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Front Line Assembly > Implode
Cover Artwork / Early Cover Artwork with open eyes /
Alternate Artwork One / Alternate Artwork Two
Zoth Ommog Zot247, Metropolis Records MET136, Energy Rekords ERCD 137
Released on CD (Digipack only) and LP (2x12inch).
Tracklist:
01. Retribution (5:28)
02. Fatalist (5:43)
03. Prophecy (6:23)
04. Synthetic Forms (8:05)
05. Falling (5:32)
06. Don't Trust Anyone (4:19)
07. Unknown Dreams (6:01)
08. Torched (5:59)
09. Machine Slave (6:58)
10. Silent Ceremony (10:54)
-11. [Hidden track "Stalker"]
Tracklist of double vinyl:
A1: Retribution, Fatalist, Prophecy
A2: Synthetic Forms, Falling
B1: Don't Trust Anyone, Unknown Dreams, Torched
B2: Machine Slave, Silent Ceremony, Stalker
Credits:
All music written and produced by Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson. Additional programming and production by Dan Handrabur. Jed Simon: Guitar. Mixed and edited by Greg Reely. Assisted by Sean Thingvold/protool edit. Recorded at Hippo-sonic Studios. Mastered at Sterling Sound by Ted Jansen. Design, photography, and illustration by Dave McKean @ Hourglass, 3-D programming by Max McMullin.
Review
In one word: brilliant. Aptly named "Implode" is the culmination of all the years of FLA, combing elements and aspects of all albums together with new ideas to form one solid sonic assault! Grab this one, kids, its going to be as revolutionary as TNI.
01 Retribution
A great opener. Starts off with some slow drum n' bass beats and spacy sounds before evolving into a nice collage of faster beats and simple strings. Then the old Leeb bassline kicks in and so do some distorted vocals: your typical FLA EBM assault. Some simple guitar a la "Hard Wired" is thrown in to complete a good first track. Lyrics are an odd combination of those off of "FLAvour." and all the other albums, interesting.
02 Fatalist
More standard FLA formula EBM, this time with a regular "4 on the floor" beat. Reminiscent of Noise Unit's "Dominator", but better, noisier, darker, and with harsh vocals. What's odd about this one is that it's the only one on the album with the standard 4x4 beat, making it stand out more. My personal favorite.
03 Prophecy
The first single from the album, and rightly so! Actually, this one may tie "Fatalist" for my personal favorite. VERY dark and ominous. Starts with more drum n' bass beats, before a main mid-tempo beat kicks in. Then industrial hell breaks loose, sporting all of FLA's finest qualities: dark electronics, moody strings, and vocals seemingly about the end of the world (Y2K). More guitar too, like the 1st two tracks.
04 Synthetic Forms
Interesting. More like a Synaesthesia track than an FLA track. Starts out with an airy sequence of wind and beeps before evolving into an intelligent dance piece with another mid-tempo beat and some very lush strings. Then, just as it's about to turn into an ethereal cloud, a melodic bassline and slightly harder beat (a sample I've heard before but can't quite place it) kick in at the 5:14 mark, and continue on. Not as layered, this instrumental concentrates more on melody to carry it through. Sort of a break from the dark of the 1st three tracks. Very melodic and uplifting.
05 Falling
Starting off with a slow breakbeat, this wonderful track turns into an "industrial-ballad" much like "This Faith." Wouldn't be out of place on "Semantic Spaces". First of the series of slower songs in the middle of the album, sort of minimalistic but nonetheless quite good. Leeb sings this entire song, using no distortion, as his voice is actually quite harmonious. Very beautiful with a chorus you'll be singing for weeks.
06 Don't Trust Anyone
Another weird track. Odd (for FLA that is) title and the first under five minute song from FLA in about ten years! This one has the feel of the Noise Unit song "Neuron," but sports a sort of industrial-rap beat. Very dark, with Leeb just whispering "don't trust anyone" over and over again in the background. Weird, but good.
07 Unknown Dreams
Perhaps the most intriguing track on the disc. Featuring a slower, Massive Attack type beat, a simple but effective bassline, and some interesting textures, this song is as close to synth-pop as FLA is going to get. Guitar like that in "Provision" is used in the wonderful (the choruses in these songs are all wonderful) chorus, as well as Leeb singing quite nicely (sounds like Bill got some vocal coaching!) about being stuck in a dream forever. But the best part of this whole track is the little wind-thingy used in the beat, believe me, you'll know it when you hear it. Very nice.
