Ebbhead
Having claimed that their initial electronic purity was more to shock the punk rockers than dismiss guitars, Britain's Nitzer Ebb turns the tables and affronts the industrial audience by messing with its signature EBM sound. Slower tempos and added orchestration work occasionally ("I Give to You," "Godhead") but are mostly a messy experiment. Rather than gaining ferocity with age, à la Ministry, Nitzer Ebb are simply watered down. The hip-hop scratching and disco-industrial fun of "DJVD" are playful and predate Prodigy, butEbbheadis hardly a step forward for the group whose debut,That Total Age, remains a cornerstone of industrial dance. The addition of a "Family Man" remix serves only to remind the listener what Ebb are capable of, which is much more than this.--Liisa Ladouceur