Are we to expect a second coming of the Antichrist Superstar post rapture?

I am among no one (excerpt from an undisclosed song with an unreleased title)
from Marilyn Manson on Vimeo.

Formalin

Berlin duo Formalin began work on their sound with a simple question of how do you set a city to music? The aggressive, beautiful, dirty answer to this is the debut album Body Minding where singer and mastermind Tominous along with drummer Gabor produce a rough and powerful club sound that walks the hard electro line but seethes of youthfulness and something new shaking up a highly saturated scene.
The fresh faced Formalin are already making waves, piquing the interest of aggrotech pioneers Hocico, being invited to support them on their recent European tour. The album itself is 11 tracks long, all drawing from the coarse vocals and energy of the genre.
Album opener “Fallout” balances its chugging rhythm and danceable strut with a wide barren soundscape layered with distant synths and pong like beeps giving a deep and distant melancholy to the force full static drumming of Gabor and Vocals of Tominous.
“Yuppie Scum” continues apace with its filthy beats and lyrics telling the tale of 80′s cocaine decadence with the lyric “white smile, white nose” being a constant refrain. Though “Yuppie Scum” is enjoyable and full of strength it does lack the lyric complexity of third track “My Fetish”.
Though songs about deviant sex abound in the Industrial EBM and aggrotech scenes Formalin take a different tack than singing about all the beating, whipping and fist fucking and instead engage in the whole power-play of BDSM. The organ like synths also add that popular horror creep to the mix meaning that while “My Fetish” isn’t a whole new sound in the scene it is still an innovative arrangement using all the tools of the trade.
The drum driven “Beliefmaker” is a personal favourite. Whilst being closer to EBM “Beliefmaker” darts between the modern dancey sound of the rest of the album and old school industrial drums, metallic clangs and general rhythms conjuring the impression of that this isn’t Formalin but Ogre conducting a hostile take-over of Nitzer Ebb.
“Deliverance” unfortunately doesn’t feature dueling banjos but its an atmospheric and powerful track with original lyrics on top of soaring synths. The tracks chorus of “Free your minds your souls, leave the fragments of an empty life” is utterly compelling in the context of countless songs of rebellion. Its mixture with the sweeping electronic backing add an emotive touch to the track that touches your heart if not your inner rage.

Formalin - Bodyminding

The same soft melancholy is also seen in “This Isn’t Love”.
Sezyr is a fast paced drum driven electronic instrumental which is one bass wobble away from dubstep adding another feather to the cap of Formalin without being strides apart from following track “Breath Control”, returning to the fetish niche.

The couplet of “Deliverance” and “This Isn’t Love” are perfect examples of the bands range and talent, closely rivaling “Beliefmaker” for my favourite track on this album.

Breath control is an eerie track that pumps away rhythmically but is quickly overshadowed by the wall of sound that is “Addicted”. Addicted is all about profanity. Filthy beats, thick chunky drums and voice effects that see Tominous sounding like a twisted venom spitting hell baby. The sleazy sway of resistance runs the risk of coming across with a slight taste of Marilyn Manson, but midway its strut and choral samples somehow mesh into an altogether different kind of beast.
“Körperfabrik” is industrial in every sense of the word. Its chugging German lyrics and drum loops mix together in tinny distortion and flex another musical muscle for Formalin before the atmospheric, calming “Aftermath” glows and pulsates away in a subtle musical comedown from an album that has been rife with 11 shades of wrath.

Formalin have tried to produce something original, and while it’s not earth shatteringly different, Formalin have released a debut with a broad mature pallet of sounds that span the history and future of the Industrial and EBM genres. I can’t honestly say whether Body Minding captures the sound and spirit of Berlin itself, but in the industrial assembly line chugs, strikes and roars of “Körperfabrik” and the wider soundscapes of “Fallout” and “Aftermath” Formalin have produced music that conjures images of wide open spaces that have seen savagery, stillness and soldering in equal measure throughout.

In the past fortnight there have been a few significant releases of non headliner bands in this years Download festival line up, with many being quite big names and others being curious surprises.
Returning to the festival are bands like Down and Killswitch Engage, Killswitch having played Download a number of times before with Down also aving the special pleasure of being the so called secret band of the 2006 line up.

In black and white, the new additions to the line up are:
DOWN, CHRIS CORNELL, PAPA ROACH, LACUNA COIL, JOURNEY, BLACKSTONE CHERRY, SKIN, TESLA, CLUTCH, KARMA TO BURN, PARKWAY DRIVE, OPETH, MESHUGGAH, DIR EN GREY, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, YOU ME AT SIX, STEADLÜR, LAWNMOWER DETH

2009’s Download Festival will also see a very special appearance from ex-Guns ‘N’ Roses bassist DUFF MCKAGAN, who brings his latest incarnation LOADED to Download for the very first time.

Most amusing of these announcements is the inclusion of America’s 5th greatest rock act, Journey. Best known for their song, Midnight Train (“Don’t stop Believin’!”) have reformed after a 12 year lul in gigging with a newly auditioned singer plucked from youtube for his dulcet tones.

This years lineup also features yet another UK festival appearance from already wel establised Japanese metal band Dir En Grey. This performance seems set to cause a stir with a number of UK J-rock fans and will be a trial by fire in one of the best UK out dopor festivals in recent years.
We’ll continue to keep you posted and look forward to covering the festival as it happens.