From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Subject: Review: Front Line Assembly - The Blade
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 11:30:10 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.industrial


Front Line Assembly		The Blade	Third Mind TM 9119 2 [UK]

	Total Running Time: 47 min 56 sec

	1.	The Blade (Technohead)		6:36
	2.	Re-Animate			5:44
	3.	Target				4:49
	4.	The Blade (Worldwide Mix)	6:22
	5.	The Blade (Pro-Gress Mix)	6:23
	6.	Heatwave			5:25
	7.	Laughing Pain			5:45
	8.	The Blade (Blindfold)		6:35

I'm not sure exactly what to call this - it's got too many distinct tracks
to be a maxi-single, but it's also got four mixes of just one track, which
suggests it isn't really an EP or mini-album either. Oh well...

The new thing from FLA pairs four remixes of "The Blade" (from their most
recent album _Tactical Neural Implant_) with four new tracks. The choice of
"The Blade" as the centrepiece of the thing is rather an odd one, since
it's rather atypical of the group's material. The original combined a
funkier-than-usual beat with processed vocals and a rather overused "Stick
'em up, motherfucker, this is a hold-up" sample. The first remix dumps the
sample (while adding several more all of its own) and, as the subtitle
indicates, gives the track the hardcore techno treatment. The changes are
an odd mix of cliches (standard techno effects you've no doubt heard a
thousand times before) and Good Bits (bonus string synths, for example).

The first of the new tracks, "Re-Animate" seems to tread the middle ground
between contemporary techno and FLA's own aggressive electronic body music.
It's decent enough, but fairly samey, following the current FLA style (high
BPM rhythmic "verse" with Leeb growling the lyrics (somebody should send
the poor man some throat lozenges), followed by a more melodic chorus where
Leeb almost sings, but not quite). Still, FLA do this style of music better
than anybody else around at the moment, so I'm not complaining.

"Target" is more of the same. That's all that can really be said about it.
You either like what FLA do, or you don't. If you don't, you'll hate this
every bit as much as any other FLA track, but if you like their earlier
material, you'll like it. I like it, even though I'd freely admit that the
group is stuck in a very deep rut indeed. Perhaps this is due to Leeb and
Fulber's tendency, when they feel like trying something new, to put it out
under a different name - while Leeb and Fulber are moving forward as
musicians, FLA treads water with most of the innovation appearing from the
duo's various side projects.

The first of the outside remixes is next, this one done by Paul Kendall at
Worldwide Studios in London. While staying closer to the original spirit of
the track than the original (i.e. that sample is back) it doesn't seem to
add enough to make it worth the effort. While I've never liked
over-enthusiastic remixing, producing a remix that's almost
indistinguishable from the original seems rather a waste of time too.

The second outside remix is by Mark Stagg and Rhys Fulber (well, OK, so
it's only half outside) at Out Of The Blue Studios in Manchester. It's a
definite improvement on the "Worldwide Mix", and actually manages to do
something interesting with the track for at least some of the time.

"Heatwave" has an astonishingly annoying intro, utilising a looped coughing
sample that *really* gets on my nerves. Once it gets going it's, well, it's
typical FLA, there's not a lot that can be said about it. There's some
interesting samples (except for that bloody cough), a rather dancier beat
than usual and Leeb sounding hoarse all over the place, but that's about
it.

"Laughing Pain" starts with a nice sample ("Had a bad childhood? We can fix
it. Resculpt your memory") but for the most part it's bog-standard Front
Line Assembly. I don't need to describe it, I'm sure you can imagine it
yourself by now without much strain.

The final ("Blindfold") mix of "The Blade" is another slightly technofied
one which, although somewhat cliched, does at least give the track some
added energy.

So, is it a disappointment? No, not really. I've never really expected
stunning originality from FLA and, apart from a few stabs at techno here,
they generally don't deliver it. What they do do, they do well though, and
I'll put my apathy towards this particular release down mainly to an
overdose of FLA in my personal listening recently. I do think they should
maybe put their FLA facet on hold for a few months though, and maybe unwind
by doing some more Delerium or Intermix (new album due next January I
believe). For the reasons given above, take the rating below with a pinch
of salt - if I'd heard this after a couple of months sans FLA CDs, I'd
probably have rated it rather higher.

Erland Rating: +1
Crawford Rating: Black/Cherry/Yoghurt

--
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209
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