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| KEVORKIAN DEATH CYCLE | ||||
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Album: "A+0[m]"
(1999) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight KDC is back with their most mature and varied release so far. While their previous CD "Dark Skies" had some really good tracks on it, I also felt that it had some rather boring songs as well. Not to mention the fact that the track layout was a mess. All of the complaints that I had with that CD seem to have been fixed for this one. This album is tightly put together without a bad track to be found. The CD opens with the intense techno instrumental "How To Nuke Heaven" which sounds as if it was designed with the dance floor in mind. It ends smoothly into the second track "Death To The Flesh". This song is a heavy techno track with both male and female shouting. It sounds very much like KMFDM and MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT as it has a techno/rave vibe with guitars. While not a bad track in general, it just seems a little generic. It's energy packed and will be a hit on the dance floor, but lacks the depth to really be enjoyed anywhere else. The third track "Pulse" is an energtic techno track as well, but has more mood and variety to it. It's an excellent song. Track four "Sci-Fi" has more of a spacey synth-pop feel to it with light uplifting electro beats and clean vocals. It's good, but a bit too tame for my personal tastes. Track five "Caged" is darker and more dreary than the first four songs. It has a very serious edge to it with a bit of drama. It's actually one of my favorite songs here as it has some really well done electronic programming combined with excellent vocals. Track six "Escape Part I" caught me by surprise as it has acoustic guitar and deep dreary clean singing on top of what sounds like people at a party in the background. It's a very good song that goes into "Escape Part II" which is the same song at a faster pace and electronic noises and drum programming combined with louder vocals. Track eight is a cover of the FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD classic "Relax". KDC turn the song into a more aggressive industrial version. Track nine "The Doorway" is a fast paced electro industrial song with great rhythms, beats and singing. There is even some guitar thrown in to add a little more spice. Track ten "A+0(m)" is a rather heavy and noisy electro song with harsh beats and slighly altered vocals. It's another great song, but doesn't really work as the album closer. I just feel that the CD would have ended better if it had something more mellow and tame to fade it out with. The bottom line is that this is a tight an polished album that really shows a lot of growth for the band. But it also shows that the band is going more toward the commercial side of industrial rock music with a lot of techno/rave influences thrown in as well. You can't help but hear the vast similarities to HATE DEPT., KMFDM, MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT and 16 VOLT in a lot of these songs. I feel that if some of these songs were to be played on commercial radio or MTV, they would become hits. My main complaint with this CD is that the songs are just too short only reaching about three minutes each. The total running time for this CD is only 40 minutes. That is rather short for an industrial release. So the album does seem to go by rather quickly, but it's still quite enjoyable from start to finish. If you are interested in an industrial rock CD with a touch of techno/rave and some guitar, this KDC release is it.
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Album: "Dark
Skies" (1998) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight Kevorkian Death Cycle impressed me with their debut release, and while this CD has its moments, it does fall short in many areas. Let me first mention that the songs "Static", "The Fall", "Swallow", "Lifter" and "Dark Skies" are excellent . They are energetic, angry and aggressive guitar heavy cyber assaults with driving rhythms and beats and catchy chorus'. They mix great electronic programming with dramatic synth melodies as well. These songs stand out and show exactly how great Kevorkian Death Cycle can be. The problem is that nothing else on the CD is as good. There is one instrumental that shouldn't even be here, and a few extremely slow and boring songs that are drab with light uplifting textures that are out of place for such a dark band. The main problem with this CD is the track layout. This CD would have worked so much better if the songs were placed in a different order. I feel the CD should have opened with "Static", had "Lifter" placed more in the middle, and ended with the beautiful "Tempest". I feel that this would have made the CD flow a lot smoother from start to finish. There are still enough good songs here to make this CD worth listening to, but I feel it could have been polished a lot more. I hope that there next release is better.
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Album: "Collection
For Injection" (1996) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight If you put Leaether Strip, :wumpscut:, Evils Toy, and Steril into a blender and mixed them together, you would get the sound of Kevorkian Death Cycle. This band shares musical styles from all of those great German bands. However, Kevorkian Death Cycle is an American band. But they have the German industrial sound down pact. Haunting synths, electronic rhythms, catchy drum beats, samples, slight guitar, and distorted screaming vocals make up the music found here. The overall sound is very dark and moody with medium to fast paced hooks. Each song is just as catchy as the next one with hypnotic rhythms and beats that grab hold of you and take you on a twisted evil journey. This band might not be original, but they do make some really kick ass music. If you like German style industrial music, then this album is a must for you.
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