VA - 2002 - Hellfire: A Tribute To Tool

In the jazz world, tribute albums are inescapable. Every week, jazz artists are recording tributes to Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Cole Porter, or someone else they admire. But in rock, they aren't as plentiful -- for every Bob Dylan, Doors, or Rolling Stones tribute that gets recorded, there are a lot more Ellington or George Gershwin tributes coming from the jazz world. One of rock's more tribute-minded labels is Cleopatra, which has paid homage to countless rockers. As a rule, Cleopatra's tribute albums are interesting -- and this 2002 release (which finds 12 different artists providing Tool covers) is no exception. Even if A Tribute to Tool is mildly uneven; it has more ups than downs and offers a lot of intriguing takes on the headbangers' songs. The best covers are the ones that bring something new or different to a familiar song; operating on that premise, the artists on this CD acknowledge Tool on their own terms instead of slavishly emulating the band. While Tool's forte is alternative metal, A Tribute to Tool is full of industrial, darkwave, and goth rock interpretations of its songs. Not everything on the CD works, but most of the time, A Tribute to Tool hits its mark. Mists of Avalon successfully gives "Prison Sex" a goth makeover, while an industrial outlook works well for Translation Collapse on "Reflection," Beauty on "Disgustipated," and Razed in Black on "Part of Me." One of the best tracks is the Electric Hellfire Club's "Opiate" makeover; Hellfire's campy, over-the-top sense of fun is quite a contrast to Tool's artsy leanings. Do those with only a casual interest in Tool need to hear 12 Tool covers? Probably not. But Tool's hardcore fans will find this CD meaningful if they also have an appetite for industrial, darkwave, and goth rock.

1 Disgustipated Beauty 3:31
2 Reflection Fuchigami, Translation Collapse 4:44
3 Stinkfist Hyena 4:59
4 Part of Me Razed In Black 3:38
5 Intolerance Style 4:34
6 Die Eier von Satan Haujobb 4:49
7 4 Rosetta Stone 4:59
8 Ænema Collapse Into Reason 5:00
9 Hush Pistel 3:47
10 Opiate Electric Hellfire Club 4:38
11 Prison Sex Mists Of Avalon 4:38
12 Sober Butler, Enemies 4:43

¡Aquí!

VA - 2004 - Flowers Made Of Snow

1-1 Coph Nia – The Oath
Performer – Aldenon Satorial 4:19
1-2 Protagonist, The – The Sick Rose
Vocals – Jonathan Grieve 4:54
1-3 In Slaughter Natives – The Vulture
Performer – J. Havukainen* 4:55
1-4 Olen'k – Season Of Tears 3:25
1-5 All My Faith Lost ... – Sleep Now
Performer – Frederico*, Viola* 4:03
1-6 Last Hour, The – Into Empty Depth
Performer – Roberto Del Vecchio 4:01
1-7 Apatheia – Safehouse
Performer – L. Andersson* 3:24
1-8 Ataraxia – Incabala 3:31
1-9 Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio – Yesterday Brings But A Serpent Of Ash 5:01
1-10 Hesperos* – The Warm Whisper Of The Wind
Performer – Alessandra Santovito 4:08
1-11 Sibelian – The Sin Eater
Performer – Stephen Svanholm
Lyrics By – Bob Reeves 8:51
1-12 Sanctum – Lie Low
Performer – Håkan Paulsson, Jan Carleklev, Ulrika Carlsson* 4:27
2-1 Desiderii Marginis – Where I End And You Begin 4:48
2-2 raison d'être – Mouldering The Forlorn II
Performer – Peter Andersson 6:44
2-3 Atrium Carceri – Impaled Butterfly
Performer – Simon Heath 5:00
2-4 Mz.412 – In Hoc Signe Vinces
Performer – Drakhon, Nordvargr*, Ulvtharm* 6:53
2-5 Brighter Death Now – While You Sleep
Performer – Roger Karmanik 4:42
2-6 IRM – My Mother
Photography [Booklet] – H. Sternudd 6:28
2-7 Deutsch Nepal – Of Parasites And Disguises
Performer – Lina Baby Doll 7:11
2-8 Nacht – Death Posture
Performer – Tania Stene 3:55
2-9 Beyond Sensory Experience – The Trade 4:11
2-10 Sephiroth – Therasia
Performer – Ulf Söderberg 7:21
2-11 Skin Area – Choose Art... Not Life 6:01

¡Aquí!

