Alien Vampires - Revitalizer

Originally released as a Japanese only second CD to accompany the recent 'Harshlizer' album, 'Revitalizer' has been reissued as a stand-alone purchase via the Deathwatch Asia Digital store; a release which contains two additional exclusive remixes.

Most Deathwatch Asia fans are now very familiar with the common theme of having a second disc to accompany a limited edition CD. This disc usually consists of remixes from the Harsh Electro scene's figureheads, and often an exclusive original track or two. In the case of 'Revitalizer', we're bombared by an aural assault of Fifteen remixes. No original tracks, but the quality of the remixes, and the long list of established remixers more than compensates for this. Both Nysrok and Nightstalker are no strangers to attention, and anyone who's seen or heard any of the previous albums by Alien Vampires will know immediately why this is; any excuse therefore to bring this spectacular and unique duo back into the spotlight is welcomed.

Usually an act found towards the rear of Remix albums, France's 'Twilight Freakshow' open this re-interpretation with a remix of 'Evil Bloody Music' - (the number of backronym's i've seen this year that are cleverly designed to spell out EBM is astonishing...) - this remix is heavily laden and almost falls into the Metal genre - a genre the act are familiar with due to previous work with Aborym.

The second remix on here is the obligatory mix by C-Lekktor, dissecting 'No Way Back'. As you'd expect by the Mexican act, the track is a higher BPM more Aggrotech fused number. Fellow label mates Terrolokaust and Reaxion Guerrilla follow suit, and the album quickly becomes a retold story in blasphemy and perversion.

Shuffling down the list, acts such as PreEmptive Strike 0.1, Arsch Dolls and Mordacious make contributions, offering the CD influences from as far apart as Greece and the USA, before Colombia, Canada and Spain make an appearance (Terrorkode, Detroit Diesel and Xperiment). The other acts to contribute to this proverbial mixed grill of delight are Menschdefekt, CeDigest, ESC, Ad Inferna, and of course, SAM (hardened Pioneers of Industrial).

The issue with having a remix album this 'star-studded' is that it's nigh on impossible to identify a stand out track - that's not to say this is a bad release; I haven't heard a single remix that I have had to skip or delete from my Mp3 player.

I guess the sheer problem is that if you aren't a fan of remixes, you probably won't change your mind here, but for those with an interest in the harsher sounds of Industrial, this is Fifteen good reasons to consider this release.

In terms of variety, I'll steer you towards Reaxion Guerrilla's remix of 'Lies'. Sublime. Sep 17 2011