PreEmptive Strike 0.1 - Pierce Their Husk

It was quite odd to see that Odium Records, an underground label primarily focused on extreme black metal, would subsequently release an album by PreEmptive Strike 0.1, the dark electro and EBM Greek hybrid from Jim 'The Blaster' and Cryon. However, after learning that the label had started a new division, things became a little more clear cut. From the womb of the black metal record label, Sonic Hell Records has been born, which will evidently capture the talent of dark ambient, ritual, industrial, and dark electro acts. And, they sure did themselves a fine job in nabbing up Preemptive's lovely groovy minds as their first release.

This EP features the single, Pierce their Husk featuring Niklas Kvarforth from Shining on vocals, (the song was taken from the well received T.A.L.O.S.), alongside six bonus tracks featuring remixes and collaborations with other artists across the industrial black/death metal scene.

The title track of the EP shines just as brightly as the first time I heard it; Kvarforth's vocals rage on within the song, adding a delightfully gory thrill to the feel of the song, and the harder beat alongside the electronics only serve to make this song kick more ass then it could've. I still find this to be one of the best executed songs from T.A.L.O.S., and this EP only solidifies that thought even more.

And, this is where the dark electro world of Preemptive goes head to head with the goat sacrificing world of black metal. Skiltron NV 101 lends their talent to perform a remix on the title song, and add a pretty heavy backing guitar with faint drum work. For the most part, the electronics are drowned within the noise that is presented, and all sounds wonderfully delicious.

After getting through those two songs, Interstellar Threat gets an industrial metal version of itself. Not terrible, maintaining the overall same feel from the original, just more...Well...More keen to industrial metal. Nothing wrong with it, in fact, it sounds very nice.

Industrial black metal band NYNE delivered a wicked mix of the same song, really hammering out the drum work very nicely, and introducing their guitar shredding to the already evil sounding vocals found within the track. Another track down, and another track that's impressed me.

The last mix of Interstellar Threat actually was the last song on the album, and was a versus track between both Nano Infect and Degenerated Sequences. Heavier industrial metal rhythm, but with an EBM touch to it managed to create one of the loudest, speaker busting tracks I've given a listen to in a while. Brilliant job.

The New Era of Immortality was another versus song, this time between German industrial black metal act Lyfthrasyr and Preemptive themselves. The vocals were given a severe growling treatment which served well alongside the guitars that played, and these guys were more friendly with their use of electronics; their background in the genre served well.

The last song on the album got a remix from Vigilante, and that song would be Insects Intrude - The War Against the Bugs. More heavy use of guitars, but also a love was given out to electronics and piano work in the more quiet sections. Perhaps more diverse in nature than the other tracks, this one stood out the most to me for being the most unique.

And, well, PreEmptive Strike 0.1 have managed to make me want to listen to their EP all over again after just have going through it. Though I was cautious when going into a dark electro act remixed by a bunch of different industrial metal, or black metal, or whatever style of metal band that presented them forth on the album, I realize that there really was no reason to worry after all. Each artist came in and made their mixes dirtier than the last, more outspoken and harder, and each artist was able to put in their own kick to the song to keep me satisfied and interested throughout the whole spiel. Great work to each artist that appeared on the album, and cheers to Preemptive for making this happen. With talent like this already appearing on Sonic Hell, I can only imagine what they're going to do next. Sep 09 2014