Chrism - 2003 - New Sacrifice EP

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X.V. Kilist - 2001 - X.V. Kilist

		1		Kilopard		10:42
		2		K.P.O		9:41
		3		Kante		8:29
		4		Saaziergang		8:28
		5		Philistine		9:16
		6		Hugo		10:02
		7		Cettometer		8:38
		8		Schleichers Breite		7:59

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Einstürzende Neubauten - 1981 - Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten's first album, as one might imagine, is their most primitive and radical effort, the purest expression of their original aesthetic. This makes the album both historically significant and conceptually intriguing, of course, but what's most interesting about this album is that it still sounds surprising decades after its release. Often, albums that are considered extreme art statements upon their debut sound almost quaint a few years later, but while Kollaps perhaps sounds less extreme to ears that heard industrial music turned into disco pabulum by the likes of Nine Inch Nails than it did before, songs like the eight-minute title track and the rumbling live closer, "Negativ Nein," are still a fascinating blend of rhythm and random bashing, tonality and atonality, with anguished vocals by Blixa Bargeld that often seem to have little connection with anything else in the piece. The brief tracks, like the 80-second "Sehnsucht," are even more extreme explorations of pure noise. Starting as early as the next album, Einstürzende Neubauten would begin slowly introducing more mainstream musical concepts into their aesthetic, making Kollaps as undiluted a listening experience as there is in the entire catalog.

		1		Tanz Debil	Einsturzende Neubauten	3:23
		2		Steh auf Berlin		3:46
		3		Negativ Nein	Einsturzende Neubauten	2:27
		4		U-Haft Muza		3:40
		5		Draussen Ist Feindlich		:48
		6		Hören Mit Schmerzen		2:32
		7		Jet 'M		1:24
		8		Kollaps		8:03
		9		Sehnsucht		1:21
		10		Vorm Krieg		:20
		11		Hirnsäge		1:55
		12		Abstieg and Zerfall		4:28
		13		Helga		:11
		14		Negativ Nein [live]	Einsturzende Neubauten	4:37

¡Aquí!

Ubzub - 2002 - Alien Manna For Sleeping Monkeys

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Negru Voda & Third Eye - 1994 - An Impulse Of Fear-Raudive Experiments

		An Impulse Of Fear
A1	Negru Voda	Death In Your Eyes
A2	Negru Voda	Hide Your Face
A3	Negru Voda	Mental Feedback (The Attack)
A4	Negru Voda	Tribes Of Cannibals
A5	Negru Voda	Incinerate
A6	Negru Voda	Impulse Of Fear
		Raudive Experiments
B1	Third Eye (2)	Black Friday
B2	Third Eye (2)	The Enigma Of Death
B3	Third Eye (2)	Lucid Dreams
B4	Third Eye (2)	Precognition

¡Aquí!

Area - 1990 - Agate Lines

		1		Anyway	Canfield, Frayne, Ganble	3:57
		2		Michael Writes His Parents		4:26
		3		I'll Gather Flowers	Area, Canfield	4:06
		4		Dry Spell	Canfield	4:52
		5		Parachute		3:42
		6		Sympathy	Area, Canfield	3:58
		7		Filled	Canfield	4:25
		8		This One		3:28
		9		With Louise	Area, Rudd	4:01
		10		Guessing Game	Canfield	2:42
		11		All About Money	Area, Canfield	7:27
		12		Sisters of Mercy	Cohen	3:18
		13		All There Is	Canfield	5:10
		14		Fine and Still Lines		4:03
		15		Tunnel	Area, Canfield	3:07
		16		Copper		4:44

¡Aquí!

