From the first few seconds of the opening "Propeller" you start shaking your ass. Yeah, it's cEvin and Phil with their twisted idm and they're in great shape! Uptempo rhythms surrounded by... a million layers of bleeps, noises, glitches, samples, pads, textures, oscillations and... oh, whatever! The sound is almost indescribable, amazingly crafted in its every little detail (although resembling with a mini-series of live studio jams), the pace is relentless, it leaves you breathless and sweaty (at least until the last 2 tracks, the beatless "Landed" and "Beati", a wonderful downtempo piece of electronica which features Dead Voices on Air's Mark Spybey on vocals), the aural assault is unprecedented. No favourites in this album, every track is ace, every track is a little bubbling seducer, a funky little beast, a crispy piece of Download's groovy insanity!
Released 2 years ago via Key's own SubConscious Communications, HElicopTEr (SUB40) was not only the group's (actually, since III, the duo of cEvin Key and Phil Western) 9th studio album, but yet another chance for some fuel to be dropped in the endless dispute between the traditional and the more open-minded fans of Skinny Puppy. A dedicated Puppy fan myself, i always found Download simply irresistible, definitely the group's most exciting side-project (although it's pretty apparent that it's Western who's mainly responsible for their incredible idm/techno sound) and i feel no shame to state that i really hailed their shift to more danceable stuff, since 1997's III. Dare i say too that i'm following SP since "Bites"...
The reason of this review is the recent re-issue of this album by Metropolis Records. It is now available also as a digital download, enhanced with 3 additional tracks which form the "Wookie Wall" EP, initially planned to be sold during 2010's "SubCon Beyond Fest" tour, but never materialized as a separate release. And, damn, these 3 tracks are great too (especially the chaotic techno of the last one, "Jark"). There's also a brand new cover by the one and only Simon Paul, responsible for many SubCon artworks, that somehow merges the original with the one that was designed for the EP (both by Simon).
The timing of this re-issue is ideal, because, after 4 and a half years, the brand new SP album is about to hit the streets (it's called "HanDover, it's really stunning and it will be out officially on Tuesday, October 25). Until then why don't you take a ride with HElicopTEr?!