Published on Apr 24, 1998
For some time now, I’ve been awaiting the rebirth of really good
industrial music. Front 242 had their moments, but it’s been some
time since they set my eardrums on fire. Ministry – can’t really
explain what’s happened to them. Last time I got excited over
anything like this, it was the Trent Reznor-voiced cover of Black
Sabbath’s “Supernaut” – and that was some time ago.
But into the void steps Seattle’s Rorschach Test, a band I had
the pleasure of seeing in concert earlier this month. Of the five
acts that took the stage that night, I couldn’t believe what I was
seeing or hearing. Keyboardist Troee looked like he was either
doing pushups over his keyboards or was humping them. The guitar
duo of Benjamin Anderson and Kristopher Geren provided shred after
shred, while vocalist James screamed like his manhood was being
burned off with a blowtorch.
It was a rebirth for me – and their recent release
Unclean captures almost all of the ferocity with a
surprisingly clean sound.
From the beginning, you know you’re in for an interesting ride,
with “Satan” and “Elvis” pummelling you into submission. I almost
expected a little more bass on this – then again, I’m getting tired
of replacing speakers in the Pierce Archives every time someone
puts “bass in the face” and burst the Bose. “Elvis” is an
especially interesting track, with James blaming the late rock
pioneer for damn near every bad thing in the world: “Look what you
started, Elvis / Surely there will be hell to pay. / You stole our
morals and you led the whole damn world astray.”
The nihilistic view of life is clearly seen in tracks like
“Wheel Of Misfortune,” where James sings such pleasantries as,
“Congratulations, you’ve just won the right / To a meaningless,
miniscule life / Full of disappointment and pain / At no extra
charge.” And while hearing songs like these on
Unclean serve to purge you of any negative feelings you
might have at the time, you almost wonder if James believes what
he’s saying – he delivers the goods with such intensity and raw
power.
Rorschach Test manage to keep the energy level incredibly high
for almost the entire album – losing ground only on the last two or
three songs. “Hold” and “Clean” don’t live up to the rest of the
album, and I question what we needed an additional mix of “Elvis”
for, but these songs don’t put that big a dent in the whole album.
Not when you have tracks as strong as “Cripple Touch”, “Song For
Other Me” and their cover of Berlin’s “Sex” to toss you back into
the mosh pit. (I would have liked information on who the female
vocalist was on “Sex” – the liner notes don’t provide much detail.)
Also worth noting is the production hand of Neil Kernon, who seems
to provide the “alarm clock” that wakes up the band’s sound.
And if you start to take Rorschach Test too seriously, don’t –
just because they have a song on
Unclean entitled “Blow Up America” doesn’t mean it’s time to
pull a Timothy McVeigh on anyone. Two words: chill out.
Rorschach Test is still a very young band (and the guys I talked
to from the band were incredibly nice), and if
Unclean is a sign of things to come, then the world of
industrial rock should be getting very excited indeed. Even with
one or two dents in the armor, this is one incredible disc that
begs you for repeat listens.