Death Ride 69

Screaming Down The Gravity Well (Fifth Column)
by Angela Dauthi

It’s not often you see a female-fronted electro-industrial band as vicious as this one. It’s even rarer these days to see the main inspiration coming from old Ministry rather than NIN or heavy metal. Hey, it’s Beat Mistress from Thrill Kill Kult, and she’s one cool bitch. She and Mark Blasques (“plus a revolving cast of maniacs and freaks”) are Death Ride 69 and they’re taking no prisoners. Instead of the plodding “chug and boom” industrial that’s glutting the market these days (too much crossover! I can’t hold ‘er! She’s melting into a giant sludgepile!), Screaming Down The Gravity Well (Fifth Column) thins it out, bringing more high end into the mix, the guitars approaching the sound of a runaway locomotive, electronics shrieking and buzzing like giant insect swarms. On top of all this is Beat Mistress, her drums smacking out the beat as she howls out her rage, no demonic roar, no pretty squeals, but the savage anger of the Furies rocketing out of her throat. Crisp, high-tension songs sizzle from the CD, focusing on the potency of top end frequency to drive the sonic nails home. To be sure, this is one album that doesn’t brood, it rampages. The sinister violence that lurks in these tracks is also exemplified by the voyeuristic samples, slightly blurred with distortion, like a cocktail party in Purgatory, while mysterious sounds wander through the sampled crowd, wriggling aural pseudopods between legs, over feet. Give this CD to your favorite dominatrix, and she’ll be happily whipping you all week. Now that’s a good album.