Mentallo & The Fixer - “Zothera” 3xCD

Reissued 90s electro-industrial mayhem

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, when I was editor of a small-press zine centered on “industrial” music, I received a C90 demo tape from Texan brothers Dwayne and Gary Dassing. It was a heaping amount of well-produced sequencer-driven electronic music that bared much resemblance to acts like Skinny Puppy or Front Line Assembly, with elegant strings bringing a beauty and warmth to the hard programmed beats and heavily-distorted vocals.

Shortly after that demo, the band signed to esteemed German electro-industrial-dance label Zoth Ommog, where they released several albums and singles to much acclaim, especially overseas with the growing legions of industrial fans. Personal strife ended the band in the early 2000s, before they regrouped for Belgian industrial label Alfa Matrix in 2007. 

This boxed set is a remastered comp of their first 2 albums for Zoth, “Revelations 23” and “Where Angels Fear To Tread”, alongside a third set of unreleased and remixed material titled “Apocrypha”. Looking back, Mentallo & The Fixer were certainly not trend-setters of their genre, yet these early albums do capture a moment in time when this kind of sound was on the rise, and it seemed poised to make inroads commercially, even. Well, that never quite happened, but Mentallo nonetheless built quite a following over Europe with these albums. 

There’s not much I can say individually about these albums, as they are quite similar. The lyrics have little bearing as they’re too distorted to decipher without a lyric sheet. I can report that the remastering adds some depth and kick to the already well-produced sound, and the brothers do manage some rather intricate layering of programming (some of which shows an affinity for the Berlin school of synth-sequencer units, and most likely German synth pioneers like Tangerine Dream). There is a moment of respite in the 1+ minute piano interlude, “Bleek Seclusion, but nearly 4 hours of the sequencer stuff starts to grate, so for serious fans of Mentallo’s aggressive electro, this is a heyday. Casual fans like me? Enjoyable in small doses. 

Alfa Matrix

Mentallo & The Fixer - "Music From The Eather" 2xCD

Having listened to these Texan brothers since receiving one of their cassette demos way back in the late 80s, it's good to see them still around and further honing their heavy sequencer electronic body sounds. "Music From The Eather", the Dassing brothers' first release in 5 years, consists of two extended discs. 

"Good News And Warnings" (CD1) is 13 tracks (and over 70 minutes) of hypnotic and moody instrumental electro-industrial soundtracks. Tracks like "Untapped Regions" are darkened slices of electronic textures that harken equally to the percolating sequences of Tangerine Dream and the noisy horror-scapes of Skinny Puppy. "Shadow Of My Former Self" is a thick, layered assault of sequences, samples, and rhythms -- complex but still based more on rhythm than melody. "Wandering Off In The Dark" is a reflective 12-minute journey, complete with Biblical verses, hallucinogenic sound gurglings, and wicked rhythm programming. 

The second disc, "Altered Everything Forever", is another 18 tracks and 70+ minutes -- with more new cuts and remixes. It's all in a similar vein, with deftly-programmed electronic rhythms and intensely detailed sequencers and samples. A solid (if somewhat indulgent) genre release, and squarely-aimed at Mentallo's rabid 90s-era fanbase, "Music From The Eather" is a winner.

(Alfa Matrix)

Mentallospace

Armageddon Dildos - "Untergrund" CD

It's hard to believe that this German techno-industrial group was, at one time, signed to a major label in the U.S. But times change, and the group has returned (sans one founding member) with this 12-song set of electro-pop tunes with teeth.

I'll admit, even in their "heyday", Armageddon Dildos weren't taken too seriously. Their sequencer-driven electronic music was very European in feel, and their adoption of metallic guitars (on their U.S. release "Lost" in 1994) was quickly seen as an attempt to "cash in" on the emerging industrial rock trend that Nine Inch Nails and Ministry spearheaded in the 90s. Needless to say, it was a failed experiment. Their die-hard audience dropped out, and the American rock fans saw them as little more than a novelty (with a ridiculously stupid name).

Here, the Dildos return to their (almost) purely-electronic roots, with percolating sequences and slick keyboard lines. "Hedonic" is a trancy, club-worthy tune. "Bodyworker" is DAF meets plastic club music,and is as cheesy as anything from the Dildos' shaky back catalogue. Both "Gottland" and "Der Schrei" could be Rammstein's clubbier kid brother, and kicks out the heavier guitars to good (if derivative) effect. Overall, a solid, if fairly generic set of hard Euro-pop tunes. (Alfa Matrix)

Dildospace

Armageddon Dildos site