Human Steel - Crankshaft Crash

Human Steel is made up of Lindey and Martin from Poland, they claim to follow "the real EBM path" - that statement alone gives extra Old school points. They've previously realeased a demo-album in 2010, in 2011 they joined Polish label Halotan Records and "Crankshaft Crash" is their first release on this label.

As an EBM-fan I find myself being very picky with what I like, the EBM-scene seems to have a habit of generating a lot of sh*t, this results in being very cautious of all new stuff that's released. As the first track of "Crankshaft Crash" started running I felt a big smile creeping up on me, YES! This is it! Track one, Norsk Industry sets the bar for this album. The track keeps loyal to Old school EBM but still feels fresh and hard.

Track 2 - "Behind the Walls" really gets you going with inventive use of sound which makes the vocals blend in very well, the trademark "Ughs" of EBM mixed with sleek laughter brings that extra oomph to the sound.

They tend to add a lot of samples in the songs which fit in perfectly, a good example is from track 5 "Leatherface", the use of the sample makes for an eerie start for a real dance-friendly track.
"Stettin" is the name of track 6, one of the best tracks on the album. This track will do great in earphones, dancefloors and live. It's full of energy in music as well as vocals, it's fun and hard as hell.

"Communication" brings out a little more pop without losing the EBM core, it's the 8th track and I'm still impressed. Then there it is, the last track "One World One Voice"... ooh... It's difficult, first time I heard it I thought it was crap compared to the rest of the album. After having listened to it a few times it grew on me though. The music is interesting and deep but the vocals confuse me, they feel experimental bordering silly, some parts are really cool, but the parts where the lyrics are expressed in hoarse semi-whispers fall flat. "One World One Voice" leaves me with mixed feelings.

All in all "Crankshaft Crash" is really really good old school EBM, they've managed to produce an album that's interesting, fresh and stomping. The last track brings the album down but I won't allow it to cloud the other 8 fantastic tracks. It's good to hear some new old school EBM and I'll be sure to follow Human Steels progress, I believe it's well worth while. Apr 21 2012