Dark and dystopian electronic beats haunt this piece. It calls upon classic industrial crashes and a wind-swept apocalyptic storm of ambiance to convey a bleak reality in the first track. The second is much more cinematic, calling upon sci-fi like sounds; the opening crawl to the next big dark fiction movie. The following is a bit of a remix of ‘End : Code : Restart’, titled the slow mix, which turns it into an altogether more brooding seven-minute and twenty-some second piece. Very much a fan of how this one came out and I’m looking forward to more. 

Noise and industrial collide in this five track EP from Barcorder; an outspoken political EP that’s in your face but not sounding altogether preachy. It’s like a punch in the face in comparison to a lot of other political pieces that seem like weak nagging. Big bass drops, raw drums, punk attitude and distorted punk vocals. A few complaints here and there; ‘Schizophrenic Economic’ utilized samples for too long a portion of the song. I always prefer the samples from documentaries / news casts to be short and sweet; when they’re used throughout the song it’s not as pungent. Nonetheless, this is a solid collection of sweet industrial crust that I’m happy to wrap my lips around. 

The length on three of these songs could have been cut down by half without losing overall quality; ‘Sharktown’, ‘The Third Particle’, and ‘Occult Geometry’ all overstay their welcome by two or more minutes depending on the track. Quality varies, with the title track being the worst of them all. A sputtering mess of overblown synths, vocals that sound raw, distant, and drowning all at once, and a mess of experimental electronic music that’s not so good. The noise rock within ‘Shotgun’ doesn’t sound much better either; sounds like something that was whipped up in a fever dream and someone thought it was a good idea to bring to life. Nothing that redeemable on the EP that I can really express love for.

I never really understood the need for screeching sound effects in songs; they aren’t pleasant and just make me never want to listen to your project ever again. Some artists argue, “Oh, that’s the point, it’s not supposed to be pleasant.” Excellent. Then you’ve lost me. That’s how I felt with ‘Routine’ on this album; glitchy screeches abound that made me never want to listen to that song again. When they aren’t present the soundscapes we get from Incentive are…Alright. Nothing exactly great nor terrible, but somewhere in the middle where I’ve heard better, but also heard worse. Generally speaking, nothing too notable about the rest. A bit mediocre.

While minimalism can be a good thing, there’s also a point where it sounds like whatever you’re doing sounds like an amateur made it. That’s how I feel with Svaj.’s ‘Fallback’. Primarily one synth line that shifts in pitch every once in a while does the bulk of the work, but even that sounds a bit unproduced and demo like in quality. The vocals are monotone and boring, and if I wanted to fall asleep I could do so by laying in bed with the lights off with the TV turned on to a documentary about how the Nintendo Wii was made. But here I am instead struggling to keep my eyes open whilst listening to this. Snooze fest. 

In comparison to the dozens of other harsh noise / experimental releases we received as promotions on the site, this one certainly has better production value. Does it make it any better? Only in the sense that I can say it has better production value. Other than that, it’s a by the books noise release that’s as interesting as watching pain dry. Most noise bands have a problem of just sounding like every other noise bands; nothing much different and everything sounds like a scratchy tape loop on repeat. Boring and not worth my time. 

Gritty synths outlay the opening moments of [melter]’s self-titled EP. We’re thrust into a darkened blend of industrial, post-punk, and darkwave. I love the industrial hell holes thrust throughout the album, such as on ‘Raw’, where a true electronic beating takes place in the roughness of the abyss. While the vocalist has a decent voice, I’m not sure it quite fits the music found within the self-titled. Take ‘DAM’ for example. A gritty and rough beat, but the vocalist is giving out a performance that doesn’t really fit; too quiet, whether on their part or in part of the mix, make them sound distant in comparison to the music. The voice doesn’t flow too well with the beat, either, whether during the less frenetic moments or not. Once [melter] finds out how to get their music and vocalist to flow well together, I think they’ll put out a much better product. 

A quickened, electropunk EP. Rapid in pace, but a bit bland as well. I love the message and theme, but the title track needs…Something else. There’s not much keeping me there, no big chorus (not that it needs it, but it could have helped), and I feel as if the track doesn’t change much for it’s four-minute time. I actually preferred the second track to the title, as it’s a moody synth piece that reminds me of something from a John Carpenter film, or something that could score a Blade Runner-esque piece. Three remixes on here, but if I’m being honest none of them really did much for me. I felt as if they were a bit worse than the original track. 

Ah, The Vomit Arsonist, one of the forerunners in the power electronics / harsh noise scene. While some of his stuff can be enjoyable, most of it can also be extremely derivative of the power electronics scene as a whole, falling into a pit of mediocrity. For example, ‘Fools, Suffered’ is an excellent power electronics piece featuring well done drums and off-distance guttural cries. It’s unsettling yet well produced at the same time, which is what I expect from power electronics at this point. But then there are songs such as the title track which, while well produced, is something I expect from an amateur bedroom producer who thinks that spatial noise is enough to capture the attention of their audience. That doesn’t work on me. Unfortunately, this album is mostly filled with the latter which is disappointing, as I know that The Vomit Arsonist can do much, much better. Still, the project has its fans. So, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; especially since it’s just one dude on a computer complaining. Savvy?