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Cervello Elettronico
Negate the Instigator

Crunch Pod

Posted: Sunday, July 08, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

Cervello Elettronico mastermind David Christian got his start touring with such heavy-hitters as Terrorfakt and Manufactura, so it's no surprise that his first full-length album offers plenty for the power noise set. Title track "Negate the Instigator" is an unabashed industrial stomper, complete with distorted samples and heavily compressed kicks, and "Asphyxiate" is as unforgiving as its name suggests, with chunks of mechanical rhythm chained to a throbbing electro beat. Unexpectedly, these tracks are the exceptions, not the rule, and this album owes at least as much to hard acid and minimalist house as to industrial. The excellent "Provocateur," despite the added flavor of industrialized percussion, is at heart an acid techno track, and "Drop the Bomb" is ominous but undeniably funky. Some of Christian's best work is when he abandons the industrial influences almost entirely. "What You Want" is a straight-up dance track — fast, slick, and brilliantly futuristic — that could get play at a forward-thinking trance party as well as a dank EBM club. "Emotion Sickness" is a modern take on breaks, perfectly contemporary while still drawing upon the psychedelic inspirations of the early techno scene, and "Chaos in Control" displays a masterful use of pacing, with smooth but rapid tempo changes and a fondness for sampled sirens that creates tension without abandoning dance floor appeal. Technically, this is probably closer to power noise than anything else given Christian's pedigree, but don't be alarmed; Negate the Instigator gets heavy at times, but it's never unnecessarily brutal. This is real craftsmanship, not shock tactics.