Primitive Race Remember Chuck Mosley, Offer Exquisite Electro Tribute With Cranial Matter

7 August 2019 By jesse Leave a Comment

I’m not going to start this review off with my typical “Remix albums are a mixed bag” rant because Chris Kniker, the mastermind behind Primitive Race is a pro when it comes to these things. The man is also a pro when it comes to subverting expectations relating to the recorded output of this particular outfit. The debut from PR was shrouded in mystery before revealing a veritable melting pot of Industrial luminaries and iconic guests while the follow-up, 2017’s Soul Pretender, went a completely different route with more of a band structure showcasing the talents of the late, great Chuck Mosley.

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Primitive Race Live Up To The Hype On Self-Titled Debut

14 July 2015 By jesse Leave a Comment

If you’re like me, you’ve waited for this for a long time. You followed the teases, the slow reveals, heard the snippets, ordered the shirts…everything! Well now my friends, the wait is finally over. But after all the hype, all the teases, all the build up…is Primitive Race, the album, ultimately worth the wait? If you’re into fan-fucking-tatsic electronic/industrial music then the answer is a definitive and resounding “Yes!!!!” [Read more…]

Pig Returns! Primitive Race Rises! Long In The Tooth EP Set For June Release!

27 April 2015 By jesse 3 Comments

After all the hype and all the build up, being able to FINALLY talk about a “proper” release from Primitive Race is an amazing thing. Mastermind Chris Kniker has concocted this masterpiece of an EP that’s old school industrial yet firmly planted in today. Long In The Tooth is the name of the EP and the title track and it is ten tracks of perfectly executed electronic madness serenely sung by the one and only Raymond Watts. [Read more…]

Tommy Victor: A Rock And Roll Fables Conversation

3 April 2015 By jesse 1 Comment

“I think this group of songs and these bands we picked needed to be highlighted as early influences, a big part of the band, and songs that we liked, too.” [Read more…]

Front Line Assembly rules all, releases remix album ECHOES!

23 May 2014 By jesse 1 Comment

Let it be known that I do not like remix albums. At all. Of my favorite artists to do so, there’s only a handful that I find tolerable (Nine Inch Nails’ Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, Death From Above 1979’s Romance Bloody Romance: Remixes & B-Sides immediately come to mind). I guess I just tend to like the originals more and I’m usually just impatient waiting for another studio album. That said, with a remix artist roster like the one Front Line Assembly has but together for ECHOES, the remix companion to last year’s ECHOGENETIC, my skepticism has been quelled because this is a remix album that’s actually worth a damn.

It doesn’t get much better than this line up: Former FLA-er Rhys Fulber, upstarts Youth Code, Cyanotic, tweaker, and the indomitable force that is Primitive Race are just a few of the artists reinterpreting songs from Bill Leeb, Jeremy Inkel, and Jared Slingerland’s latest opus.

Doing a track-by-track would be a disservice to ECHOES as the the album needs to be experienced as a whole but I will say that it really hits the sweet spot and kicks into high gear when Blush Response’s (Joey Blush of Scar The Martyr) version of “Echogenetic” strikes. Then you get Henrik Blackstrom’s “Exhale”, HECQ’s “Prototyp”, Slighter’s “Leveled”…what I’m saying is, listen to it! It’s epic and undeniably Front Line Assembly at the core.

Did I mention that ECHOES also features two BRAND NEW SONGS? Well, it does! Co-written by Sneaker Pimps’ (Gone, but not forgotten!) Ian Pickering, “Contagion” which opens the album is the result if Delerium and FLA were to make an album together (And yes, I know what the connection is there) while “Next War” is a heavy dance track more in tone with last year’s ECHOGENETIC without the dubstep.

You can get all this and more if you shell out for the digital version of ECHOES on Itunes which features 4 bonus tracks or go with the standard edition which is also available now through Metropolis Records.

14 for ’14: A Rock And Roll Fables guide to new music in the new year!

14 January 2014 By jesse Leave a Comment

If I follow this thought process, 2025 is going to be a very long post. Anywho, there’s some new music coming out in 2014 that I really think you should pay attention to. Here goes nothing (No particular order, by the way):

1. He Is Legend (Untitled/TBC)

What kind of a band releases the most amazing album of their career and then disbands? He Is Legend, that’s who! But never fear, HIL is back and has been diligently working away on the follow up to 2009’s It Hates You between bouts of touring which should see the light of day this year. Will it live up to its predecessor? With a new song teased to be dropping imminently, we’ll soon have our answer.

