I must’ve gotten jaded by the so-called “industrial rock” that corporate retards seem to think defines my generation (I’d like to stab something, but it ain’t westward, that’s for sure.) It takes a pretty impressive effort to break through the walls of hatred I’ve been building towards rock music since before Cobain blew his face off. So from the start, reviewing the Acumen Nation album “The Fifth Column” was a fight against my allergic reaction to rock music stereotyping.
Coldwave, the sound from the late eighties/ early nineties that I remember from bands like Chemlab, Scorn, and Acumen Nation, was a newer, sicker version of rock that you couldn’t find anywhere else. At the time, the only “rock” available was of the hair band, death metal, or classic variety. Now, all rock bands try to be the newer, sicker version of rock. Their crime is that they sound like they could be popular if they swung that way. It’s unfortunate that the pioneers of this brand of industrial suffer from these alt-rock parasite comparisons. They sound is fuller, the music has guitar riffs, yeah, but they’re heavier than most radio fare. And the music is creepier, with a slight edge. The first listen revealed only two songs that really appealed to me (Recaster and Tone Deaf) but additional listens have given me more songs I appreciate, but no songs that I all out love. Sorry guys.

Punketta Doilie’s Math Lesson : (Chemlab minus cool ) divided by Godflesh + tour