Formed by PT, a guy who in the 90's was playing with Sonic Violence, Gusto Extermination Fluid is his outfit for his soundtrack to a decaying world. Mixing industrial, dub and dark ambient, PT composed the ten tracks you can find into his first album (available on CD and download mp3 files). The tracks are ten nice instrumental soundtracks which mix elements of the above genres trying to creating a new blend. For example, if "Scurvysh" is based on obsessive industrial percussions, "Bee tick" (one of the best ones of the lot), is dealing with slow dub/dark ambient atmospheres succeeding into creating a thick atmosphere. On other tracks, like "Below" or "Horselip", PT tries to find a personal way of dealing with the sounds and he made two particular orchestral/ambient/industrial tracks. The only weak point I found about his compositions is that in the process, sometimes, he lose the power and the ambience peculiar to the genres he took inspiration from. This isn't a great loss if these elements are substituted by creativity. This is the main point, some tracks don't seem to develop the initial idea, so they sound like good intuitions that need something more. His work is to be appreciated anyway, because he tries to deal with known sounds in a personal way. Sometimes he succeeds and sometimes he don't but the album does for sure sounds interesting.

Born as a solo :Bahntier// side project, Detune-X with this new PUREVIL see the project become a duo thanks to Eric Van Wonterghem (Sonar, Monolith, Insekt). The twelve tracks of the album sound like a never ending party of industrial hypnotic sounds. Based mainly on rhythm variations the duo created a thick soundtrack like experience, blending rhythm layers, drones and some ambient solutions. Of the lot I preferred the tracks that had also some drones and samples because I like rhythm but when it become the main thing and the album turns into a modern tribal hypnotic experience I tend to lost my concentration but if you are into these sounds and you are picky about sound production, this could be the right one for you.

Second chapter of the SCHLAGSTROM saga and released for the fourth edition of the festival, this new double compilation shows all the highs and lows of nowadays industrial noise scene. If most of the tracks are good at creating a rhythmic web of sound where your senses are tested by torrents of distorted noises and are able to change the atmosphere in a moment being able to catch your attention (the best of the lot are Empusae, Sonar, Insekt, P.A.L., Muckrackers, Hybrids, "Bahntier and Desdemona), most of the remaining ones tend to stuck their sound into a pure "Sturm und Drang" style where the nihilistic approach wins on the creativity. This approach brings you tracks based on the repetition of few sounds distorted as much as possible which personally don't convince me that much. Fortunately the highs are many and most of the tracks are exclusive to this release, so if you are a lover of the genre there are many interesting points to check...

After seven years from their latest release, Sigillum S (Eraldo Bernocchi, Paolo Bandera and Luca Digiorgio) are back to celebrate their twenty years of activity. The new album 23120 has been issued as CD and limited double vinyl and they differ because they have seven exclusive tracks each, for a total of 23 new tracks. At the moment I received only the CD edition, so I'm going to talk about that one. I know Sigillum S since day one and I must say that I appreciated a lot their early stuff and a bit less the "Malattia" saga, musically talking. With 23120 they are back with a sound that sum twenty years of musical experiences that the trio had with Sigillum S and also with many other projects (Eraldo collaborated with many dub/experimental music gods as well as Paolo gathered many recordings under the Sshe Retina Stimulants moniker where we can see him as noise manipulator or under the Komplet one). As far as I understood Paolo gathered tons of sound sources (noises, electronics, samples, etc.) and Eraldo recorded and engineered everything. Many other people helped them with audio contributions (Andrea Marutti, Zu, Xabier Iriondo, Mark Solotroff to name few) and some tracks see also guests on vocals, guitars, etc. The sixteen tracks of the CD edition amaze first of all because the sound production and because the "thick" ambience they are able to create. If you want me to be more specific, I can talk about 23120 as a great obscure ambient dub album with many industrial and experimental inserts. You can find tension on each track and if on the dub/industrial crossover of "Soil-Borne Bacterium Root To Insect Pets & Safe To Higher" it explodes (thanks to the distorted vocals of Della Volpe), on tracks like "Legacy Of Identity Politics (Kill, Kill, Kill)" (which reminds the sound of one of their old tapes "Bardo Thos-Ghrol) or "Adventurous Contemporary Tune" is something more subtle, more like a crawling sensation. Great sounds and great atmospheres are making of this album a really good come back for Sigillum S. Do yourself a favor and check it!

After having discovered John David Karlgren’s project available on some well-achieved compilation like "Interbreeding VII" or the last "Burn/Evolve/Progress" compilation I was expecting a very near to FLA-like output of this debut release. But TERROR PUNK SYNDICATE’s musically horizon goes further and a simplification on only the FLA-formula is invalid. TPS combines some of the Leeb-esques structures like already offered with "Dysmorphia (Epicentre Version)" on the mentioned compilations with a rather classic Coldwave/Industrial-sound – the rich given info in the art names among others MINISTRY, KMFDM, NIN or PUPPY to be quells of inspiration. This somehow fits very well, and it has to be mentioned that John uses his art to inform the listener about his dedication. I find it quite funny that he explains, that the band name TERROR PUNK SYNDICATE was suggested by a band name generator and has no significant meaning – I would use this name to baptize a notorious forum :-D...
Well, back on topic, this TERROR PUNK SYNDICATE debut therefore doesn’t follow the Trance/Techno-driven ultimate Hellektro-power, though the band name may suggests this. It is classic structured and composed with angry lyrics and an enraged male vocal performance reminding me in the clear and natural sounding moments ("Dark Is The Psyche Of Man") a bit on BLUE EYED CHRIST (...and I refer ONLY on the EBM-related releases a long time out of print on KK Records...). Straight and linear produced ripping synth bass lines unite well with guitar riffs, also some rhythmic D’n’B-loops are featured as well, this album offers several highlights like "Horizon (Version)" (conspicuous melodic with harsher effected vocals), "Respect" (moves forward and should cause action on the dancefloors...), "I Wish I Was Retarded" (excellent ironic lyrics causing a smile), "Transhuman Dream" (kind of a Pop-song, maybe? Catchy as hell and excellent vocoder effects on the vocals...) and "Animal Love" (a "hot" theme with some sheep-samples, funny and sarcastic interpreted...).
And although that the EBM-purists maybe a bit frightened by the included guitar riffs and the generally American-sounding outfit, this album acts well like a long missed friend. Isn’t it funny how some newcomer acts seriously think about to escape the currently happened musically stagnancy by integrating the ideas of some veteran acts? Maybe the times 10 – 15 years before were better – musically I have to agree and would undersign this claim – this fine debut is an excellent proof.