REVIEWS

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Acumen Nation
Anticore

Crash Music / Cracknation

Posted: Monday, September 25, 2006
By: Ilker Yucel
Editor

As one of the purveyors of the coldwave scene, Acumen Nation have gone through the dilemmas of record label politics and the ever-changing demands of a music scene that seems as schizophrenic as a deranged mental patient. Their 2003 effort, Lord of the Cynics came hot on the coattails of The 5ifth Column, furthering the band's adventurous spirit and incorporating elements of other Cracknation projects like the drum & bass of DJ? Acucrack and the shoegazing ambience of Fawn. Of course, many also felt that Lord of the Cynics was painfully under-produced, which led the band to refine their methods for their new material. Indeed, upon listening to Anticore, it can be surmised that the band has undergone a complete revision of style and approach, making good on their promises that this would be one killer of an album.

Just listen to the crunching riffs and thunderous drumbeats of tracks like "Day Care" and "Caustic Perimeter," and you can tell that the band is on an extreme metal high, matching the intensity and volume of equally hard-hitting groups in the metal scene. It's easy to detect the influence of progressive and technical metal stars like Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan in the staccato attacks of "Tools in the Blood Shed," the grating technical menace of "My Life's Last Breath" (presented here in its original form and featuring KMFDM's Lucia Cifarelli on guest vocals), and the vitriolic "Branch Davidian Style," certainly one of Acumen Nation's most venomous moments. They even throw in some growling into the mix, evident on the new version of their classic track, "No Arms No Legs." For those who might be afraid that the band has abandoned its roots for extreme metal, fear not for the band's signature electronics are still present, though more subdued amidst the perpetual onslaught of raging guitars and band leader Jason Novak's blood-drenched screeches. Guitarist and Acucrack alumni Jamie Duffy finally shares co-writing credit on "P.O.D.O.A.," a track that bears the most resemblance to the drum & bass-ridden sound of previous albums, though not lacking in any of the harsh brutality that defines Anticore, particularly in Novak's deathly growls in the chorus. The band's trademark sense of humor and politics is also in full swing as samples from the animated film Heavy Metal are used to great effect in "Haliburton Rape Trial."

It would be easy to accuse Acumen Nation of selling out by following a more straightforward metal approach with Anticore. However, the album retains all of the key elements of Acumen Nation's sound, from the layers of electronics and bass lines, to the rocking guitars and percussion, topped off by Novak's distinct vocals and incendiary lyrics. These elements are only strengthened by the louder, harder sound on this album, given more weight and attacking the listener without mercy. After a long three-year wait and finally released in 2006 by Crash Music, Anticore easily stands up against anything in either the coldwave/industrial rock scene or the extreme metal scene. Crack whores and metalheads beware!