Reviewed by: Darklight

It's been almost ten years since I've heard anything from Plastic Noise Experience (PNE), and I had just assumed that the project was history. So this Maschinenmusik album was a pleasant surprise.

PNE is the solo EBM project of Claus Kruse. What he delivers on this recording are old school EBM songs that sound like EBM did in the 80s and 90s. Basically, it's a simpler approach to music development where the electronic programming and beats focus more on individual sounds and less on multiple layering techniques. And that's what I like so much about this album - it features classic EBM in its truest form with no modern elements taking away from its authenticity.

The songs here are short and sweet. There's no long intros, outros, or lengthy melodies in the middle. They get straight to the point without any padding whatsoever. So if you're looking for epic scale future pop tunes, look elsewhere. But if you want some creative and interesting electronic music stripped of any extra fluff, this album has it.

The vocals are a mix of clear singing and altered word speaking. All of the lyrics are in German and are delivered in a fast spoken style. So don't expect any synth-pop here. Well, except for the out of place cheesy electro-pop song "Heimcomputer", but I like to pretend it doesn't exist.

My biggest complaint with this CD is that there are only ten original songs, and since the songs are short, they go by fast. While there's remixes provided by Solitary Experiments, Armageddon Dildos, Suicide Commando and :wumpscut:, I would have still liked more original songs.

If you want some old school EBM, Maschinenmusik is for you. But if you've had your fill of classic EBM, you might want to pass.

Reviewed by: Darklight

This album opens with an excellent cover of "Small Town Boy". This song is very upbeat and catchy with great uses of synths and electronics. But after this song the album kicks into more traditional Plastic Noise Experience material. This album isn't a lot different from their debut album -196 C, but it's still good. The music found here is fairly generic electro industrial with electronics, synths, and drum machines creating the song structures. The vocals are distorted with an apparent German accent. The pace of the songs is medium, and nothing ever gets too upbeat. The best thing about this album is that you get twenty full length songs. There are only a couple of instrumentals to be found here. So there is a lot of material on this album. But since nothing really stands out, the album kind of just drags along. The problem with this band is that they don't try and do anything new or creative. They basically just copy what has already been done a million times before by other electro industrial bands. But this album is still very listenable, and worth adding to your collection.

Reviewed by: Darklight

This is pretty generic electro industrial music. There really isn't anything new to be heard here. The music is created with electronics, synths, and drum machines. The vocals are slightly distorted and have an apparent German accent. All of the songs pretty much sound the same. Nothing is very fast, but nothing is very slow, either. This music plays along at a medium pace that wouldn't quite work on the dance floor. All of the songs are listenable and somewhat catchy. This is the type of music that doesn't really stand out, but it is still enjoyable. All of the songs found here are pretty dark and moody. This is not upbeat techno music. If you like medium paced electro industrial music with slightly distorted vocals, you will like this album.