Montreal-based Cyclic Law (label for dark/ritual/industrial music) put out the third full lenght album of Swedish death-industrial artist Markus Pesonen, a.k.a. Karjalan Sissit, presented in a gorgeous A5-sized textured 4 pages book with pictures of families and events from the first half of the last century. "Karjalasta Kajahtaa" brings us a wave of cold, isolationist, melancholic, blackish blend of industrial, ambient, neo classical and dark music. This album (produced by Peter Bjärgö at Erebus Odora) introduces the heavy presence of vocals, in the form of screams, inciting propaganda shouts, voices, chants and choirs (more about that in a minute), and has a quality and a dynamism that is rare to find, and above all lives two parallel lives: at first you'll encounter abhorrent and annihilating soundscapes that would perfecly match many of the old Cold Meat Industry roster's artists, but on the other side you'll be faced with these pompous, frighteningly real-sounding, teutonic-war-anthem-like compositions of choirs, percussions and orchestral arrangements that might remind of a grandiose combination of Laibach and Les Tamoures Du Bronx (and what union that would be!), stomping on industrial cans and generating other sorts of rhythmical fanfare, which scans the pace at which the quire belt out resounding hymns and the exalted brass section harmonizes and calls for action and advancement. To add to the general eastern-european vibe, the CD opens and closes with old traditional folk music in a language that seems croat or polish or something (I'm not sure). Indeed a great record of its kind, authentic, original, rare, powerful, mind-altering and disheartening.

The first few sampled seconds of the opening title-track, the art work (syringes ready to inject american flags), lyrics such as "don't pretend to know who you are 'cause your TV knows you best" immediately give it away: this is a band who's got something to say. "Dogmatic" is quick at throwing that wrench into the machine and does so with break-beat aggro-electronic music that is actually pretty interesting and anti-conformist itself. The band more or less evades the conventional EBM dogmas by limiting the use of sequenced synth patterns and concentrating on sounds, beats and the addition of scratchy guitar riffs that contribute to the strenght and the aggressiveness of their music. "Dogmatic" is pumping, throbbing, fast-paced, impactful, thought-provoking, ballsy and straight in your face, just as every industrial music record should be, pretty much. There's always room for improvement, but this is a great start, and it's only $7, so get your hands on it now.

This split CD portrays the musical skills of Exclipsect (Mason Yarnell - www.exclipsect.com) and Kaebin Yield (Nico De Gols, of Duncan Avoid fame - www.entity.be) and offers us a preview of what these individual artists' upcoming full lenght releases on Hive will sound like ("Phantom Optics" and Duncan Avoid's "Metaphysics", respectively). The two noise-breakcore shapers take their best shot at mixing raw rhythm noise with IDM, industrial and electronics. If the former is slightly more on the IDM/breakcore side, the latter definitely reaches for those spastic and broken beats that you wouldn't be surprised to hear from some Schematic records' digital hardcore artists such as 09, the Hearts of Darknesses, Shapeshifter. Qualitatively impressive and sonically impactful, "Symbiosis" is a nice eardrum attack that comes in a 200 copies limited edition metal case with inserts (don't know much more about how that looks or presents itself, as we didn't get one unfortunately).

Here is a band whose members you can tell most definitely had a past that involved heavy overdoses of hard rock, heavy metal, trash, glam rock and power metal... But fear not, these are not a bunch of cheesy wannabe rockers who sent us their demo by mistake. Philadelphia based Carfax Abbey take their experience and influences and pour it all into a crafty mixture of gothic, industrial, dark and electronic sounds. The programmming and the production are definitely the key element that lift Carfax Abbey off the ground to make them stand out. Fierce, glamorous and very eclectic vocals (from brilliant to corny), along with impactful scratchy aggro-guitars and ballsy bass lines are complemented by saavy DAW editing and fast-paced drum patters and allow them to retain their heritage and yet be an appetible cocktail of sounds for all you thirsty wide-horizon-ed music fans out there. Sure, they might be a little more "intense" than what we usually get here, but you all know we do appreciate mixtures of heavy guitars and electronic music around here, and even if this is not your average cup of tea, you don't have to be an english man or a drunk bum to appreciate some good old breakfast tea with a punchy kick, if you know what I mean... The truth always lies in between. I hear these guys pull off some great live shows (they opened for a list of who's who of today's industrial and metal industry scene and have been awarded multiple times), so if you are in area I suggest you line up at the box office.

Ashtool is musician Mirco Rizzi, a Turin, Italy based artist whose music is a cross road of experimental, industrial, dark, ambient and noise. The album also features guest collaborations by Daniele Brusaschetto (pretty much the godfather of that local scene), Oscar Mucci, Paul Beauchamp, Micaela Michetti and the saavy engineering skills of the ubiquitous Marco Milanesio. From underneath his loft bed, Mirco's been fishing around his pool of influences and ends up gently plucking the strings of all the above mentioned genres, with leftfield humble minimalistic excursions and louder sonic ministrations. His combination of electric and acoustic sounds generates tension and relaxation, at the same time. Guitar improvisations are blended in with all sort of types of noises, occasionally industrial rhythms (in classical Brusa-style), voices (mostly spoken) and other sounds, resulting in a dynamic and multifaceted album that ranges from beautiful atmospheric tracks ("Meeting a Friend", "Passegiata", or "Sexes3" and "Ridolini/th(ou)gh(t)s" and their gorgeous jazzy treated guitars) to loud attacks on eardrums ("Mu", "Nulla Mi E' Dovuto" or "Cerchireprise", with its interesting quasi orchestral samples), and everything in between (like the sweet Warp-ish sounding "Saleccia5"). It is definitely one of those albums you'd have to listen to at an appropriate volume and with the right state of mind, in order to appreciate its nice and hidden subtleties.