REVIEWS

Skinny Puppy
Back and Forth, Vol. 7

Subconscious Studios

Posted: Thursday, August 02, 2007
By: Matthew Johnson
Features Editor

The latest entry in the Back and Forth series of outtakes and alternate versions, this CD features material from the era of Last Rites and The Process, but many of the versions here are so different you'll barely recognize them. Particularly intriguing is "Cast Iron Bathtub," an orchestral ambient piece built around the complete sample used at the beginning of "Death" (from The Process). It casts the entire piece in an entirely new light, and it's a lovely ambient track in its own right. Also gorgeous, and far less violent than its title suggests, is "Blood," a beautifully mellow, piano-laced down-tempo selection not unlike something you'd hear from Aphex Twin. "All in Her Mind" is lovely as well, a majestic arrangement of symphonic synths and pianos that ends with a jarring transition into grating electronic noise. More in the vein of traditional Skinny Puppy are "Mindfuck 17" and "Its History," both aggressive yet atmospheric industrial rock songs with Nivek Ogre's signature disaffected vocals, and "Haunted," an extended dark noise collage that previously appeared on several of Cleopatra's Industrial Revolution compilations. Surprisingly interesting are the alternate versions of previously released songs; a demo recording of "Morphous," a track recorded for and then left off of The Process, is raw and brutal, while "Disco Infernal," an early version of "Candle," emphasizes song structure by stripping the arrangement down to its core of subtle beats and strummed guitars. Unlike some of the previous entries in the series, Back and Forth, Vol. 7 is eminently listenable throughout; you don't have to be a Skinny Puppy obsessive to enjoy it, and this collection really highlights the band's mastery of multiple genres, perhaps even better than their official studio albums.