08 Torched
Odd title, but what else is new? 0) This track comes across as a noisier "Life = Leben," with a fast paced breakbeat, typical catchy FLA programming, and harsher whispered vocals about, what else, pyromania. Catchy and with club friendly rhythm, containing sounds FLA's never used before, this one's gonna' be in the clubs for a while.
09 Machine Slave
Very interesting track, seemingly about the music industry. A Prodigy-esque beat carries this one through, with an odd but catchy bassline. Another club friendly one. The NIN "Perfect Drug" sample is fairly obvious, but it goes well with the track. Vocals are a mix between shouts and singing in the chorus, which is also very good (I know I said it before, but I'll say it again, these choruses are sooooo addictive). Sort of experimental, as FLA has never really done this type of song before, but they do it well. EBM for the next Millennium, and check out the "Mega." chorus, it's pretty funny.
10 Silent Ceremony
Delerium lost? Very well could be. Another Delerium type instrumental, this one starts off very slow but then quickly builds up to be a very dense and thick IDM piece. A good way to end the album, with a nice collage of drum n' bass beats, light programming, chant-like strings, and even a real flute sample. Chris is living up quite nicely to his Rhys heritage in this one. Light and dancy, this is the perfect end to the perfect album.
But wait? What's this?? A secret track at the 7:10 mark of the last song! Other than the last secret track (from "FLAvour."), this one, aptly named Stalker is a haunting ambient piece, filled with "Spheres" type bleeps, sound effects and simple beats that act more as effects than beats. Very eerie, making you feel as is some alien ship is watching you from the dark.
All in all, another solid disc from the boys at FLA, combing all the elements that made them great: the sample work and complexity of "FLAvour," the textures and moods of Synaesthesia and "TNI", the basslines of Caustic Grip, and the guitar and song structuring of "Millennium" and "Hard Wired." FLA is still no. 1!!!!
Review by Douglas Sudia
Second Review
Leeb and Peterson continue their journey into electro-industrial worlds with their latest release "Implode". As soon as you get the new album in your hands, you get the feeling that this is something solid and trusty : the packaging is appealing. I love the artwork of Dave McKean, I think this is the most beautiful cover that FLA have got.
Just before playing it for first time, I checked the credits : yes! Greg Reely is back. As soon as the first song is played, and until the end of the last one, his presence is obvious: the production quality is outstanding. Any audio equipment will appear as being improved when playing it, and antone who owns good equipment will be astonished, as I am.
And the music? In a single word : mature. Yeah, Leeb and Peterson seem to have got experience working together, and the past experience of each of them has brought value to the creation. This is mature work that shows a complete fusion of all styles that have been explored in all recent projects of Leeb and friends: Delerium, Synaesthesia, Noise Unit, Pro-Tech, Equinox, and previous FLA releases. It is quite surprising to discover how all these styles and inspirations can merge together in a single product. No song can be described against another project alone, each song features style elements borrowed from all projects of Leeb and co.
So you're welcome to discover a kind of snapshot of the electro-industrial of nowadays, seen through the mind of Leeb and Peterson. A wonderful album, but lacking some innovation that made the quality of the previous "Flavour of the Weak". Too many samples are easy to recognize again: you'll be able to play that "Find the sample!" game.
Here the innovations appear in the density of the structure and in the melodies: many songs are a little bit less saturated, the sound of the synths are very creative at times, giving a better finish to the results, a feeling that more time has been invested to sound better and better. And the melodies are amazing, some choruses and basslines have to be heard... I also have the impression that the whole album is slower on beats than previous works. Another point : this is an album that needs to be listened to many times before all its qualities are revealed and cause addiction. It grows on you through time. I remember that was a quality that Tactical Neural Implant had.
There are a few songs that shined out among the others:
Unknown Dreams (track 7): I could not imagine that Front Line Assembly would be able to produce a so good candidate to become a hit. Here I choose the words : this is the best song I've ever heard from them since Plasticity, and ever before, definitively on the top of my list that have to become at least as succesful as Mindphaser. A wonderful slow and moody track, featuring very creative use of synths and nice melodies, and a catchy chorus where Leebs sings "for real" in a new way not used before. I hope that some people will find lots of money to produce a video for this that will be as great as the song : this could help it to become a massive hit. I believe in this song.
Machine Slave (track 9) : this one is fast, the "big beat" is prominent and hitting hard, the bassline is killing: this is a very energic song that alternates between the attacks of Leeb armed with synths and the choruses that are addictive to say the least.