Wiener Aktivisten - 2001 - Und Wir Reiten Durch Das Land

¡Aquí!

Nasenbluten - 2002 - Dog Control

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Esplendor Geometrico - 1982 - El Acero Del Partido

¡Aquí!

Clock DVA

A product of the same mid-'70s Sheffield industrial music community which also gave rise to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA emerged in 1980 from the ashes of area bands including the Studs, Block Opposite, Veer and They Must Be Russians as well as the Future, an early incarnation of the Human League. After a series of shifting lineups, a roster comprised of vocalist Adi Newton, bassist Steven Taylor, guitarist Paul Widger, saxophonist Charlie Collins and drummer Roger Quail recorded Clock DVA's debut White Souls in Black Suits, a cassette-only, improvisational release fusing metallic noise with funk and soul designs which was issued on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial label.

In 1981, the group issued Thirst, which abandoned R&B accoutrements in favor of edgy, abrasive electronic noise. Following its release, all of Clock DVA except Newton defected to form Box; after assembling a new lineup of saxophonist Paul Browse, future Siouxsie and the Banshees guitarist John Carruthers, bassist Dean Dennis and drummer Nick Sanderson, Newton wrangled a major-label deal with Polydor, and Clock DVA soon resurfaced with 1983's Advantage, an intense montage of dance beats, piercing feedback and jarring tape manipulations. However, Carruthers and Sanderson both exited following the LP's release; after a brief attempt to forge on as a trio, Clock DVA disbanded in late 1983.

Newton subsequently turned his focus to the Anti Group, an industrial jazz and visual arts project created in tandem with engineer Robert Baker; after a series of singles, he reformed Clock DVA in 1988 with Browse and Dennis, releasing the sample-fueled 1988 EPs The Hacker and The Act, as well as 1990's full-length Buried Dreams, on the Wax/Trax label. By 1991's Transitional Voices, Newton's Anti Group partner Baker had replaced Browse; Dennis departed soon after, leaving the remaining duo to record a staggeringly prolific amount of material including 1992's Man-Amplified, 1993's Sign, Black Words on White Paper and Virtual Reality Handbook, 1994's 150 Erotic Calibrations and 1995's Anterior.

1991 - Man-Amplified

Clock DVA - 1991 - Man-Amplified

		1		Man-Amplifiers		5:16
		2		Techno Geist		5:42
		3		Aziomatic and Heuristic		4:48
		4		Nyc Overload		6:28
		5		Transitional Voices		7:30
		6		Bitstream		5:55
		7		Fractalize		5:06
		8		Final Program		4:17
		9		Dark Attractor		5:16
		10		Memories of Sound		4:40

¡Aquí!

Zoviet France

Over the past 14 years, the members of :zoviet*france: have explored industrial music through the DIY framework of punk without so much as showing their faces. Among the group's many album, Misfits, Loony Tunes and Squalid Criminals, What Is Not True, Gesture Signal Threat, A Flock of Rotations, Assault and Mirage and Unentitled are available.

1983 - Mohnomishe

Zoviet France - 1983 - Mohnomishe

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VA - 2003 - Powerslaves-An Elektro Tribute To Iron Maiden

