Alec Empire - 'Intelligence & Sacrifice' (Digital Hardcore)
3/5
By: Toby L
During his career in music, Alec Empire has successfully managed time and time again to freak out many hundreds of thousands of music-fans. As he enters the twentieth-first century with this, 'Intelligence & Sacrifice', it's apparent that he's not really trying to alter the formula which has brought him recognition.
'I & S' is a double-album - an LP in two parts, which comprises disc one (insane-digi-thrash-punk) and disc two (spaceship-soundalike cyber-electronica). To say that, in total, it's a 'challenging' listen would be as much a gross understatement as declaring that pop-idol Kylie Minogue has an 'acceptable' pair of buttocks.
Anyone knowledgeable on Empire's solo-efforts and material from Atari Teenage Riot will probably guess how this record will begin - yes, bloody loud, but what other criteria could a song entitled 'Path Of Destruction' ever realistically entail? The overload of thumping beats, trashy guitar and throwaway bass-lines may produce the equivalent evil as possessed within a witch's cauldron, though the manic madness of the number certainly makes for a fascinating piece of music.
However, when such a tune is placed back-to-back with similar cacophonies of demonic tales - many containing ambiguities of class-A drug-abuse - it can become a little tiresome, and hearing such tracks as the slower and more accessible recent single, 'Addicted To You', or the funky pace of 'The Ride', comes as a welcome relief. Still, there's no doubting the influential nature of each head-rush within CD1; the fast-rising Mad Capsule Markets with their brand of techno-inspired, hard-edged rock clearly have been indulging in Empire's back-catalogue for added focus on their sound.
As for the second half to this long-player - expect something completely different. Moody moog fuses through the remaining 72 minutes, occasionally containing an odd, obscure sampled vocal - although the sleeve-art claims that 'All the music is comprised of sounds originally created by the musicians on this record' - and, once again, the result is occasionally frightening. Sure, the haunting outer-space trip of 'The Cat Women Of The Moon' and simply all-over-the-place '2641998' serve as inviting hors d'oeuvres - but, a main platter of this..? Check, please for the faint at heart...
Don't get it wrong, though - this has its moments. Indeed, it's even Empire's, if this can be said, most coherent work to date - and just as wickedly brilliant as you could ever hope to imagine - partly thanks to the immensely atmospheric and chilling production from the man himself, which boasts intermittent bursts of strings and audience-cheers.
Fans will love it, clearly; and, as you hear a small, innocent child proclaim on a cheeky sound-bite, 'Some day, I'll go to heaven,' an eerie satisfaction just may creep over you as you realise that the maker of this album certainly won't.
Artists in this article: Alec Empire
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