Don't Trust Anyone (track 6) : almost an instrumentral track that brings many interesting synths sounds and samples over a nice mid-tempo beat. An innovative and creative track.
The album starts strong with the first track "Retribution". While being a typical EBM track so typical to the sound of FLA circa "Hard Wired", it is great. A well-proven recipe of electro-industrial assault that works again. You'll also discover the harsh, hard and dark style of "Fatalist" (track 2), then the even darker style of "Prophecy" (track 3, the first single for this album), the great textures and ambiences of an aural synthetic trip with the instrumental "Synthetic Forms" (track 4), followed by "Falling" (track 5), a cool and slower song with a great chorus and nice textures again.
There is also "Torched" (track 8) that features many obvious samples from Massive Attack in its beginning, before becoming a typical fast and noisy EBM song, and Silent Ceremony (track 10) that could have been on a recent Delerium release. A hidden track closes the listening session with an experimental ambient chill-out moment (very good, by the way)...
This album is a must for any FLA fan, and should have good success on the electro scene. I hope that Metropolis and Zoth Ommog will promote it effectively. I think it will please a lot to long-time FLA fans, who abandoned their previous innovative effort (Flavour of the Weak) for reasons I can't figure out yet after a year...
Reviewed by Bernard Bastien aka neonyme
Quebec City, Canada.
Third Review
RETRIBUTION: A good way to start the album, good beats mixed with dark harsh vocals of punishment and guitar. Bill's vocals on this track seem very distorted but you get what he is saying after a few listens, (thank god for the lyric sheet)
FATALIST: This one I like. You could jump to this one, of course it sounds way better live, but still the album version is quite good. They should make a video for this song, the lyrics illustrate the points very well. Once again very harsh but good.
PROPHECY: The first single off the album, which is expected. At first when I heard this song I thought it was ok, but after a few listens you really get into it. Very weird, but the beat is good and dark, along with the vocals. The mix of the beats, guitar, and samples in the main chorus work very well, especially with the samples like "Are we dealing with an epidemic?" very wicked track!
SYNTHETIC FORMS: "This place is a tomb" a sample mixed in well with a very harmonious track. This track which calms down the mood of the album a bit after the agression of the first 3 songs is orchestrated and mixed with a nice slow beat. It's almost like it is welcoming you into another world of some sort. All dazed and dark, something new, one of the best instrumental tracks since "Mortal".
FALLING: It seems with this one, Bill wanted to actually sing nicely. Not the greatest track on the album, but very nice, like an industrial dream almost. In it you hear a bit of acoustic guitar, very strange to hear it, but it mixes well with the track. The actual track feels like you are falling into something that you'll never reach but it's sort of a like a free fall, very nice.
DON'T TRUST ANYONE: It's a rather short track, shortest track I've seen from the group in a while. All that aside a good experimental track of course with Bill chanting over and over in the background, "Don't Trust Anyone!" Good for bass and playing in your car, almost like the dark side of hip hop or something. (I hate hip hop)
UNKNOWN DREAMS: Once again this one sounds a bit like Massive Attack and Fear Factory mixed. It's quite interesting. It's laid back, moody, and the lyrics just wanna make you sing the chorus forever. It's not totally industrial, but I like what I hear on this track, it's one to listen to often.
TORCHED: I can't say much for this track, not enough sound to it, it's nothing but drum beats, it's not exactly what I look for in a track, but it'll pass for a dance party or something to jump to, not too bad but not a big listener for me.
MACHINE SLAVE: This track I like, the lyrics and vocals speak out well with aggression, and it has a good industrial mood to it, this one I like a lot.
SILENT CEREMONY: This one is quiet, not a great track, but good enough for an album closer. It measures up to end songs like "Infa Red Combat" and others. Very silent, but it grows on you, very interesting.
STALKER(secret track): Of course here's the secret track on the album which pops in at the 7:10 mark on the track. It's sounds like an actual stalker trying to get to you, but at the same time you hear little bleeps as if it is someone for outter space. Quite weird, but enough to scare someone who is easily fearsome, when in the dark.
Overall, this a great album, and any FLA fan should go out and pick this one up. With Chris Peterson abord now, the sound of FLA is still intact, and hasn't lost it's touch. This is one to remember these guys by, a very dark and moody industrial album, it's almost like you are in another world. The cover art is weird but I like that stuff, it explains the album's concept very well. This will probably be the best industrial album of 1999.
