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Zarko · 05-03-2009, 02:04 AM

The Brotherhood of the Bomb – Techno Animal (2001)

GENRES – Hip Hop, Industrial, Experimental

Cruise Mode 101 - 4:48
Glass Prism Enclosure - 4:23
Hypertension - 6:14
DC-10 - 4:33
Robosapien - 5:45
Freefall - 5:03
Monoscopic - 5:54
Piranha - 4:58
Sub Species - 4:18
We Can Build You - 4:16
Blood Money - 5:22
Hell - 5:33

Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick’s project was introduced to me via ‘Re-Entry’, an electronic-industrial double album that, whilst solid, was burdened by its enormity (Only 3 out of 12 songs are under 10 minutes, and all three of those aren’t far off, not to mention a 20 minute track). 6 years after Re-Entry, the duo produced and released ‘The Brotherhood of the Bomb’ and it has become an instant hip hop favourite of mine. Mixing an intense static noise industrial tone with hip hop beats and rappers and creating back beats that work great in conjunction with the rappers in particular. There is nothing delicate about the album, and the result is yet another top notch album.

‘Cruise Mode 101’ offers up these factors straight away, with a harsh roaring beat, driven by heavy drumming tuned with the heavy industrial sound, as well as a controlling bass line that blends things up. I was quite pleasantly surprised to hear a familiar voice, only to find out that the lyrics and vocals were performed by the Chicago group ‘Rubberoom’. Everything is so loud, you would think it’s about to collapse in itself. You would think with such intensity from the back beats, the rapping and the various sounds and squeals that something would eventually overpower everything else, but it never does. It holds a constant flow as all the factors accompany each other extremely well. It is a definite ‘body mover’ if there was anything on the album. Rubberoom are also in great form, unfortunately they aren’t to be found anywhere else on the album.

‘Glass Prism Enclosure’ changes things up, as the tempo is turned down. At the beginning it seems almost trip hop-ish, with an icy backbeat controlled by short and sharp beats. The accompanying vocals were performed by the Anti Pop Consortium and they are sort of hard to describe. It’s abstract rap that doesn’t revere speed, instead making the music great through controlled lyricism and melancholic enunciation. The track isn’t really a favourite, but it is interesting nonetheless. ‘Hypertension’ is the first purely instrumental hip hop track. They have their own specific ‘flair’, and although they are hardly as nice as the tracks with the other MCs, they hold their own in the context of the whole album. Hypertension is one of the better instrumentals, with some dark dubbing sound, and the overall mood is one of forewarning.

‘DC-10’ is another slow paced track, which sounds muffled at times, and is full of some weird and wonderful sounds. The vocals begin with a deeply distorted groaning voice, before Sonic Sum enters the track with some clean rapping before it all explodes. The noise is turned up 50 notches, as Sum struggles to overcome the destruction. I loved it the first time I heard it, and I still love it today. The process of ‘calmness’ to insanity is continued throughout and it is makes the track amazing. There is also a bit of scratching present, and there is little doubt that this is one of my favourite tracks on the album, and it certainly doesn’t feel like a 4 minute track once it’s finished.

‘Robosapien’ is the best instrumental track on the album, with a chilled ferocity that isn’t present on any other instrumentals. It isn’t the noisiest, but it doesn’t really need to be in the scheme of things. ‘Freefall’ is full of short and sharp tones fighting through a wall of low volume static noise. ‘Monoscopic’ is abound with bassy dubs that are stifled until they escape from their prison to creates a spacey overtone. All three tracks are good, and Robosapien especially is one of the better tracks on the album, but they all feel a bit boring after a while compared to the insanity of the MC’ed tracks. They would probably be more standout if they were part of a separate entity; unfortunately that is not the case. They are definitely more down tempo, and perhaps I am just in the mood for some aggressive stuff.

‘Piranha’ is yet again another bombastic track, accompanied by Toastie Taylor’s gravelly reggae articulation. In their lairiser rapping, they make the track animalistic, with little control over what comes next. The track only gets better as time goes on, as Taylor correctly describes the performance as driven by impulse. It really is a dramatic transition between the instrumental tracks and rapping tracks. It’s almost so different that it becomes a shame that one side of the album is so much better than the other, despite that one side still actually being quite good.

