KNIFELADDER

"Music/Concrete"

Cold Meat Industry - 2009

CD

After the excellent "The Spectacle", released in 2006, Knifeladder are back with a new full-length album, this time under the banners of Cold Meat Industry. Roger Karmanik's prestigious label gives us the opportunity to enjoy some more of Andrew Trail and John Murphy's industrial assaults. "Music/Concrete" doesn't betray the expectations, on the contrary, it boosts the band's style into an exciting cauldron of styles and influences, where noise, tribal percussions, ritual atmospheres and even apocalyptic folk melt and combine. The best feature of the CD is that each track is different from the previous, there's not even the slightest hint of repetition, thus always ensuring an attentive and involving listening.

Opening "White Walls" welcomes you with an hypnotic ritual of bells and gongs, crossed by Andrew Trail's shamanic vocals, "Eden Falls" and "Cut And Run" are more in the band's classic old-school industrial style, with distorted bass, electronic frequencies and noise, whereas "All For The Culling" is a surprising dark folk ballad, with strings played by Lloyd James of Naevus. Some of the most impressive moments are surely "Fearsome Engine" and "You Don't Own It", long percussive rides that brings back memories of SPK's "Leichenschrei", but the whole album is damn good and well worth your money and time.

Knifeladder are a fine example of how to make the old-school industrial sound from the early 80s' sound modern and effective in 2009, without just copying what was already done long time ago, but using it as inspiration to forge a personal style. Extremely recommended.

- Simon V.

Website: http://www.knifeladder.eu

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/knifeladdermusic

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