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Combichrist
Frost EP: Sent to Destroy

Metropolis Records

Posted: Thursday, July 31, 2008
By: Matthew Johnson
Features Editor

The three new tracks presented on Combichrist's new EP make no apologies about giving fans more of what they love; but if "Sent to Destroy," "The Kill," and "Prince of E-Ville" aren't groundbreaking, they certainly make up for it with high production values and a mix of aggressive vocals and club-friendly beats that will play equally well on stage or on the dance floor. "Sent to Destroy" is classic Combichrist aggression, larger than life. As indicated by "Today I Woke to the Reign of Blood" from 2005's Everybody Hates You album, project creator Andy LaPlegua's Combichrist character isn't content to shout about committing the occasional murder when it's just as easy to accidentally kill the entire world. This EP's title track adds a divine endorsement with a chorus of "Your god sent us to destroy." With LaPlegua's in-your-face, punk-inspired growls backed by sampled crowd shouts and jackhammer electronic beats, it seems especially well suited to Combichrist's raucous live shows. "The Kill" is more of a straightforward club track, blending industrial beats with jagged analog stabs. Ostensibly an instrumental version, it does feature a hint of heavily processed robotic vocals to propel things along. "Prince of E-Ville" is a solid example of Combichrist's confrontational humor; bound to offend at least as many fans as it entertains, it takes on industrial club girls and vampire poseurs by turn, as well as featuring a sample - "Prince of evil? You work at fucking Dairy Queen" - from low-budget horror film The Convent that will undoubtedly be reused on countless sub-par club tracks in the coming months. Filling out the rest of the EP are a host of mediocre remixes. Rotersand and Northborne's mixes of "Sent to Destroy" are more minimal and techno-inspired, and though the latter at least uses some interesting cut-off and looping effects on the vocals, neither version adds much one way or the other. Even more disappointing is the usually impressive Suicide Commando, who phones things in with a generic mix that's competent enough for club play but has little else to offer. Accessory's remix of "Prince of E-Ville" at least makes things a little more interesting by adding reverb to the vocals and emphasizing the moody keyboard lines, but Caustic's Matt Fanale, usually good for a laugh at least, is another disappointment, offering noisier synth tones and more close-up vocal production but none of the bawdiness of his own original material. Lest you lose faith in remixes entirely, Los Angeles junk punk act Babyland saves things somewhat with a remix of "Prince of E-ville" that's recognizably different from the original, full of spaced out synthesizers, vocal production that renders things even more deadpan, and plenty of dirty-sounding bass throb. Still, one brilliant remix isn't quite enough to balance out five boring ones. The new material is a tasty appetizer for the next Combichrist album. The remix filler, on the other hand, is worth dancing to in the clubs but hardly makes for essential listening.