Album: "Shockwave"
Label: Metropolis Records (2003)
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

Whoa! What happened to Decoded Feedback? I’ve been listening to them since they first started making music, and this Shockwave CD is quite a change for them. But it’s a good change for those who are getting tired of tame electronic music such as future pop. While DF’s previous recording Mechanical Horizon might have hinted at the band toning down their sound a bit and maybe going in more of a future pop direction, this Shockwave CD dismisses all of that.

The CD opens with "Phoenix" which kicks off hard, heavy and noisy with extremely distorted growling vocals and even some chugging guitar riffs. It’s a good solid angry and aggressive electro-industrial song that starts things off nicely. The next two tracks, "Bondage" and "Democracy", sound similar to Suicide Commando. They’re dark, dreary and play at a mid-tempo speed with Marco Biagiotti slowly growling the lyrics. Unfortunately, I find them to be rather dull, drab and tend to drag along too slowly. Fans of Suicide Commando’s slower material might like them, but I personally prefer more energy in the music that I listen to. Track four "The Fruit Of Wisdom" picks things up with it’s speedy electronic programming, driving beats, guitar riffs and dark melodies along with Marco’s snarling vocals. This is without a doubt the stand out track on this disc. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to crank a song so loud. It’s fierce and powerful with bite. It’s definitely one of DF’s greatest songs yet. Track five "Heaven" is a nice melodic darkwave song with well layered electronics, infectious beats, haunting synth harmonies and Marco’s deep gothic style singing. Track six "Do You See" sounds like a song from DF’s previous CD Mechanical Horizon. It’s a good solid straight forward dark EBM song with multi-layered programming, mid-tempo beats, soothing melodies and Marco’s deep untreated singing. It’s a bit repetitive, but still decent. Track seven "Nothingness" sounds like a song from DF’s Technophoby CD. It’s a straight forward electro-industrial song with basic programming, redundant beats, light melodies and distorted growling vocals. Track eight "Organic" is a somewhat energetic instrumental with frantic programming, heavy beats, an enchanting melody and robotic voice samples. Track nine "Shockwave" sounds like a :wumpscut: song. So much, in fact, that if I heard the song without knowing it was DF, I would have thought that it was :wumpscut:. Track ten "Burn Europe Burn" is another semi-energetic heavy driving instrumental. It’s good, but placed a little too closely to the previous instrumental "Organic". Track eleven "Love Will Save You" is a dark EBM cover of The Swans original, and is one of the better songs offered here. It’s quite catchy with nice music and good deep clear vocals.

This CD really surprised me. The harder more aggressive sound present here wasn’t what I was expecting from DF at all. At first I didn’t know if I really liked it or not just for the fact that I was expecting something completely different. But the more I listened to it, the more that it grew on me. It’s definitely one of DF’s best recordings yet offering a lot more variety than most of their previous recordings. Unfortunately, there are a few things that do bring it down. I mainly have a problem with the track layout. Songs such as "Bondage" and "Democracy" come in much too early on the CD. While not really great songs to begin with, they do have a place on this disc. However, their place is not track two or three. Also, the two instrumentals "Organic" and "Burn Europe Burn" are placed too closely to each other. While they’re both indeed good instrumentals, they would have worked better further apart from one another.

Even with some minor complaints, this is still a very good CD. People who enjoy darker, harder, more noisy and aggressive electro-industrial music will especially enjoy this release. But it has enough variety on it to please fans of most dark electronic music genres.

Album: "Mechanical Horizon" (2000)
Label: Metropolis Records
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

Decoded Feedback has never been known for pulling any punches when it comes to delivering CDs packed with great songs. They don't waste room on their albums with experimental tracks or filler like a lot of other electro-industrial/EBM acts do. When you play one of their CDs you know that you're going to be treated to one great song after another all the way through with nothing annoying or out of place getting in the way of your listening enjoyment. This "Mechanical Horizon" release follows in this same tradition with eleven excellent tracks from start to finish. The band has matured and really knows how to put catchy dark EBM dance tracks together better than ever before. As soon as each track begins the electronic music is fast paced making you knod your head to the driving beats. Beautiful dark orchestrated synth lines emerge in the distance creating a haunting mood. Marco Biagiotti's rough distorted growling vocals overlay the music. But this alone doesn't describe the creativity and twists and turns that each song features. There's a lot happening in these songs making them interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Rhythm shifts, tempo changes, fading electro sound effects, layers upon layers of programming combined with solid drum beats and mesmerizing keyboard melodies create the overall song structures. The music is dark, but also technological in a sci-fi sort of way. It could be described as gothic techno music. Marco's vocals are slightly less altered this time allowing his true voice to be heard. This is nice since he has a good voice and sings well. While everything here does stick to rather dark energetic EBM, the changes in both the music and vocals on each track are really noticeable. While almost each and every song here could work as a club track, they're much more emotional than just straight forward EBM dance songs. You'll want to listen to these songs on your home, car and portable stereo just as much as in clubs. The bottom line is that this is another amazing Decoded Feedback CD that doesn't feature one bad track.

