Voice Of Destruction - Steamroller Tactics For Fun & Profit (CD)

VOICE OF DESTRUCTION are LEWIS CYPHER (keyboards / percussion, or mechanics); CLAWED (vocals, or screams); and COUSIN ENOS (guitar, or crunch!). "Caught In The Act" is a medium / slow piece which might fall into the EBM category - based on a plodding central sequencer, it makes for a catchy track - potential single material. "Basket Mix (Disturbed Mix)" is a different kettle of fish, having a varying style of all-out thrash Punk/Metal melded to an interesting tonal quality this is an energetic track on just about every level & needs to be heard to be appreciated. "Vision Of The Future" opens with dark, snarling Industrial imbroglio of swamp noise & voice. gunshot & screams before settling into a martial beat again with leanings towards Body Music while maintaining identity among such people as REVOLTING COCKS etc. It's an up tempo piece which comes marching relentlessly out of your speakers and right over your head with hobnail boots. It has a bright, metal-clean sparkle to it, as if the sharp impaling spikes have been polished for parade. "Home Sweet Home" takes off in yet another direction. again basing itself on an electronic rhythm. It's simple enough, but both the mix & the pained vocals give it a certain something else. It's a cry of pain from the soul. "Rage!" opens with a slice from "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" (I think) before kicking into a medium-fast piece with bristling fuzzed guitar & distant vocals giving it a huge spatial dimension. It stops, goes off in a more melodic direction for a handful of seconds before powering off again. This is no doubt a Rock number & would probably do quite well in that area as a single release. If they could cope with the sudden dives off in diverse directions, some so dense as to be clearly Industrial. "Black Are The Souls Of The Damned" has a catchy rising / falling guitar pattern over a constant sub-EBM rhythm which breaks away here & there into wild Rock thrashes. It falls into the gap between Grunge, Body Music & Industrial Dance. "Mommie Dearest" has another colorful & interesting construction which changes shape & tempo every few moments, ranging from slower, more detailed parts to faster, thrashier pieces. "Living In Fear" shows it's Chimera nature more nakedly than many of the tracks - having roots in FRONT 242 and many of the long-haired groups which appear on Raw Power (a UK late night TV Rock programme). "Ring Of Death" has a familiar drum pattern for this scene over which surfs fairly obvious Rock music - bass steady, guitars bursting with fuzzed power, the vocalist singing in a slightly hysterical near-shout. Odd bits holding the whole together give it it's experimental feel. "Death From Your T.V. Screen" has a snatch of dialogue saying "we're going to discuss the Death Penalty in these United States" before becoming a shark-like prowling piece with deep percussion & synthetic sounds abounding. The song itself seems neither pro- or anti- it's subject, concentrating instead on the Prime-Time entertainment which is wrought from execution via satellite television. It's a more laid-back, controlled piece, a freak hybrid of Industrial Rock. The closing track is "Black Are The Souls Of The Damned - Part Two (Save Your Servant)" - a slightly faster version of the sixth track without the guitar but full of vocal dialogue samples.
A curious album which stretches across these far divided poles of music & could help meld both together. No doubts that they could put a record into the Rock charts, if they so decided to move that way. And the more commercial charts. . . .?