that band seems to possess, and that allegedly will become a trademark for Horologium. Probably the feeling is enforced by the fact that this cd compiles different releases, but it seems that the mix of different elements not always works, it's like a collage that sometimes fails in being organic rather than being appealing. Interesting for the fans who want to rediscover the roots of Horologium. Digipack packaging.

Hailing from Hungary, Woodland Choir, a.k.a. Attila Bakos, the mind and the arm behind the project, is not on the usual side of art. It's more common to see art-works springing from tormented souls, states of sorrow, anger, frustration, basically negative feelings stimulating creativity. The main concept behind Woodland Choir refers to love for life, serenity, hope. Something pretty unusual mirrored by those 9 songs based on peaceful and melodic acoustic guitar arpeggios. Vocals are added, sometimes choirs, occasional flute and synth, creating a calm atmosphere where's there's no place for melancholy. It's rather the soundtrack for a contemplative sunny morning in the countryside in the middle of nowhere. This is fully that acoustic/folk the label is writing about. The aim is achieved though the vocal parts sometimes rate not the best ones. As far as my knowledge of hungarian folk goes there's no trace of it if it's a question that comes to your mind

ADVANCED FUNK VOL.1 is the first vinyl release of Binalog Productions and it contains twelve tracks/international artists on the double vinyl edition and seventeen into its digital edition. Electro funk born in the 80s as genre, taking inspiration from the robotic electronic music of Kraftwerk and mixed it with hip-hop and dance. The first bands to be filed under this genre were Africa Bambaata, Cybotron and Newcleus (to name few). During the years the genre mutated (nowadays some acts sound darker paragoned to the electro funk originators) but some characteristics such as the syncopated rhythms, the use of vocoder and the analog synth sounds remain a must. ADVANCED FUNK VOL.1 gathers many new producers as well as people who have been involved into the scene since the 80s but never released tracks (Dj Mirage and DJ Xed are two of them) and others that released something during that decade (LekroiD). Coming from Spain, Eleztrik Body, open the compilation with "Future lo-fi", a classic dark sounding bouncing track. R21 from England (I already reviewed their new E.P.), with "Minimum", is a bit less dark but keep high the level of adrenalin with fast bass lines, filtered vocal samples and atmospheric laser like sounds. Hitachi II from Czech Republic, with "Tokio city", show his love for manga comics mixing happy melodic lines with hard beats and atmospheric long synth pads. Darxid is next with "Eternity", a track which mix electro and a bit of breakbeat. Dj Xed, helped by Dj K1, is here with a classic electro funk tune based on bass synth lines, freaky synth sounds and mysterious vocals. Morphogenetic from U.S.A. (headed by Santino Fernandez, one of the two people behind Fundamental Bass Intelligence) present "The secret war", a track based on dark melodies, stops and go and spacey sounds. Dj Mirage is in the house with "ElectroMech", a massive tune that sounds really powerful, robotic and epic. Paul Blackford's first release was on Dmx Krew's Breakin' Records and he's here with "Bacteria", an anxious mix of analog electro and Detroit techno. Alavux is Goran Alavuk from Serbia and "Natasha's funk" is a mix of acid, electro and techno which grows little by little adding melodies and rhythms step by step. Prototype from Germany allowed Binalog Freq to remix "Stimme der energie", which now sounds like a fresh mix of electro and techno. LekroiD, inspired by Kraftwerk, bring in "Parametric shift", a vocoder driven cool tune with catchy melodies (if you love Mandroid check this one). UKV are a duo from Croatia and "Mizar" is their track which mixes ambient techno intuitions with electro funk rhythms. From Poland, Robodrum is the first act to be only on the digital edition of AF1 with their "Army of droids", a robotic doped track with hypnotic sounds and powerful drum beats. Dwellz Rawkz is coming from Miami and it could be perfect for his city label Transient Force, thanks to electro distorted sounds and techno influences. The Boyz From Tronn with "The rock", bring some old school sounds into the compilation and if I were you, I'd check also their first album "Galaxy"! From Netherlands (just like The Boyz From Tronn), Ctrl.Alt.Del, with "Nightvision (GPS updated)", are here with an experimental robotic sci-fi tune which sounds like Dopplereffekt on drugs. George Tsakiris feat. Binalog close the compilation with "Afro spacecraft" an upbeat cool tune full of bouncing bass lines, spacey leads and crazy rhythmic lines. The compilation is officially out today and if you want to check it, Evangelos is giving away for free a megamix reworked by Spotta. Check it, now! P.s. For the digital edition, here's the link http://www.junodownload.com/products/advanced-funk-vol-1/1636234-02/?ref=dlk