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Wumpscut

Another in the line of '90s goths who forsook guitars for the sampler and synthesizer, Rudy Ratzinger's :wumpscut: project was born in 1991 when Ratzinger released his first cassette-only albums, Defcon and Small Chambermusicians. Vuz Records signed the German to their fold by the following year, and after a release on a 1993 Vuz compilation (New Forms of Entertainment), the first :wumpscut: album, Music for a Slaughtering Tribe, appeared in December 1993. After the release of the Dried Blood EP on Ant-Zen Records in 1994, Ratzinger formed his own Beton Kopf Media label by 1995 and released both another EP and a full-length that year (Gomorrha and Bunkertor 7, respectively). After the appearance of :wumpscut: on the US compilation The Remix Wars -- alongside Haujobb -- the Metropolis label signed Ratzinger to an American deal and re-released the entirety of his work, followed by the new full-length Embryodead. Born Again followed in 1998, and two years later :wumpscut: returned with Bloodchild. The aggro-industrial tinged Wreath of Barbs illustrated Ratzinger's fondness for dance music's past and present when it was issued in fall 2001.

2005 - Evoke (2CD)

Wumpscut - 2005 - Evoke (2CD)

Rudy Ratzinger, recording as :wumpscut:, has always been a bit more adventurous than most of his Teutonic-industrial colleagues. While his music is reliably dark and heavy, with lots of pounding four-beats-to-the-bar rhythms and harsh, stage-whispered vocals, he's been known to throw the occasional funky curve ball as well. Evoke is true to form in both regards: in among the usual astringent electronic beats and the snarls of paranoid derision there are some surprising moments of lyrical, almost contemplative beauty, most of them provided courtesy of two credited but not really identified female singers: Clara S. and Jane M. Also interesting are "Churist Churist," a song written in an artificial language of Ratzinger's own invention, and the nicely crafted "Obsessio," written in what appears to be Catalan and sung by Clara S. The aptly titled "Breathe," an instrumental punctuated with the sound of harsh panting, is more disturbing than musically interesting, and the instrumental "Krolok" is simply boring. The album's title track, on the other hand, is musically engaging but lyrically tedious. The remixes that end the album are OK, but nothing terribly special. Overall, Evoke is a worthy addition to :wumpscut:'s impressive catalog; it would be a significant achievement for many of Ratzinger's labelmates, but doesn't rise significantly above the high standard of innovation and musicianship that Ratzinger has set for himself previously.

		1		Maiden	R.	5:14
		2		Churist Churist	R.	3:46
		3		Don't Go	R.	4:30
		4		Evoke	R.	5:31
		5		Tomb	R.	5:31
		6		Hold	R.	4:58
		7		Krolok	R.	4:37
		8		Breathe	R.	3:26
		9		Rush	R.	4:44
		10		Perdition	R.	4:40
		11		Obessio	S.	4:42
		12		Churist Churist [*]	R.	4:42
		13		Maiden [*]	R.	4:31

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Foetus - 2001 - Blow

This is the remix album of Flow. Flow itself was a superlative album from Foetus, but the efforts provided by Phylr, Ursula 1000, Franz Treichler (the Young Gods) and more end up with ultra-effective post-industrial beat music. Following Gash and the stifling business relationship with Sony were six years of chemical and alcohol suicide. This ended with J.G. Thirlwell, aka Foetus, making some positive changes, putting him into a state of creative flow that brought out Flow. That triumphant rebirth brilliantly shines through on Blow, a high watermark in the Foetus discography.

		1		Cirrhosis of the Heart [Amon Tobin Mix]		6:35
		2		The Need Machine [Franz Treichier Mix]		5:49
		3		Victim of Victor [Jay Wasco Mix]		3:58
		4		Mandelay [Phylr Mix]		4:59
		5		Quick Fix [Charlie Clouser Mix]		5:28
		6		Kreibabe [Pan Sonic Mix]		4:19
		7		Shun [Kid 606 Mix]		4:08
		8		Suspect [DJ Food Feed Em Their Rights Mix]		6:02
		9		Grace of Gad [Kidrey Thieves/Sean Beavan Mix]		4:25
		10		Heuldoch 7b [Panacea Mix]		3:48
		11		Someone Who Cares [Ursula 1000 Sheracer Mix]		4:16
		12		The Need Machine [J.G. Thirlwell Mix]		7:28

¡Aquí!