‘Sub Species’ is a rolling instrumental filled with noise. The conventional beats are built up of unconventional means, whether it be feedback or other assorted power electronic noises. It sort of carries on the reggae feeling, if there is any such thing as reggae industrial hip hop. It is another one of the better instrumental tracks on the album. ‘We Can Build You’ is another slower rapping track, with El-P and Vast Aire providing the solid lyricism and styling. It is an interesting track, but I feel in the scheme of things, it’s too slow… In comparison to ‘Glass Prism Enclosure’ that was at the point of an album where it felt ‘suitable’. By now, to have more tracks that carry on the instrumental tracks tempo is a shame because the actual tone of the instrumentals become overbearing when they are all bunched together. I can’t stress enough that the rapping is good though, despite the speed of the track.

‘Blood Money’ is the final instrumental that is filled with melancholic and malevolent beats. The track personally offers some imagery to a bubbling cauldron, with elements being mixed and matched for an unknown result. It is probably one of the better paced instrumental tracks, that isn’t too fast or slow, and offers up some different song constructions. The album ends of a high note with ‘Hell’ featuring Dalek. It all sounds very acoustic and disconnected til Dalek brings it together with his morose rapping and surrounded by dark backbeats. He doesn’t break tone, creating the sense of discord as the cacophonic world implodes around him.

‘The Brotherhood of the Bomb’ certainly is a change for the better for Techno Animal. It is filled with intricate and exciting beats, as well as the ‘perfect blend’ in the majority of tracks. Unfortunately, due to being lined up against the violent MC tracks, the instrumentals feel a bit lacking, especially when they have 2-3 instrumental tracks in a row. They aren’t bad, and they offer their own great moments, but they simply don’t match up to the great rap tracks. Still, it is an album worth checking out for hip hop or industrial fans.

TOTAL SCORE

8.7/10

– Cruise Mode 101
– DC-10
- Piranha

Not great video quality, but good enough

RE: Last week... I felt like having a break and just didn't feel like listening to anything, and I wasn't really enjoying much music wise. I musically wiped myself out you could say. But back and raring to go.

