Tyranny Off the Beat

(Off Beat/Cleopatra)
by Paul Lee

It keeps growing like a vicious computer virus. Cold, dark and calculated, this so-called electro-industrial still festers like a wound spewing wires and circuits. After prolonged exposure to this disc, I thought I was going to look like the main character in Tetsuo, The Iron Man. It seems appropriate that I sit here at an altar of the electronic god and hammer out this article while complex and synth sounds saturated the air waves.

Compared to the rash of guitar-driven industrial infesting the scene, the ten bands on Tyranny tend to take a more synthesized approach – there’s hardly an axe crunching (except for a Drown-like group called Steril). Heavy on the sound effects, most of the bands sound like the bastard children of Jean-Michel Jarre and Front 242. All the tasty techno ingredients you’d expect from this sort of industrial. Particularly cool songs by Haujobb, Suicide Commando, Lab Animals, and Project Pitchfork. One band that seems out of place is Delay. They sound like Depeche Mode.

Tyranny Off the Beat will give those of you who crave electro-industrial damage a mainline to your brains. It’s also a good way to see what the scene is like in Germany. It’s diverse enough to stay fairly interesting for its full 74 minutes and is a great accompaniment to movies like Blade Runner, Robocop, Akira and other wonderfully heavy sci-fi classics. If you’re looking for party music, forget it. Unless, of course, you have a house full of morose people dressed in freakish black outfits. If you seek digital darkness, than plug in to this disc.