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"Deep Red" on the other hand is a very hard-hitting, EBM dance piece with the typical growled (and then even further distorted) vocals that have to do with blood, pain, death, etc. It reminds me sharply of Front 242, as does the next song "Bitch." Both are incredibly good songs as far as the genre goes, and they get your adrenalin really pumping. It's literally hard to sit still while you're listening to the songs, at least if you listen to them at the volume I do! However, "Stitch" is a dark, menacing, slower paced work. Dark and menacing really encapsulate the feel of this song, as well as brutally electronic; and the whispered vocals are genuinely scary. "Spiritual Reality" starts out slightly dreamy and philosophical, but quickly adds a hard EBM beat, albeit not a particularly fast one. The vocals are very typical EBM/industrial here, heavily distorted and bitten off violently, although Stephan actually does manage to put some melody on them even so. They are more distorted and shouted in "Electronic Warfare" which has a much more frenetic pace. Stephan shows his ability to make more melodic EBM in the next song, "All Tomorrow's Parties." No, that's not really a paradox, as you can see by listening here. The beat is slow, the electronics harsh and dark, but the vocals are very definately sung (in an impressively talented voice, I might add, which is a bit surprising) and the melody is the most important feature of the song. The extremely short "Arp" (or maybe it should be "ARP"; I can't tell since the titles are given in all caps on the jewel case) features little if any percussion, yet still sounds like it fits on an EBM disk. The softly sung vocals and delicately dark synths go a long way towards creating an atmospheric piece that is somewhat unprecedented in the EBM world (until VNV Nation came along and changed all that, of course.) "Burnin' Heretic (Album version)" is a slightly more straight-forward EBM with a pounding beat, themes that have to do with, obviously death and intolerance, and minimal EBM-style vocals. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this song is that it's the just about the only one here to feature a guitar part -- a frantic riff that adds to the dance line. "Lidelsens Mening" further builds on that medieval dark churchy feel with some initial chants over dark synths. A typical EBM beat follows, although the song remains a more atmospheric one rather than dancey one. Some vocals come in that are so distorted they make Zurg (from Toy Story -- yes, I have little kids) sound like a public speaker. In fact, they sound a bit like Zurg so drunk that his speech is slurred. "Backdraft" comes on starting a lot like a Front By Front-era Front 242 song again, although the lyrics and vocals are much clearer and coherent than anything they ever did. Again, dark and menacing, atmospheric, but not necessarily danceable, with a very nice melodic chorus. The same is not true for "Ashes to Ashes (German Slam version.)" As you might guess from anything subtitled "German Slam version," this song is extremely hard-hitting, fast-tempoed and features heavily distorted "shouted" vocals with little or no melody. "The Approach of Death" amounts to little more than a slow instrumental coda to finish out the album proper, again featuring little or no percussion until far into the song, with ponderous organ sounds and frantic, vocals that sound literally scared that are sampled here and there. It's shortly over, however, and we dive right into the "Bonus Trax" including "Ashes to Ashes (Original 12" version)" (as if anyone released 12"s these days.) I actually like it better: it features a little bit of the APB melodiousness, and the interesting addition of a crying baby at the beginning, although it's still raw, rough and very punchy. The very interestingly titled "Wrack 'Em to Pieces" has a nice introduction with a light flutish sound that eventually gives way to something that sounds like a remake of sorts of "Lidelsens Mening" including a return of the drunken Zurg and a very fast EBM beat. After this, we hear a little "cutesy" organ introduction that turns out to be "Burning Heretics (Crisp Version)" a slightly faster, although actually not quite as hard version as the album version played earlier. Gone is the guitar, and added are a few electronic bleeps and a more electronic bass-line.
Following this, APB released a live album and then changed their style somewhat, emphasising the melodic aspect even more; actually singing most of their songs and writing recognizable pop format structures to them, although other than that, the sounds remains hard-hitting EBM. However, the extreme distortion and occasional lack of melody that make up classic EBM is a welcome change from the synthpop I hear most of the time. This album is a great intro into EBM in general, showing as much talent as anyone in the genre.
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