Dead Animal Assembly Plant - All My Heroes Are Dead (2012)Genre: industrial, experimental
Rating: 3/4
01. Then There Was Silence [04:12]
02. Brumal [05:30]
03. In Furnace [01:41]
04. All My Heroes Are Dead [05:12]
05. Monster [05:00]
06. Fumes [04:15]
07. Tragedy For One [04:53]
08. Rust Jesus [04:31]
09. A Capella Medication [04:50]
10. Deeper [04:08]
11. Surrogate (bonus track) [05:32]
"
In
1915 tragedy struck the small town he called home when all the
livestock took some unexplained fatal disease. The ever resourceful
Schröder turned to the only available meat. The townsfolk."
Portland,
Oregon seems to be fertile ground for industrial, goth and electronic
music to manifest. Several well known industrial bands originate
throughout the pacific northwest of the United States and Canada. Dead
Animal Assembly Plant (DAAP) is a collaboration of musicians from Bound
In Oblivion (Johnathan Case, Zach Wager), NVEiN (Eric Bergen), Particle
Son (Vex March) and Travis Geny.
Dead Animal Assembly Plant is
inspired by a fictional horror story set up in the XIX century about a
once successful German butcher who had gone bankrupt by the name of
Wilhelm Schröder.
The musicians who comprise DAAP wear the
ominous clothes of a butcher with bloody meat-esque painted faces and
prosthetic torso coverings which make their live shows quite a
disturbing experience. In fact, this kind of music demands visual
aesthetics such as costumes or additional short films to enhance the
live performance at their shows.
Two years after releasing their debut
Niblets 'N' Giblets / Strip Off Your Skin
EP, DAAP comes back with music and stories that the fans of ohGr or
Skinny Puppy should dig right away. There's no doubt the band has earned
their place to be labeled as 'industrial', where the link has been made
not only by the use of synths, samplers and cold mechanical auras, but
also by instruments such as the musical saw (idiophone). Moreover,
Zach's vocals may recall a listener to the implicative articulation of
the demonic Pinhead from
Hellraiser. This horror movie character
has been as attractive and inspiring for the electro/industrial music
scene as radioactive contamination.
The opening track entitled
"Then There Was Silence" gives a pre-taste of what sort of atmospheres
will surround the listener over the course of the following 50 minutes.
Noisy electronic and somewhat echoing vocals supported by clear, phat,
yet terrorizing beats may very well drill into one's skull.
On
the other hand, "Brumal" sounds more organic thanks to the distorted
guitars as well as repetitive and syncopated vocals. The third track on
the album called "In Furnace" includes many more experimental tunes as
well as effects and quite sado-masochistic moods. The song lasts no
longer than two minutes, but it could have sounded even more disturbing
if it were to continue further.
If you've ever listened to the
music of Bound in Oblivion, you will find this connection in "All My
Heroes Are Dead" as well. Shattering and repetitive rhythms are enriched
by synths reminiscent of
Pretty Hate Machine, NIN era song techniques that give the overall track quite a danceable spin.
"Monster"
may either be called the best or the most confusing song on this album
since it sounds as if there are three compositions in one. The
arrangements are based on the rhythm, however they are spiced up with a
dense layer of vocals as well as a variety of environmentally placed
tunes.
The song "Fumes" may truly bring up mind-alarming pictures. This track would be a perfect fit to movies such as
Saw, Silent Hill, The Human Centipede or
Hostel,
where the negative character in the minds of the killers were soaked
with the sickest, most sadistic, yet extremely surreal ideas. Moreover,
it's the perfect composition in which to use the musical saw I mentioned
above, due to complex arrangements that puzzle the listener from the
very beginning.
"Tragedy For One" sounds arrhythmic at first,
then turns into a rhythmic drive still filled with crazy sounding
samples and suggestive, Nivek Ogre-esque vocals. Normally it would be a
danceable track, but due to a variation of sporadic noises and
labyrinthian structures - it is not. Similarly, "Rust Jesus" recalls of
early Skinny Puppy music with its scary vocals combined with electronic
and rhythmical tunes. Surely, you will feel the power of 90's era
industrial, however well modernized here.
The following track
called "A Capella Medication" stands out as far too electro with its
frequent oontz beats. It's a basic song that includes an electro/rave
party setlist, but it becomes less valuable when held in comparison to
songs such as "Monster" and "Rust Jesus". On the other hand, "Deeper"
turns out to be non-standard. This is a song rich in experimental
arrangements and distracting samples that make it feel cold and
mechanical with the vocals additionally whispered in like a madman's
poetry.
The last song on the tracklist entitled "Surrogate"
sounds emotional. These noisy sounds will attack your ears with a
variety of effects because there's a lot of things going on at the same
time. They match the entire composition, although they stay far from
harmony and balance even though the rhythm appears in following segments
of the song. "Surrogate" is only available on the free version of this
album (to download at DAAP official website at the moment), but not on
the CD.
The music on
All My Heroes Are Dead needs
specifically crafted minds to dig it. These compositions are based on
sonic contrasts as well as arrhythmic and disharmonious arrangements so
they can turn out raw and difficult. The song titles definitely
represent messaging, but the album should be listened to a few times to
understand the entire picture properly. Musical inspirations seem to
flow from experimental works by Foetus and Nivek Ogre, but also modern
industrial, beat-driven arrangements. DAAP mentions Nine Inch Nails,
Raymond Watts (Pig) and Tom Waits amongst their influences, but the new
self-released album brings dark energy with strong references to to the
sound of Skinny Puppy, Hilt and classic Front Line Assembly.
The
bands stage image combined with their theatrical performances and high
quality music production will draw the attention of a specific
demographic of targeted listeners. DAAP was also recently invited to
take part in an interview for a documentary about the horror subculture
in 2012. This should explain their ideas and the overall interests drawn
towards the band pretty well.
To sum up, if you're into
experimental industrial music with a horror feel to it, you'll love this
release. However, if you prefer solid verse-chorus-verse structured
songs, this release will make your mind totally exhausted.
All My Heroes Are Dead
is not what the industry would consider to be categorized as having the
usual hit potential, but the scary audio-visual and art-related
experiences this band defines are sure to find their mark.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, July 31th, 2012)
http://www.deadanimalassemblyplant.comhttp://www.facebook.com/DeadAnimalAssemblyPlanthttp://www.myspace.com/deadanimalassemblyplanthttp://www.reverbnation.com/deadanimalassemblyplanthttp://www.twitter.com/officialDAAPhttp://www.discogs.com/artist/Dead+Animal+Assembly+PlantDownload for free from the band or buy a CD: see: official website.
This review on Fabryka Magazine http://industrialrock.net/php-files_en/articles.php?article_id=438
