Torture Tunes

ALBUMS UNDER REVIEW

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

For a brief time in the mid 90’s, I was stuck in the thralls of Industrial metal and really got into bands like Ministry, KMFDM, Pigface and Thrill Kill Kult. I think that time frame was dominated by bands of this ilk, so when a similar entity came across my desk it definitely raised an eyebrow. The bio sheet reads: black metal with influences of industrial, darkwave, drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep and trance. I think that’s a hefty list of musical sub-genres to claim as your own, but Teslathrone aim to blitz them all in their core sound.

Hailing from Minsk, Belarus, this eclectic group of musicians has created a unique sound, blending all the cross genre elements mentioned above into an experimental and often avant-garde soundtrack. For my tastes, I compare this to bands like Combi-Christ, Dimmu Borgir and Rammstein, but this is also not entirely accurate. Some of the tracks are catchy, often carrying on infectious beats like in the songs “Oil” and “To the Stars”. While the metal influences take center stage in “Time Trouble” replete with death metal growls to gut-punch the listener.

The song “SOS” gets back to that quick pace, utilizing an electro beat to propel the catchiness and stick to slight elements of symphonic blackness. I do like how the band employs black metal vocals to dominate “Endless Headache” allowing this song to easily become the most controlled and accessible track on the album. The final composition “Orange Tuesday” is an instrumental number, multi-layered with an electronic sameness that won’t bore the listener.

Overall though, Teslathrone strive to bring unique sounds to ‘Railgun” and given how experimental they are in this approach, the music may take some time to fully ingest. Every time I go back to this, I find something completely new here to revel over and that’s a good thing. If you are the adventurous type and accustomed to multi-layered music, then this might be for you. I’m sure glad I checked these guys out.

Kenneth Gallant, Editor HMS

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