E-Craft - Re-Arrested

E-Craft have never been the type of outfit to follow fleeting trends or to adhere to the sound of the day. Accordingly, they didn't attempt to break new ground on Re-Arrested, and nor did they abscond from their tried-and-true, balls-out harsh EBM rhetoric. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby invite you to batten down the hatches and succumb to this unflinching, rock-hard double CD release as it tears out your spine and proceeds to defecate down your neck.

Re-Arrested explodes into action with Gone V1.0, harnessing raw bass power and scathing noise elements, to be followed by the catchy title track. The slower tracks (most notably Unborn Retard and Down Under V1.0) pack just as many megatons as their dancefloor-destroying counterparts. Oppenheimer is named after "the father of the atomic bomb", Robert Oppenheimer, and is a complete departure from the rest of album; a quasi-ambient, restrained track, it is akin to a treasured moment of peace between exchanges of gunfire.

Blast Zone (Target)'s chilling intro features a sample of Robert Oppenheimer's comments on the first atomic bomb test in Mexico; he recalls how the blast had reminded him of a quote from Bhagavad-Gita that says "Now I am become (sic) Death, the destroyer of worlds." Meaty live guitars add crushing power to Humanity, whose structure and sound design are reminiscent of old-school Front Line Assembly material. More bombardment awaits on the second part of the album that features powerful remixes of Gone, Re-Arrested and Down Under, among others, as well as a riotous version of Revolts Blood, a track from E-Craft's 2007 effort Unsocial Themes.

Re-Arrested is a ferocious comeback and conclusive proof that seven years between albums had done nothing to weaken E-Craft's powerhouse arsenal; on the contrary, this album would probably have served as a worthy soundtrack to the Trinity test. No-bullshit, focused, unforgiving - this is quintessential E-Craft at their finest. Sep 17 2014