DYM - NWO

DWA has been steadily releasing a string of EPs and singles from many bands on their roster, which is pretty fucking stellar considering a large part of their audience are dedicated DJs constantly searching for new tunes to assault the dance floor with. While I have yet to check out most of these, which is an error on my part, I did manage to grab an offering from one of my favorite electro-industrial acts, DYM.

We on the site have a long history of loving DYM and all their shenanigans, with 2011's The Swarm receiving a solid 9 out of 10 and their most recent outing, The Technocratic Deception receiving a legendary 10 out of 10. That being said, I went a little bonkers when I heard that not only was DWA releasing an EP by DYM, but that it would come as a collector's edition on 12" Vinyl with some extra goodies.

Now, before I continue on with that, I will say that the EP is available digitally for a mere four bucks (you get four songs digitally, so it's a fair price). However, the vinyl comes with an added two tracks (NMCHNGR and UFO, outtakes from The Technocratic Deception), so this is the ultimate version to get.

Not only that, but the Vinyl comes in two different different colors. For those of you who like to be dark and down, you have the standard black colored record which I would imagine to be lovely in itself. But, for those of you who want to be a little different, there's also the marble white record that you can get (this is what I opted out for). I've had a few people already say that the record was really sick looking, and that's coming from people who really aren't into music. If you're looking for your Vinyl to be music eye candy to everyday citizens, go for the marble white.

Also included within the package is a double sided poster (Which is a lovely foldout containing the NWO EP title, the band's logo, credits, and lyrics, signed), a sticker showing the logo and NWO again, and an official card that holds both the official numbered vinyl that you got as well as the download code not only for the six tracks on the record, but also the recent remix companion album to The Technocratic deception. However much I've got you drooling over the sheer amount of content you get on the physical side, let's talk about the musical accommodations that you get side by side with this sexy package.

The title track of the EP kicks us off on the A-Side, which is a Club Mix of NWO which originally premiered on The Technocratic Deception. A more pumped up version of the original song breaks through, with much more stompy rhythms and new electronic lines added into the mix. The vocals maintain unchanged for the most part; occasionally an additional, reverb-like sound effect comes into play. I still prefer the original mix, but this was lovely in itself. And then we get into the two outtakes from The Technocratic Deception.

NMCHNGR climbed into my heart as one of my favorite DYM songs of all time. It is widely different from a lot of their other tracks, serving up dual vocals; the distorted, hell-bent chords that always ring out and deeper pitched robotic voices. I absolutely loved the slower main rhythm that was slowly touched with more and more electronics. It was sonic magic played out greatly.

UFO showed what DYM could do when they wanted to create an atmospheric song based around a theme or idea. And, if an unidentified flying object is what they were trying to show off through sound, then that is exactly what they did. Distorted samples play off, hard to decipher, regarding random people recounting their encounters with UFOs. The sounds that came from the song acted as if it were coming from the inside of the UFO that was spotted; take a listen to this song. It's another great addition to the EP. This song concludes the A-side tracks, and then we're moved onto the B-side, which contains three completely new songs, starting off with White Light.

This song gives off a lot more bleeps and bloops, and tones down the hard stomping bass that is ever so persistent in most songs. It's quite smooth, really, and eases over very well. Resonance comes back with distorted vocals backed by another digital voice, with some seriously breathtaking synths right behind them. And, lastly, Devour hits in with a lovely instrumental that's just as moving as the previous songs.

Now, those are all the songs that were physically compacted on the record. But, in addition (as stated above), you get the ten track remix album entitled The Technocratic Exception. Now, I will say that four of the remixes on this did appear on The Technocratic Exception (the ones by Grendel, iVardensphere, vProjekt, and Soman), but that still leaves you with six new tracks to explore. That being said, out of the new remixes, I implore you to check out both Ruinizer's and [product]'s remixes, as both completely kick ass.

And, now that I'm running dry on material to discuss, I suppose this would be a good time to end this review. With the massive amount of content available on this release both physically and digitally, there is no reason you're not picking this up right now. Also, this is serving as a tease to DYM's next release, or at least as something to hold us down as we wait for their full length follow up, so be wary of more news regarding their next move.

For now, pick up this excellently put together collector's package. It's glorious. Apr 12 2015