ARTIST: Parade Ground
ALBUM: Rosary
LABEL: Sleep Walking Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 11-8-07

Contemporaries of Front 242, Belgian duo Parade Ground's career has been markedly less prolific, releasing a handful of 12-inches filled out by numerous compilation and guest appearances. Coming almost two decades after their first full-length album, Rosary captures the spirit of early EBM and combines it with the more experimental textures of groups like SPK and Test Department. Although such tracks as "Windfall" and "Fight Time" employ classic EBM beats, the club rhythms are more often than not obscured by thick layers of distortion, industrial motor sounds, and muffling studio effects. Each "album" track is also separated by snippets of noise (much in the manner of the "Suture" tracks from Chemlab's first album, the noise segments are entitled "Rosary I-XV"), which range from looped clanks to distorted samples of classical music, adding to the album's avant-garde feel. Processed symphonic elements occasionally emerge to contrast with the more mechanical sounds, as on the funeral march of "Stutter" and the old-fashioned strings intro and outro on "Three Faint Fires." Produced by long-time friend and collaborator Patrick Codenys of Front 242, this album is intriguing in that it seems to actively resist club play while still employing many of the basic formulas of dance music. It's an interesting experiment, a sort of anti-dance album that still manages to be EBM in that it's still electronic, after all, and its marching rhythms and blasts of buzzing distortion are intense enough to evoke physical sensations. While it's probably too subtle and cerebral to be the next big dance hit, true EBM enthusiasts ought to enjoy Parade Ground's subversive take on the genre, and diehard Front 242 fans will be intrigued to hear something completely different from the pair who composed the vocals on the legendary Up Evil album.

Visit www.parade-ground.net for more information.

ARTIST: Edge of Dawn
ALBUM: Enjoy the Fall
LABEL:  Metropolis Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 11-8-07

Edge of Dawn's long-awaited full-length debut is a magnificent effort, a concept album about a sociopath and the lover who, tormented by his erratic behavior, eventually kills him. Apart from the album's intro and outro tracks, however, the songs on Enjoy the Fall work equally well individually, with Seabound's Frank Spinath delivering intense, heartfelt vocals over the rich programmed textures and rhythms of project founder Mario Schumacher. Some of the best pieces on here are the ballads; "Descent" mixes natural-sounding piano and guitar with subdued drum programming, and "Beauty Lies Within" fills out Spinath's gentle singing with symphonic string pads and a modern electro beat. There's plenty of dance material, as well; "Black Heart" is thumping hard trance minimalism at first, just pounding beats and sparsely stabbing synths, but as Spinath's voice breaks from whispers to belted harmonies the song achieves epic status. "Chamber Six" is likewise dramatic and grandiose, with staccato violin patches dancing over thicker, more ominous string arrangements. Schumacher's influences encompass both new and old; "Pray for Love" is thoroughly modern in its production, but its moody keyboards and Spinath's vocal performance recall Depeche Mode, while the driving breakbeats and synthesized tension on "Damage" recall the darkly minimalist techno overtones of Covenant. The only problem with this album, if there is one at all, is that the individual songs and melodies are so slick and catchy that they tend to distract from the depth behind Schumacher's concept for the album. The pop hooks and vocal harmonies suck you in, making it easy to bob your head and sing along, but not so easy to pay attention to the storyline. That's hardly a problem when it comes to club play, however, and you can guarantee that any of the songs on this CD will keep the dance floors crowded.

For more information about Edge of Dawn, visit their website at www.edgeofdawn.com.