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Terrorfakt
Cold World Remixes

Metropolis Records

Posted: Thursday, March 30, 2006
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

A year after the epic power noise assault that was Cold Steel World, New York City’s Terrorfakt is back with a collection of remixes and previously unreleased original tracks. It’s the remixes that will get most of the attention, of course. It’s not like they don’t deserve it, but the five new originals are just as fascinating, if not more so. “God of Killers” and “Corrupt” are classic Terrorfakt, with relentless mid-tempo beats and industrial-strength distortion, but “Elimination Chamber” is the last thing you’d expect, all abstract ambience, skittering beats and bird-like trills. It’s still dark, but it’s much more contemplative than anything else the artist has ever done; even “Fire Cleanses All” from the debut album, Deconstruction, was an exercise more in grating power electronics than actual meditative soundscapes. “Black Hoods in Brooklyn,” a collaborative piece with Pneumatic Detach, is equally compelling with atmospheric effects looping hypnotically while something out of a vintage Japanese monster movie shrieks somewhere off in the distance. Of the remixed tracks, Frank Mokros steals the show with two separate projects, each contributing a remix of “Zero.” His version as Synth-Etik is harsh and frantic, with breakbeats shredded and spat out through a wall of feedback, while his Totakeke project moves in the opposite direction, all cinematic soundscapes and chilled-out rhythmic abstraction, with just a hint of abrasive squeaking to remind you that this is technically a noise album. Displacer’s remix of “Hate Like This” is an interesting take as well, turning the heaviness of the original into a laid back electro track, while E/Craft’s “Arsenal” remix brings the song’s minimal house influences to the foreground. For fans of more traditional EBM, Angel Theory’s Charles Fenech adds mechanized vocals to his band’s remix of “No Frequency.” Still, it’s the brand new material that really makes Cold World Remixes worth picking up, even if you’re not generally a fan of remix collections; with a third of the CD devoted to original compositions, this is essential listening for all Terrorfakt fans.