Album: "Phaseknox" (2001)
Label: Gashed!
Style: Electro industrial / EBM
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

If you’re familiar with Aghast View’s previous release “Carcinopest”, you know them as a heavy and aggressive dark electro-industrial band. Well, that was then and this is now. Enter “Phaseknox”...the new breed of Aghast View. Sure, the band still delivers energetic and aggressive electro-industrial music, but now with a lot more modern electronic programming and melody. There’s even a dash of techno and trance in this music.

The band has obviously matured and now make electronic music for the modern age. The vocals are a lot cleaner here with less effects and sing with more harmony. But don’t think for a second that this is electro-pop music. This is still Aghast View. They just deliver their anger and aggression is a more creative and polished way here. Hard driving clubfloor beats combined with futuristic electro sounds and dramatic melodies overlaid by rough and tough deep accented male vocals make up the songs offered throughout this CD. But the band isn’t content with just giving the listener the same thing over and over again, so they provide four extremely well done instrumentals to break things up.

Basically, this is a new and improved Aghast View. While still containing elements of old, they create a fresh new sound taking them into the new millennium of EBM. It’s nice to see a band stick to their roots and progress without changing their sound entirely. This CD contains everything that makes modern electro-industrial/EBM so great. No fan of harder edged electro music should pass up this stellar release.

Album: "Carcinopest" (1998)
Label: Gashed!
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 14

Reviewed by: Darklight

This CD was recorded back in 1996, but due to some record label difficulties it didn’t get picked up and released until 1998. Since the material recorded on this disc is from 1996, it does sound a bit dated by today’s electro-industrial/EBM standards, but that’s not to say that it’s still not an enjoyable release-because it is. Actually, I am probably enjoying this CD more now than I would of back in 1996 just for the fact that there hasn’t been a lot of this style of traditional harsh, angry and aggressive EBM music coming out lately. Now with the more catchy melodic approach to EBM fusing synth-pop, it’s nice to listen to raw pissed off aggro EBM again with all of the basics in place including frantic electronic programminbg, heavy bass beats, movie samples and extremely brutal deep accented distorted growling male vocals. There’s even a little distorted guitar in some of these songs for added thrashiness.

What makes this Aghast View release still hold its own today is the fact that there are good changes of emotions in the songs, and they each offer a little something different. While there’s a lot of intense floor stomping chaos here, there’s also more dark and moody moments as well. There are a few more instrumentals than I would care for, but other than that there’s not too much to complain about regarding this album.