Reviewed by Zerosignal
From Rock Sound
Front Line Assembly
Implode (Zoth Ommog)
Call it pre-millennial tension if you like, but for some reason there is a certain introspection in music at the moment. The last few Front Line Assembly releases have not exactly been subtle. Millennium, Hard Wired and Flavour Of The Weak were all furious assaults on the senses, super-charged violent industrial anger, yet the perfectly titled Implode is exactly the opposite. All the outrage has been fiercely internalised, and Implode is all paranoid self-examination, the sound of uncertainty, of cold-hearted clinical fear, and of personal disintegration. It's a musical odyssey into yourself, with almost a soundtrack atmosphere, and by far best experienced as a totality from start to finish. Musically, Implode takes up where Flavour of the Weak left off, but while the previous album was all furious techno, Implode is an understated and denser sound, less dependent on beats, and with a more central role given over to the synths. The guitars have returned as well, although very much in the background, and the whole effect is best described as a more delicate Downward Spiral. 'Closer' rather than 'March of the Pigs'. It completely lacks a dancefloor orientated stomper like 'Circuitry' or 'Columbian Necktie', and even if there was one it would simply sound out of place. But the music that is here, although not perhaps as visceral as previous FLA, is nevertheless, completely stunning. 'Falling' has the kind of melancholy that has eluded Front Line Assembly since Tactical Neural Implant's 'Lifeline' and the organic sound sculpture and choral vocals of the drifting 'Synthetic Forms' may suggest the more nebular Delerium side project, but is edgy and tension ridden, dominated by a bass line that is totally Front Line Assembly. 'Don't Trust Anyone' is subsumed in the new Front Line paranoia contrary layering of sound shadowed by bursts of taut synth bass. 'Machine Slave' builds intense drum'n'bass over an elegantly understated guitar, whilst the soul searching 'Unknown Dreams' dissolves and reforms itself around a set of gorgeous textures and refrains, all built around an infectious and uplifting chorus. Catchy, yet full of depth, both unnerving and strangely warming, Implode is an inspired release. FLA have reached their maturity and as a consequence the industrial album has just evolved.
Alex Whitehead. 4.5/5
From Prospective Magazine
Front Line Assembly
Implode
Cd. Energy Rekords
This Canadian duo is now out with their first album in several years. Front Line Assembly did some really great albums in the late 80's and kept on doing some good material at the beginning of the 90's. The old classic Gashed Senses & Crossfire, Disorder and Corrosion are records you wouldn't forget that easy. Rumours said that Mr. Leeb had gone back to the "old" sound. Partly correct, but unfortunately not with the same intensity that he had on that time.
Implode is absolutely a good album. You will always recognize FLA. The characteristic vocals and the even more characteristic music. The material presented here is sometimes very interesting and few other times, not so exiting. But the guitar period seems to be over for this time, and that's a relief. But, the real "killer" track is missing, unfortunately.
Please welcome the old farts back.
A Marcussen (7/10)
From Outburn Magazine Issue 10 1999
Front Line Assembly
Implode (Metropolis)
21st century urban electro: Despite the well intended efforts to break from tradition, Flavour of the Weak came as something of a disappointment for many devotees as they feared the genre heavyweights had lost their edge. Rest assured that from the moment "Retribution" kicks into high gear, any sugarcoated dilutions have been discarded, and quite simply Front Line Assembly has never sounded better. The guitars have returned, though discreetly sandwiched in the mix in the same fashion as Hard Wired. Bill Leeb also reverts back to his usual vocal style, that is to say heavily distorted and full of surging adrenaline. Also more prominent are some spaced-out Synaesthesia atmospheric textures, literally the foundation of "Synthetic Forms" which includes fleeting snippets of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the original Alien. The middle portion of the album contains the most atypical FLA material. "Falling" is a mellower song which finds Bill doing a nice job with his emotional vocals sans distortion reinforcing the tone of isolation. The simplistic electro hip-hop grooves of "Don't Trust Anyone" accompanied by Leeb's wounded whispering of the title arrives as yet another surprising diversion. Possibly the best in the incredibly melodic vibes of "Unknown Dreams", characterized by a laid-back yet enigmatic Massive Attack style mood. Coincidentally these three oddities are among the album's undisputed highlights. On the whole, the drum & bass beats are ever present however not as obviously plagiarized. "Torched" and "Machine Slave" have the strongest techno flavour on the album, though their interpretation shares little in common with Flavour Of The Weak's concept of electronica. Overlooking the stereotypical hidden bonus track at the very end, "Silent Ceremony" closes the album with spiritual ethnic sounds not unlike Delerium. With this new release, it seems as though Leeb and Peterson have learned a great deal from past experiences and releases, while still embracing the opportunity to experiment with new ideas. Recapturing the in-your-face aggression of Caustic Grip, the technical proficiency of Tactical Neural Implant, and the stylistic variety of Hard Wired, Implode is clearly one of the strongest Front Line Assembly releases ever. A perfect way to end the millennium!