Album: "EVOlution" (1999)
Label: Metropolis Records
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 13

Reviewed by: Darklight

This CD is set up in three parts. Part I/d.n.a. contains six new Decoded Feedback songs. Part II/genetically altered contains six remixes of songs from their "Bio-Vital" CD. And part III/cloned is a cover of their song "Bio-Vital" performed by the band FROZEN AUTUMN. While the six new songs are good, they are rather standard electro industrial for the most part. Techno/sci-fi electronic programming combined with dramatic synth melodies and distorted growling male vocals. They are an enjoyable listen, but aren't anything you haven't come to expect from this band. The best of the new songs is "Frozen". It does stand out amongst the rest of the tracks. This is because the music seems to be a bit more layered and creative with deep sung vocals that are not distorted. I really hope that the band goes more in this same direction on their next full-length release.

The remixes here are of the songs "Breathe", "Bio-Vital" and "Relic". Great bands such as IN STRICT CONFIDENCE, AGHAST VIEW, FUNKER VOGT and DIN-FIV take the originals and turn them into extremely intense techno/electro tracks that would get any club dance floor packed with people wanting to move. This CD would be worth picking up strictly for the remixes.

The final track presentd here is "Bio-Vital" performed by the electro goth band FROZEN AUTUMN. It's a great way to end this album as it's a beautiful version of the song with a dark romantic gothic edge.

I am very pleased with the track layout of this CD. It flows from start to finish without any snags along the way. This is definitely a CD that you can put in your stereo and press play without having to worry about skipping past anything. I also like the fact that the new songs and remixes are separate from each other. Because sometimes you might just want to listen to the remixes only, so just skip to song seven and press play. Remixes only. It's that easy. While this CD is a very good combination of new material and remixes, it's still not perfect. The new songs just don't seem to be quite as good as the material found on Decoded Feedback's previous CD "Bio-Vital". Also, there are six remixes of three songs. I feel that it would have been better to have six remixes of six songs. But these are minor complaints since this is still a very high quality electro industrial release that shouldn't be missed.

Album: "Bio-Vital" (1998)
Label: Metropolis Records
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

Decoded Feedback return with another great release. Just when I was starting to tire of the whole dark electro sound, this band takes the sound and gives it an edge. Their previous album "Technophoby" was excellent and this one is even better. This album is very dark and cold with a gothic vibe thrown in with energetic electronic sequencing made for the dance floor. The music is very moody and orchestrated as well as being aggressive. The vocals are slightly distorted and sing with growling anger. The lyrics can be heard and are very well written. The instant a song begins you are hooked. Once you start listening you can't resist. It pulls you in and holds your interest all the way through. Very layered electronics combined with frantic drum programming, samples, noise effects, beautiful dark synth melodies and haunting male vocals create the songs here. Each of these tracks could work on the dance floor as they get you moving instantly. The darkness of the album really creates a chilling and disturbing atmosphere. While there are a lot of bands that create a similar sound, very few do it as well as Decoded Feedback. This band makes very tight and polished songs that stand out and have an edge to them.

Album: "Technophoby" (1997)
Label: Zoth Ommog
Style: Electro industrial
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

Decoded Feedback is an excellent dark electro act from Canada. While they're not completely original, they still manage to include all of the elements needed to make very quality electro industrial music. The layering of creative electronic sound effects blended with dark, cold and dramatic synth melodies is done to perfection here. Everything is mixed together in a way that makes these songs come alive. While the vocals are distorted growling anger, they still manage to sound a bit different from track to track. The dark mood stays consistant throughout. The songs are rather dreary, but do actually play at a pace where they could work on the dance floor. Each track includes their own structure and style that allows them to stand apart from each other. When a song begins it draws you in. You will not want to skip past anything here. Everything is good. All but one of the tracks do feature vocals. The one instrumental here is excellent and is saved as an ending track. I have no complaints with this album. If you're a fan of bands such as Leaether Strip and Evils Toy, you will like what this album has to offer.