Review - Alec Empire The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven

Someone should report Alec Empire. On his new LP, called The Golden Foretaste Of Heaven, he's clearly been mistreating his equipment. His C64 beats are battered and bruised, his synths have been force-fed PCP and his white noise generator has been through a severe heroin addiction to make this cut.

As a result, this strange, noisy, glam LP is left with a trashy paranoia that makes the listener think that he's heard Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music and Berlin and thought "what if I mix THAT with The Stooges and Kraftwerk?" Jesus. That's some mix man... is it heavy? You bet your ass it is.

Alec Empire is a German noisemaker who, you might recall, was in a band called Atari Teenage Riot. Let's be honest here. Atari Teenage Riot is one of the best band names ever. In fact, those three words are probably the best review I could give of this solo outing. It talks of "robot love" and mixes the 8-bit crunches with ferocious beats and rhythms and 303s. Empire's influence on electronica acts who wanna add a bit of pop or rock (think Schneider TM... or LCD Soundsystem) cannot be underestimated. That said, Empire has the sheer bloody nerve to make the album that they're all afraid of.

If most bands of this genre have gentle electronics and disco as a backbone, it's clear that Empire, even though a fan of funky and tuneful things, is a man who doesn't mind making his equipment kick out the jams. Seriously, this is one rockin' LP. The sonic abuse is both warm and steely... distant and yet somehow close enough to feel like it's inside your head giving your synapses a kicking.

Robot L.O.V.E. is one of the most fantastically trashy slices of whateveryoucallthismusic I've ever heard. It's got a sublime electronic funk with sinister chord shifts and bonkers lyrics that you can't help but love... "baby, we might even die in a plane crash". If he's thinking of releasing a single, this should be it. Bug On My Windshield is another seedy stabbing racket which harks back to early 80s synth pop mixed with Detroit techno. Don't get me wrong... this is not one of those fashionable LPs that is gonna leave the indie rags wetting themselves with joy... in fact, they're more likely to wet themselves with fear. This is a terrifying album that should find a place in your record collection. In short, it's fantastically dark; File next to D.E.A.T.H.

Buy Alec Empire's The Golden Foretaste of Heaven by clicking here