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Terrorfakt
The Fine Art of Killing Yourself

Vail Records / Industrial Strength Records

Posted: Friday, January 25, 2008
By: Vlad McNeally

It's almost needless to say that Terrorfakt's an acquired taste. Straddling both EBM and power noise, their repetitive and confrontational sound has both won them legions of fans and the scorn of hordes as well. The Fine Art of Killing Yourself doesn't diverge from their aggressive and minimal modus operandi, but it is also not so much a new album as it is a collection of re-released material; disc one is more or less their 2006 release Teethgrinder with a smattering of extra tracks from their earlier works, while the second volume features 12 new remixes alongside others that were previously found on their Cold World Remixes collection. Essentially, this disc may be of little interest to their American fans, but since it's geared for the European market, it is essentially the best of what Terrorfakt's done to date.

While a few traces appear here from their Metropolis debut, Cold Steel World, the real meat here is material from Teethgrinder. For example, when sputtering glitched snares and bristled bass drums are paired with rather android machine twitters and clean arpeggios, elder tracks like "Zero" seem just too polite, EBM, and bland when compared to its vitriolic younger siblings. The best of these is perhaps the rhythmic heavyweight "Stormbreaker;" it lopes in buzzing malevolently, but as if cued through garbled sample like a hypnotist's trigger, it transforms into a noise juggernaut. Grinding its gears as if gnashing its teeth, this rhythmic beast seems intent on not allowing even a splinter of silence through its static and sheet metal mania. "There is something evil here," announces a paranormal investigator in "The Unknown;" accompanied by a constant, shrill, drill-like squeal, it definitely attempts to tweak one's sense of dread. It's a minor detail amongst its caustic textures, but one that lends its concrete-rough drums and grinding loops a tastefully subtle sense of dread.

Though just buying Teethgrinder may seem the better option if one is within reach of Metropolis Records' distribution network, the new remixes aren't a bad incentive for collectors. Like techno heard through a loose air conditioning duct, Scrape.Edx's take on "M15" clangs and clunks like an aluminum drum machine full of energy drink and loosed upon a warehouse rave. Ignoring flocks of screeching metallic textures, its tinny staccato caper is left to its own eardrum-scraping merriment until the halfway point, upon which it is deafened by a stomping Cro-Magnon bass thump that dominates the piece until its conclusion. Though still quite grinding, Prometheus Burning's version of "The Fine Art of Killing Yourself" manages to find a balance between atmospheric drones and speaker-rupturing rhythms. Housing a meaty bass heartbeat and fractured snare mosquito flutter, ProBurn pairs the original's caustic beats with eerie textures that slide like haunted glaciers amidst its loose rhythmic tangle. Finally, Angel Theory's vocal-infused version of "No Frequency" merits a lengthier mention. Their hissing, claustrophobic delivery fits phenomenally in this piece's dragging textures, sluggish bass thump, and crackling arpeggio. Quite reminiscent of the seminal works of Dirk Ivens, it's one this disc's highlights and even though it predates Teethgrinder, it leaves one hoping that this is not just a one-time experiment for the band.

Like many reorganized re-releases, this collection is a bit of an oddity, especially since their Metropolis material is still in print. For their fans who may already own those releases from which two-thirds of these tracks were culled, there's not much worth an investment outside a few decent remixed Teethgrinder cuts. However, for their European audience, this set is a great primer on their caustic power noise career.