Terence Fixmer and Nitzer Ebb's Douglas McCarthy make an impressive team. The revival of their studio collaboration last year was full of vitriol. The vocal version of "So Many Lies" was a stomping rally cry for disillusioned people everywhere, while the B-side version brought the battle to the dance floor with a surge of boiling techno. Fixmer and McCarthy's new record for Sonic Groove is even more unsettling.
Everything about "Wrong Planet" sounds wrong, which helps make it right. Fixmer's production feels like a carefully orchestrated racket that grates from the off, as if it's been designed to rattle you. Individual noises are discordant and broken as they converge into a throbbing mass resembling an alarm on meltdown. Meanwhile, McCarthy growls like a demon over the top. "Keep dreaming!" is his final cry, a resolution and a meagre dash of hope for others wrestling with the world. Even Fixmer's production settles down after that. "Chemicals" is similarly brash and in your face, like any good EBM track should be. But this isn't a waltz down memory lane—it's EBM brought screaming and wailing into present day.
Everything about "Wrong Planet" sounds wrong, which helps make it right. Fixmer's production feels like a carefully orchestrated racket that grates from the off, as if it's been designed to rattle you. Individual noises are discordant and broken as they converge into a throbbing mass resembling an alarm on meltdown. Meanwhile, McCarthy growls like a demon over the top. "Keep dreaming!" is his final cry, a resolution and a meagre dash of hope for others wrestling with the world. Even Fixmer's production settles down after that. "Chemicals" is similarly brash and in your face, like any good EBM track should be. But this isn't a waltz down memory lane—it's EBM brought screaming and wailing into present day.
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Published /
Fri / 24 Mar 2017 -
Words /
Holly Dicker -
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Tracklist /
A1 Chemicals
A2 Chemicals (Instrumental)
B1 Wrong Planet
Barcelona
Amsterdam
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