A
fresh release from Finland's DOME RUNNER is welcome news to me! Following on from their strong debut album, "Conflict State
Design", "Apocalypse.Pulse.Worship." brings five
tracks of grimy, rusted-out, wasteland industrial metal, with a remix topping it off.
Straight off the bat, this should
appeal to anyone who can eat up GODFLESH, early SCORN, PITCHSHIFTER,
SKIN CHAMBER, early FEAR FACTORY and the like anytime, much like
"Conflict State Design". Grim, bleak guitar lines and noise
textures are laid over repetitive, driving percussion, with heavily
reverbed and delayed vocals. Of note is the fact that a real drummer
is used by DOME RUNNER - this is usually a turn-off in that the hard,
pounding, dehumanized sonic characteristic of drum machines are
obviously a great choice for industrial metal, but DOME RUNNER makes
it work pretty well ("O" doesn't play like a
drummer, and instead emulates the unwavering, repetitive style of a
drum machine), despite the drums sounding a little thin. I do like
that a tambourine sample matched to the tempo of the drums is used
through most of the songs, which should be familiar to anyone into
GODFLESH, as it helps add some of the more mechanized feel that a drum machine
would normally bring. Any small complaints about the drum mix,
however, are compensated for by the strength of the songwriting - I
really would have liked for this to be another full length as their
command and knowledge of the early-mid 90s style is on full display,
with a variety of elements such as desolate and morose atmospheres,
slightly dancier parts, chuggy metallic headbanging riffs, and
well-executed vocal styles both clean and rasped all present on this
record.
The remix track is OK and brings to mind the
noisier/harsher tracks off SCORN's "White Irises Blind",
but with more noise and distortion on everything. It's the weakest
track on here (not so bad since it's omitted from the 12"
version), and like many remixes, made for a somewhat unnecessary addition,
but it doesn't detract much from an otherwise great record that
shows a continuation of what was established on "Conflict State
Design". Recommended to any fan of the more serious late '80s to
mid '90s industrial sound and has got a bunch of spins from me over
the last couple of months. SOLID 7/10.
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