2. Tom Vek (Untitled/TBC)

Um, have you heard Leisure Seizure? If you have then you’ll know why I’m so excited for the third full-length from Tom Vek. The progenitor of Brit-hop makes music in fits and spurts but when it’s finally released it is so worth the wait.

3. Breton: (War Room Stories/February 3)

First single “Envy” has been on a steady rotation in RNRF offices since it was released late last year so the full-length that includes this masterpiece is easily high up there on our most wanted of 2014 list. I can safely tell you, though, that the whole of War Room Stories is brilliant as well. Watch this space for a review soon.

4. Prong (Untitled/TBC)

There is a lot of metal that we’re looking forward to in the new year and Prong is always a proven force of brutality. Their last, Carved Into Stone, managed to capture the entirety of Prong’s illustrious catalog on a single album. Will the follow up be more of the same or a step beyond? Here’s hoping it’s the latter.

5. Maximo Park (Too Much Information/February 3)

“Brain Cells” is the only song you need to hear in 2014 to prove that Maximo Park is not fucking around. Barely a year and a half after the phenomenal A National Health, Too Much Information sounds like an instant classic from the two or three songs released so far.

6. Reverend & The Makers (Thirty Two/February 24)

No song hit me like “Bassline” and the Youth-produced (He, of the mighty Killing Joke who might releasing a new rekkid in 2014) @reverend_makers album in 2012. Friends of Alex Turner who sound like an electrified Happy Mondays, Rev & co. is back with another one that’s sure to rule and first single “Your Girl” is the proof.

7. Nate Newton/Max Cavalera goodness (TBC/Throughout 2014)

Let’s see, there’s the just announced new Cavalera Conspiracy album which will have local boy Nate Newton on bass duties, the Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Troy Sanders Killer Be Killed supergroup, oh, and a little band called OLD MAN GLOOM featuring Newton, Aaron Turner, Caleb Scofield, and Santos Montano all with albums out this year. Three for one. You’re welcome.

8. Dog Fashion Disco (Untitled/Spring)

Another band that soon disbanded after releasing what was probably the best of their career up to that point, Maryland’s Dog Fashion Disco is back and at it again with their first new record since 2006’s Adultery. Recording begins later this month. Adultery was, hands down, the band’s best which means the follow up can only be better.

9, Primitive Race (Untitled/TBC)

The only industrial album you need to seek out in 2014! The brainchild of Chris Kniker, this veritable supergroup features Raymond Watts (New PIG in 2014 please?), Burton Bell, Chris Vrenna (In some capacity although he’s since left the group/recording project), Graham Crabb of Pop Will Eat Itself, Luc Van Acker, Kourtney Klein…the list goes on. There’s an EP on the way along with, hopefully, a full-length. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook for the latest additions and news.

10. Nachtmystium (The World We Left Behind/ Spring 2014)

The final Nachtmystium album! Blake Judd is sure to go out with a scream and not a whimper when he puts the final nail in the coffin of his black metal/prog band. “Voyager” was released towards the end of 2013 and gives a little taste of the upcoming long player which sounds more like the experimental Assassins: Black Meddle , Part 1 than 2012’s Silencing Machine.

11. Marriages (Untitled/TBC)

Emma Ruth Rundle and the boys are back with another slab of female-fronted Isis-like shoegaze post rock. It’ll be epic and you should buy it.

12. Crowbar (Untitled/TBC)

Kirk Windsrein left Down to focus on Crowbar so you know he means business especially when it comes to their 25th anniversary. 2011’s Sever The Wicked Hand was a refreshing return to form melding the New Orleans sludge of ’93’s Crowbar with the sonic brilliance of Odd Fellows Rest so frankly, the sky’s the limit for this one.

13. Combichrist: (We Love You/March 25)

Aggro-industrial at its best, Combichrist is destined to deliver a wallop on their latest if first single “From My Cold Dead Hands” is even an inkling of an indicator of where the rest of We Love You is headed.

14. Eagulls (Eagulls/March 4)

This is kind of cheating because I have this one but if you’ve heard “Nerve Endings” or “Tough Luck” already then you know that this post-punk outfit means business. The rest of Eagulls is no joke. You’ve been warned.

Also worth your time in 2014 are new albums from: Guster, White Noise Owl, Mastodon, Hank & Cupcakes, Slipknot, Fear Factory, Godflesh, and Bells Into Machines featuring Paul Barker and Chris Connelly