Elm – Extreme Unspoken Tension / Limited Edition (DCD Album – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Background/Info: Three years after his hard-hitting debut-album “Hardline”, Swedish EBM master and ex-Restricted Area operator, Peter Elm strikes back with his second album. The previously released EP “Death Of The North” was a solid appetizer to welcome this EBM work.
Content: Elm remains faithful to the EBM old-school. The bass lines might remind you of Nitzer Ebb while the entire production has this good-old electronic-body-music spirit. The short tracks are mixing energy, fast forward linear drum patterns and harsh, enraged vocals. The tracks feature the unavoidable metallic noises and some simple melody lines. The lyrics reflect a critical perception about Western life.
The limited edition featuring an extra disc features exactly the same tracklist where each song has been remixed or delivered in an alternative edit. Peter Elm accomplished all remixes/alternative edits himself while there’s one special song featuring Rummelsnuff who translated the original vocals into German and singing them his very own and unique way.
+ + + : No doubt about it, the new ELM opus is for sure one of the most noticeable retro-EBM productions from the year. Peter Elm perfectly knows how to compose efficient and powerful EBM. The formula remains quite simple: a hard driven, linear kick plus a solid bass line plus a simple lead to inject an extra dimension during the chorus and charismatic vocals. But Elm also takes care of the little details, which makes the composition more elaborated than most of these EBM productions. This is an aspect, which also comes through in the lyrical content; no easy vocals like ‘move your body’. But EBM is first of all music to dance on and ELM brings several solid dancefloor killers. “Death Of The north” remains a great piece, but I also have to mention “Switching Addictions”, “Cut You Down”, “Violent Heart”, “Distracted” ao.
I also like the concept of the bonus disc featuring an alternative version of every song. I here recommended the epic version of “Redemption”, “the sexy version of “Death Of The North”, the “Extended” version of “Cut You Down”, the power emerging from “Switching Addiction” and especially “smother Box” plus the funny, but cool adaptation of Rummelsnuff on “Zerfahren” (adaptation of “Distracted”.
– – – : I hoped to discover another great cut in the line of “Death From The North”, but it remains the absolute hit from the album. This is a cool work, but the EBM formula is sometimes a little bit too repetitive. I also think that some choruses could be a little bit more explicit.
Conclusion: This album is a great EBM gift for all die-hard freaks; powerful music mixed with interesting lyrics!
Best songs: “Death Of The North”, “Cut You Down”, “Switching Addictions”, “Violent Heart” + “Smother Box – Mother of Aggression-Mix”, “Switching Addictions – XXX Club-mix”, “Death Of The North – 7 Inch edit”, “Cut You Down – Extended”, “Redemption – Akropolis Version”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.facebook.com/elmelectro
Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