Adam Bialek
From Sideline Issue 27 1999
Front Line Assembly
Implode (CD Zoth Ommog)
"Retribution" gives a moderate and restrained opening to Front Line Assembly's new album "Implode" on Zoth Ommog. A weird mixture of the last album's techno ambient bleeps with a more traditional FLA structure. Following "Fatalist" continues the course backward towards FLA's first steps between The Initial Command and Caustic Grip. If we don't pay attention to the calendar, this song works pretty well and our rival with "Virus" or other "Iceolate" with a virulent chorus penetrating your memory in no time and "it's in your mind now!" "Prophecy" takes a more hip-hop rhythmed attitude that gets spoilt by too cliché fat basslines, random string assaults and overused fx while Bill Leeb sounds like covering one of his older songs! This is the weak point in the chain. Next to a filling but rather competent dark soundtrack instrumental “Synthetic Forms" things really start to hot up with "Falling", a mid-tempo song revealing a much more open minded sound approach and excellent soft vocals. A slow impressive fall into darkness geniously (sic.) led by a very tuneful chorus and carried by crawling synth lines and dripping rhythmic patterns. FLA's best achieved song yet! Following "Don’t Trust Anyone” goes groovier with gorgeous bass-lines and intriguing smothered vocals. "Unknown Dreams” brings us back on a lower tempo matrix with again clean vocals, creeping electronic bleeps, reversed samples and a progressive beat arrangement. Another highlight with “Fallen” and maybe the poppier song on this New full length? Next cut entitled “Torched” is more conventional sounding, more up-paced and brings nothing more to the album except some interesting acid noises here and there. “Machine Slave” pushes the listener in a helicopter flight simulator with scratched distorted hip-hop rhythms, rippling bass lines and Bill Leeb's famous grumblings alternating with harsher screams on the pre-chorus announcing a nice melodic tune… A quite chaotic cut here adding some more flesh to the album while the last piece is a rather long intermingling of FLA's usual features… “Implode" is a good album, a very good album should I say, but sometimes the duo sounds like restrained, chained to their past and frightened by the future they dangerously approached on the previous CD. “Implode” is in a way a compromised album between FLA’s recognized talent (and old success?) and it’s attration towards evolution and unknown sonic realms. I have somewhere the sentiment that the following album will be their greatest success if they follow the line of “Fallen” and “Unknown Dreams”... Time will tell, meanwhile, check this worthwhile silver disc with once again great artwork.
(TSF: 8/9) TSP
From Barcode Issue 1
Front Line Assembly
Implode
Since the departure of Rhys Fulber many have wondered whether FLA would ever be the same.
Fortunately I have to report that despite the lacklustre but excusable Flavour Of The
Weak release a while back, Implode sees them returning somewhat towards normality. The album starts with two classic tracks Retribution and Fatalist. The album denotes a deliberate return to the style of Tactical Neural Implant and vocally Caustic Grip, and it is noticeable that Implode indeed borrows from all of their previous works quite heavily. On the negative side followers might not be too enamoured with the 'over-familiar' drum loops and the use of samples already in evidence on previous releases. The album also contains three instrumentals, tending to interrupt the flow of the album rather than adding to the atmosphere. Silent Ceremony is one of these and contains a particularly melodic chorus, therefore a fitting end to the album, shades of Delerium creep in to the final mix. There's buckets of atmosphere as usual and once again
the production cannot be faulted yet the power and aggression normally
associated with these once industrial gods is certainly lacking. Therefore whilst the arrangements are certainly stronger than on Flavour Of The Weak it is difficult to perceive how this will be received by fans. When such high standards are previously set it Is always going to be difficult to aspire to them.
For now Front Line Assembly are floating around in a state of transition, yet they need to decide exactly what direction they want to take themselves forward into the new millennium. This will do for now though.
(DT)
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Last updated 2006-10-30 21:27:51 by: Nicholas0.
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