EBM and futurepop from cyberpunk atmospheres to the dancefloor.
Asteria – Faderhead
Assemblage 23 – Mourn
Just that EBM slash futurepop that I would expect from an Assemblage 23 album. The Deluxe Edition’s remixes added pretty much nothing to the experience, so that basic set of ten tracks are fine as they are.
Rob Zombie – The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
As good as any Rob Zombie record, it just delivers. Perhaps more musical than the usual, ranging a bunch of genres from the default industrial metal through hard rock and heavy metal to funk and even country, and having melodies that may be beyond what one would expect from this guy.
Planetdamage – Relapse Protocol
Industrial electronics and beyond that goes through a wide range of styles from EBM through breaks to psytrance. It is like an amazing soundtrack to a cyberpunk videogame that I’d love to play. I’m sure Planetdamage would like to imagine people walking through neon-infused city nights while listening to it, but it’s a perfect companion for pushing work, too. The only downside is the vocal, which on the full length gets somewhat tedious because of it’s monotone sound, but since the Bandcamp release has the instrumental version included that’s what I have on replay.
Rabbit Junk – Xenospheres
It’s industrial metal with a heavy electronic drag. And most of all, even though it’s presented as a neo-noir cyberpunk aesthetic, I still feel a positive vibe in there. It’s not like one of those doomed self-deprecating whiners who suck all your willingness to live but this one rather pushes you to go go go and if there’s something in your way just crush through it. It has energy and fun.
Years of Denial – Suicide Disco
This is easily one of my most influential albums that I came across in 2020. Modern technoid EBM with bubbling analog synths and tight industrial beats. It has all the dark beauty of any oldschool EBM but without the spotlight mainstreamism of some retro abusing modern electronic music. They are to EBM what Led Er Est was to post-punk goth rock—something new that understands the roots and fully lives in the present. Wonderful, fantastic music, soundtrack of my life material.
Wargasm – Spit.
Probably my most replayed single track recently. I love the energy of the raw industrial punk. Funny that Kittie comes to mind when listening to this, who also had a track called Spit, although their song that comes to mind is Brackish.
Die Wilde Jagd – Uhrwald Orange
It’s like the love child of Dead Can Dance and industrial music. It’s a krautrock thing and a psychedelic rock thing. And it is amazing. I’ve been listening to this record almost continuously for a while now and it just enchants me. It’s hypnotic and atmospheric and opens up a magical world of its own.
Blanck Mass – Calm With Horses (Original Score)
Another one of those soundtracks that get me to watch a movie. Otherwise I’d probably pass on another film starring Barry Keoghan. But the music is another hit home by Benjamin John Power, he has never let me down so far. Tense, dark, full of stress, from ambient to pumping industrial electronics. I can hear those pictures of unease and emptiness, then running and fighting, I want to see that editing that’s based on these rhythms and sounds. I’d love to play it too, if this was a game soundtrack.
Harmed – From Day One
Ranging between metalcore, melodic hardcore, and mathcore. It’s like a little boy brother of Meshuggah who is still listening to some Slipknot and post-hardcore emo stuff. This album is acutally from 2017, I just came across this now because of a new single (Metacortex), which is way more all-out industrial infused metal, but both their earlier and new songs are fantastic. I wonder, which will be the future direction once a new record is out.