Various Artists
Electro Shock Therapy
Reviewed by Roadrunner
Not one to be behind on whatever's the current trend, R.E.X. has gathered together some of the up & coming techno / rave / house / whutever acts, chosen their best (?) cuts & compiled them. Enter Electro Shock Therapy. Let's go down the line: Alexia-"Unloved": Ya! We reviewed this last issue, Cool! Looking forward to the disc (on Flying Tart Records soon?). This shows promise. Cult Of Jester-"Master V2": This works. Very electric, peppy & ethereal with tough vocals. Toxic Church-"The Keeper": Simple, guitar driven. Takes a potentially boring genre & does nothing to change that. New Society-"Chains Of Hell": Not real exciting. Situation Taboo-Could get you moving. Catchy, groovy. Some of the vocals could be better. Kettle Black-"Medicine Man": Slick, lots of sounds. This'll work. The Terminal Generation-"Suck You Down": Spunky. Over the top vocals. Dance everybody! Audio Paradox-"Grace 1": Good, but doesn't stand out. The Way Sect Bloom-"Illumina": Starts out exciting then levels off. Some cool vocals, then he sings...not so cool. Blank Face-"Sin Disease": Not bad, but not real distinct either. Good art-rock like guitar solo. Arbitrage-"A.F.A.A.M.E.S.T.M.": Mostly very repetitive guitars. Two short interesting parts plus a sermon sample of Dr. D. J. Kennedy!? Fear Of Faith-"Withdrawn": Scary vocals backed by an acoustic electric guitar & a steady beat. Angst-"nihil est": Started out like Yaz, but got more modern from there & had a big rock & roll guitar solo in the middle. Neocelt-"Goodbye Freedom": Post industrial rock meets celtic. Gadget-"Amazing Grace": Brings this traditional hymn into the digital age, but not sure it's an improvement. Whew! The disc has one of the better computer created covers to come from R.E.X. in awhile. It's done by Chris Dean (Roger's computer-wiz little brother?).