05-03-2009, 02:04 AM	#77 (permalink)
Zarko Barely Disheveled Zombie Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 1,196	The Brotherhood of the Bomb – Techno Animal (2001) GENRES – Hip Hop, Industrial, Experimental Cruise Mode 101 - 4:48 Glass Prism Enclosure - 4:23 Hypertension - 6:14 DC-10 - 4:33 Robosapien - 5:45 Freefall - 5:03 Monoscopic - 5:54 Piranha - 4:58 Sub Species - 4:18 We Can Build You - 4:16 Blood Money - 5:22 Hell - 5:33 Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick’s project was introduced to me via ‘Re-Entry’, an electronic-industrial double album that, whilst solid, was burdened by its enormity (Only 3 out of 12 songs are under 10 minutes, and all three of those aren’t far off, not to mention a 20 minute track). 6 years after Re-Entry, the duo produced and released ‘The Brotherhood of the Bomb’ and it has become an instant hip hop favourite of mine. Mixing an intense static noise industrial tone with hip hop beats and rappers and creating back beats that work great in conjunction with the rappers in particular. There is nothing delicate about the album, and the result is yet another top notch album. ‘Cruise Mode 101’ offers up these factors straight away, with a harsh roaring beat, driven by heavy drumming tuned with the heavy industrial sound, as well as a controlling bass line that blends things up. I was quite pleasantly surprised to hear a familiar voice, only to find out that the lyrics and vocals were performed by the Chicago group ‘Rubberoom’. Everything is so loud, you would think it’s about to collapse in itself. You would think with such intensity from the back beats, the rapping and the various sounds and squeals that something would eventually overpower everything else, but it never does. It holds a constant flow as all the factors accompany each other extremely well. It is a definite ‘body mover’ if there was anything on the album. Rubberoom are also in great form, unfortunately they aren’t to be found anywhere else on the album. ‘Glass Prism Enclosure’ changes things up, as the tempo is turned down. At the beginning it seems almost trip hop-ish, with an icy backbeat controlled by short and sharp beats. The accompanying vocals were performed by the Anti Pop Consortium and they are sort of hard to describe. It’s abstract rap that doesn’t revere speed, instead making the music great through controlled lyricism and melancholic enunciation. The track isn’t really a favourite, but it is interesting nonetheless. ‘Hypertension’ is the first purely instrumental hip hop track. They have their own specific ‘flair’, and although they are hardly as nice as the tracks with the other MCs, they hold their own in the context of the whole album. Hypertension is one of the better instrumentals, with some dark dubbing sound, and the overall mood is one of forewarning. ‘DC-10’ is another slow paced track, which sounds muffled at times, and is full of some weird and wonderful sounds. The vocals begin with a deeply distorted groaning voice, before Sonic Sum enters the track with some clean rapping before it all explodes. The noise is turned up 50 notches, as Sum struggles to overcome the destruction. I loved it the first time I heard it, and I still love it today. The process of ‘calmness’ to insanity is continued throughout and it is makes the track amazing. There is also a bit of scratching present, and there is little doubt that this is one of my favourite tracks on the album, and it certainly doesn’t feel like a 4 minute track once it’s finished. ‘Robosapien’ is the best instrumental track on the album, with a chilled ferocity that isn’t present on any other instrumentals. It isn’t the noisiest, but it doesn’t really need to be in the scheme of things. ‘Freefall’ is full of short and sharp tones fighting through a wall of low volume static noise. ‘Monoscopic’ is abound with bassy dubs that are stifled until they escape from their prison to creates a spacey overtone. All three tracks are good, and Robosapien especially is one of the better tracks on the album, but they all feel a bit boring after a while compared to the insanity of the MC’ed tracks. They would probably be more standout if they were part of a separate entity; unfortunately that is not the case. They are definitely more down tempo, and perhaps I am just in the mood for some aggressive stuff. ‘Piranha’ is yet again another bombastic track, accompanied by Toastie Taylor’s gravelly reggae articulation. In their lairiser rapping, they make the track animalistic, with little control over what comes next. The track only gets better as time goes on, as Taylor correctly describes the performance as driven by impulse. It really is a dramatic transition between the instrumental tracks and rapping tracks. It’s almost so different that it becomes a shame that one side of the album is so much better than the other, despite that one side still actually being quite good. ‘Sub Species’ is a rolling instrumental filled with noise. The conventional beats are built up of unconventional means, whether it be feedback or other assorted power electronic noises. It sort of carries on the reggae feeling, if there is any such thing as reggae industrial hip hop. It is another one of the better instrumental tracks on the album. ‘We Can Build You’ is another slower rapping track, with El-P and Vast Aire providing the solid lyricism and styling. It is an interesting track, but I feel in the scheme of things, it’s too slow… In comparison to ‘Glass Prism Enclosure’ that was at the point of an album where it felt ‘suitable’. By now, to have more tracks that carry on the instrumental tracks tempo is a shame because the actual tone of the instrumentals become overbearing when they are all bunched together. I can’t stress enough that the rapping is good though, despite the speed of the track. ‘Blood Money’ is the final instrumental that is filled with melancholic and malevolent beats. The track personally offers some imagery to a bubbling cauldron, with elements being mixed and matched for an unknown result. It is probably one of the better paced instrumental tracks, that isn’t too fast or slow, and offers up some different song constructions. The album ends of a high note with ‘Hell’ featuring Dalek. It all sounds very acoustic and disconnected til Dalek brings it together with his morose rapping and surrounded by dark backbeats. He doesn’t break tone, creating the sense of discord as the cacophonic world implodes around him. ‘The Brotherhood of the Bomb’ certainly is a change for the better for Techno Animal. It is filled with intricate and exciting beats, as well as the ‘perfect blend’ in the majority of tracks. Unfortunately, due to being lined up against the violent MC tracks, the instrumentals feel a bit lacking, especially when they have 2-3 instrumental tracks in a row. They aren’t bad, and they offer their own great moments, but they simply don’t match up to the great rap tracks. Still, it is an album worth checking out for hip hop or industrial fans. TOTAL SCORE 8.7/10 – Cruise Mode 101 – DC-10 - Piranha Not great video quality, but good enough RE: Last week... I felt like having a break and just didn't feel like listening to anything, and I wasn't really enjoying much music wise. I musically wiped myself out you could say. But back and raring to go. Last edited by Zarko; 07-17-2009 at 12:51 AM.